July 2009

[Sirri]

Hello from Finland! I'm gonna start my first camino July 7th form St Jean. I've been planning it for more than a year. I know it will be very busy time but it is the only time when I can have a longer holiday. I have 34 days to walk and I hope it will be enough. Anybody else starting at the same day?

 

[colinPeter]

Hi Sirri,
Enjoy your planning.
My wife & I are starting late April and have really enjoyed the preparation time.
You should find lots of help from the very helpful members of this forum.
Regards
Col

 

[Javier Martin]

Hello from Finland! I'm gonna start my first camino July 7th form St Jean. I've been planning it for more than a year. I know it will be very busy time but it is the only time when I can have a longer holiday. I have 34 days to walk and I hope it will be enough. Anybody else starting at the same day?

Hi, Sirri, welcome.

Anybody else? dozens and dozens and pilgrims are going to begin this same day. Choose while walking who you prefer to walk with, or if you prefer to do it alone.

when you arrive in Pamplona (after your third day) don't forget you will arrive during the famous "Sanfermines". If possible, try to enjoy it.

Buen Camino,

Javier Martin
Madrid, Spain

 

[30daystosantiago]

Moi Sirri!

You'll have a wonderful time. I walked the Camino from St Jean but it was in the spring time. During my journey, I made friends with a Finnish pilgrim - he later published a book about the journey...I cannot pronounce the title, but I understand it translates to "For the shell" or something like that...I have a picture of the cover on my website "Camino Artifacts" page.

Anyway, good luck on your preparations. It will be hot on the meseta in July!

Terve!

 

[Sirri]

Hi,
I've read the book and I think that also all the others written in Finnish (they are not so many). I know it will be awfully hot, especially compared to Finnish summer, but I can't choose my holiday. Hope I'll survive.

 

[Ajda]

Hello from Finland! I'm gonna start my first camino July 7th form St Jean. I've been planning it for more than a year. I know it will be very busy time but it is the only time when I can have a longer holiday. I have 34 days to walk and I hope it will be enough. Anybody else starting at the same day?

Hello! Sirri

My first Camino started at 4th July. But i think im starting it in Pamplona (im walkin alone, and mountains are scarying me a little.

 

[Jaana]

Re: san fermin

Javier Martin wrote about San Fermin...

San Fermín in the city of Pamplona will fullfill the city from noon 6 July to midnight 14 July.

Ja toisella murteella: olin 2004 aloituspäivänä San Ferminissä ja fiestan alku (klo 12.00) oli inaansa riehakas: ihmiset kaatoivat viiniä, jauhoja, kananmunia toistensa päälle - enää en ihmetellyt, miksi alberquen nunnat olivat kehottaneet meitä pysymään kaukana paikasta.
Aamulla olin varmasti ainoa peregrina, joka halusi mennä katsomaan härkien lähtöä. Menin viideltä reitin alkupäähän (madonnan patsaan yläpuolelle), odottelin - ja no, näin, mitä halusin.
Myöhemmin kun hain rinkkani alberguesta, näin muun muassa humalaisia amerikkalaisia tyttöjä ja poikia, jotka olivat jääneet jalkoihin juoksussa: toinen puoli kuvasi videolle, kun toista puolta paikattiin ambulanssin edessä.

Last summer we stopped in Estella to visit their fiesta including their bull run. In Estella is by the way quite nice and firnedly alberque "el Albergue de peregrinos del Camino de Santiago".
Anfas
Calle Cordeleros 7, Estella
http://www.anfasnavarra.org/
(Anfas is an association which supports people with special needs)

 

[Sirri]

Onnistuit siis saamaan majapaikan härkäjuoksun aikaan? Olen kovasti miettinyt, pitäisikö vaan yrittää ohittaa Pamplona mahdollisimman nopeasti, vai olisiko mitään toivoa löytää yösijaa. Härät ei sinänsä kiinnosta, mutta muuten huvittaisi pysähtyä Pamplonassa.

 

[ivar]

Onnistuit siis saamaan majapaikan härkäjuoksun aikaan? Olen kovasti miettinyt, pitäisikö vaan yrittää ohittaa Pamplona mahdollisimman nopeasti, vai olisiko mitään toivoa löytää yösijaa. Härät ei sinänsä kiinnosta, mutta muuten huvittaisi pysähtyä Pamplonassa.

Hi Sirri,

I am sure many of our non-Finnish speakers are also interested in hearing your advice about San Fermin. It is a busy place around those dates. Do you mind translating?

Un saludo,
ivar

 

[Jaana]

Onnistuit siis saamaan majapaikan härkäjuoksun aikaan?

Hi Sirri, you asked if the albergues are full in Pamplona during San Fermin fiesta. I arrived the city very early in the morning, so I had no trouble.

 

[jl]

im walkin alone, and mountains are scarying me a little.

ajda - don't let the mountains frighten you. So long as you are able to get in some training and be of a moderate fitness and take it slow (perhaps stay at Hunto or Orisson on the way up the mountains) you should be fine. The mountains are beautiful, and so is the walk from Roncevalles down to Pamplona. You may begin the journey as a sola peregrina / solo peregrino but believe me you won't lack for company if you choose it. There will be many, many pilgrims on the journey with you in July. Regards, Janet

 

[Ajda]

im walkin alone, and mountains are scarying me a little.

ajda - don't let the mountains frighten you. So long as you are able to get in some training and be of a moderate fitness and take it slow (perhaps stay at Hunto or Orisson on the way up the mountains) you should be fine. The mountains are beautiful, and so is the walk from Roncevalles down to Pamplona. You may begin the journey as a sola peregrina / solo peregrino but believe me you won't lack for company if you choose it. There will be many, many pilgrims on the journey with you in July. Regards, Janet

Well I be honest with you. My first plan was to start in SJPDP. I'm not afraid of mountains.I know i could walk to Roncesvalles. I run (ok, i was running last year and i'll be running this year), i walk a lot...

What is really frightening me is to be alone. Ok, i know ther would be a lot of pilgrims. But it would be a first day for all of us, and first day people are always so kept back (hope is the right word).

I also know that this sound stupid to all of you... well i hope it sound stupid to me, when i'll come back from Camino. :lol:

 

[Deirdre]

Don't worry, Ajda,
It is perfectly normal to feel anxious when starting out. I"ve walked the Camino twice (alone!) and am considering walking this year from somewhere in France. I am anxious because I do not know France and do not speak French and so even though I am comfortable enough with the Camino, there are always other things! :roll:

You wil meet other pilgrims very quickly and while they may not all be best friends on the first day, they will pass, stop to rest, you will pass them and by the time you reach the albergue, they will be familiar. Conversations begin, you eat together, and before you know it, you are exchanging email addresses to send photos.... Some days it becomes difficult to find time to walk alone ! It is amazing how quickly word spreads along the Camino - "Did you see...?" "Have you met...?" "DO you know...?" Sometimes when you do finally meet someone, it as almost as if you are old friends! Just smile, say hello or "Buen Camino", and you'll have many pilgrim friends in no time!
Buen Camino,

 

[jl]

Ajda and Deirdre,

I speak neither French nor Spanish (although I am trying to learn - without too much success I might add!) and have walked 2 Caminos in both countries - the 1st From Toulouse, and the second from le Puy both ending in Santiago. On both occasions I tried to minimise my expectations and just "go with the flow" - although I had done an incredible amount of research beforehand which allowed me to do that. On both occasions though, when I was experiencing difficulties, the Chemin/Camino provided.

Ajda, you will be amazed at how friendly people are (and if they are not, for some reason, you probably wouldn't choose them as a friend anyway). With some of my Camino friends that I walked with, 30 minutes or more would go by without us even talking.

Deirdre, I found that the basic bonjour etc (and being able to say where I was from and that I didn't speak French!) was OK. Of course you get far more out of your adventure if you do speak the language, but that and mathematics are the 2 weaknesses in my education and I find language extraordinarily difficult. However, a smile always goes a long way, and I found that music spoke a language all of it's own. On a few occasions I sang for people and suddenly, people who had no English could say a couple of phrases, which meant that with my couple of phrases of french, we could have a "conversation"!!!!!!. To compensate for this inadequacy, as a few of the Australians on this forum will attest, I do masses of research. I then find that I have the freedom to chop and change things around having got a good working knowledge of the places that I pass through. This same prinicple applies for me for my next Camino in July when I start in Bar-sur-Seine - Vezelay - Camino del Norte. I plan an extremely detailed itinerary and keep adding things to it as I find them out (things like the population of towns, to indicate size), full moon, fetes, concerts on and where events like the Tour de France will be in relation to where I will be (we will almost cross paths this year). By knowing all this I am then able to make informed decsions as I go on the Chemin. If you choose the Le Puy path you will be able to manage fine. A good tip is that the Tourist Offices have staff who are exceptionally helpful and gracious.

Happy planning, Janet

 

[Ajda]

Thank you Deirdre an Janet.

it's great to have this foum, so my "worst scenarium" :roll: :roll: (I'm master of worst scenarium :evil: )lose his strength.

Well... i have a plenty of time to take my last decision.

Buen camino, Ajda