Median age on the camino

[danielgutz92]

Hey, next summer will the first time I will be doing the camino, but I'm i bit nervous as I will be doing it solo and don't know if there will be a lot of people my age with whom I can share the experience. I am a 21 year student but I've heard that the median age is 30 - 50.
Any thoughts??

 

[fortview]

Hi,
There was a real mix of ages when we did the camino ! Don't worry about it, there were lots of young people , and they seemed to meet up and have fun together as well as mixing with different generations.
I just loved meeting people of all ages, and that's part of the beauty of the journey, that in a way ,age becomes less of an issue, than it does in "real life" .
Buen camino

 

[Deleted member 3000]

Statistics from 2012:

Edad Nº de Peregrinos
30 - 60 109310 (56,79%)
< 30 54731 (28,43%)
> 60 28447 (14,78%)

 

[mralisn]

To say age doesn't matter on the Camino seems too easy, simple. However, I know of no other way to express.

It matters not when we are sharing sleeping quarters, offering plaster for blister, receiving a pour of wine, crying to another about physical or emotional pain, handing over a piece of chocolate, making an extra plate of pasta for the peregrino/a you know will come in later and too tired to cook, taking care of another who is sick, laughing with the Camino family, celebrating in SdC in front of the cathedral or watching the sunset in Fisterra.

You will share the experience with all of us and never think of how "young" we are. You won't be 21. You will be you.

Trust in the arrows and let the Camino provide.

Keep a smile,
Simeon

 

[KiwiNomad06]

I think the age-range you see would vary a bit by the month you walk. Certainly by June there are many young ones who are on vacation from college/university etc, and summertime also has groups of Spanish young people (parish, Scouts, youth groups etc) on the trail together.
Margaret

 

[scruffy1]

Margaret is right, depends on when you go, Springtime is for people with fewer commitments not counting Easter of course when everybody and their brother or sister is out, summer is for those with time off or vacations many more younger people, Fall is much quieter again. Simeon says something else but not anywhere clearly enough. There is no such thing as a solo Camino, you will be engulfed with lovely fine people morning afternoon and night from the moment you receive your first sello. Sit back and enjoy the ride I mean walk.
S

 

[julie]

To say age doesn't matter on the Camino seems too easy, simple. However, I know of no other way to express.

I totally agree! For the first five days of my pilgrimage I found myself in a little pilgrim family. We were all solo walkers and I, at that time a 54 year old Australian, found myself the oldest of a group containing a 46 year old Dutchman, a mid 30s Italian woman, a 23 year old Australian man and a 19 year old from Denmark.

An unlikely grouping in any other context but one that formed naturally on the Camino.

 

[lindseh]

HI Daniel,

I walked it two years ago at the age of 19, and while I was the youngest person there more or less, there are lots of people in their 20s and early 30s. I'm walking again this year at the age of 21 as well and I expect to find the same. However, like those before me said, it depends on the season. I walked (and am walking) in spring, where there's probably a lower ratio of younger to older than there is in the summer.

But really, most of the really good friends I made last time were 10-15 years older than me. The thing is, the Camino makes for a level playing field. People don't think of you as being far younger than them, and you tend to, likewise, forget that you are. You're all out doing the same thing, regardless of the stage of your life that you're at, and it makes for some real connections. Not to mention the fact that I also made some great friends in people two, three, four times my age! The Camino presents a unique opportunity to pick the brains of people you might not normally speak to with any depth.

Embrace it. Enjoy it. And buen camino.

 

[nreyn12]

You will share the experience with all of us and never think of how "young" we are. You won't be 21. You will be you.

So true, Simeon, and maybe why some of us keep going back as we get older!

 

[NoorvanderVeen]

I walked in the summer of 2012 when I was 18 and turned 19 in Carrion de Los Condes. Anyway, I had a great time spending time with people my age and not my age. I wouldn't worry too much about age. On the camino, usually everyone is 'young-spirited'. I for example, have warm memories of a friend in her twenties from Cologne, but we also shared a lot of wonderful moments with an American couple my parents' age. Buen Camino!

 

[Deleted member 3000]

usually everyone is 'young-spirited'

... leading to the occasional syndrome where a middle aged man suddenly thinks he is attractive to the twenty-something women! Young in spirit does not mean ACTUALLY young. The flirting can be a bit embarrassing to other pilgrims! :wink:

 

[NoorvanderVeen]

usually everyone is 'young-spirited'

... leading to the occasional syndrome where a middle aged man suddenly thinks he is attractive to the twenty-something women! Young in spirit does not mean ACTUALLY young. The flirting can be a bit embarrassing to other pilgrims! :wink:

Fortunately, I've never seen that happen :mrgreen:
Might be because I was in fulltime-company of my boyfriend...

 

[lindseh]

usually everyone is 'young-spirited'

... leading to the occasional syndrome where a middle aged man suddenly thinks he is attractive to the twenty-something women! Young in spirit does not mean ACTUALLY young. The flirting can be a bit embarrassing to other pilgrims! :wink:

Fortunately, I've never seen that happen :mrgreen:
Might be because I was in fulltime-company of my boyfriend...

Oh God... I did Even though I was in full time company of my FATHER for crying out loud!