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Hi all,
I call myself a camino veteran. I hope to walk my 14th camino this October (fingers crossed with Covid). I know the Frances really well. Walked it alone, with friends, with my father and sister, with a colleague, but now the time has come for a camino with (a) kid(s). Just for a week. To try how it goes.
I have three daughters, ages 5, 2 and 2 (twins). I have three options:
1- Walk alone (or with friends)
2- Walk with my 5 yo daughter
3- Walk with all three of my daughters and my partner
I prefer option 3, but I have no idea how to do it. I don't want my 5yo walk more than 5km a day. My twins cannot walk 1km. So I need some kind of strollers to push, a bag to carry them or like a bigger pull cart or something where all three can sit in.
Can you help me with this. Are there any of you with experience? Do you have tips?
Thank you so much in advance!
Greets Marcel
Thx for your input David!I met a Kiwi family a few years back with two small children. They had a brilliant large wheeled double trekking stroller - don't know the make - downside I guess was how much stuff they had to carry with them, including baby food, nappies, etc ,etc - but they seemed to be enjoying themselves.
My children are all middle aged now, sort of, but I do wonder - why do you want to do a pilgrimage with tiny children?
I took my ten year old son and his cousin down to Spain in a car for a holiday decades ago ... we went to Gaudi's cathedral in Barcelona, the Dali museum in Figueras, hidden Pyrenean villages and easy rock climbing, and all sorts of other stuff.
When we got back home, thinking he would have stores of memories for years to come, I asked him what was the best moment. He said it was when we were stopped in Barcelona by a policeman with a big moustache and big gun on his motorbike when I went through a red light - so don't think you will give them great memories
This made me think.Why not just take your 5 year-old on this first family Camino?
(apologies to your partner, who would be left at home with the twins)
A ‘trekking’ pushchair would be sturdy enough to carry some of the load … which would be far smaller than all you would need if you took the twins as well.
Which section were you thinking of walking?
This would, I imagine, depend upon your choice of companion/s.
If it’s just for a week - as a sort of experiment - on a path you know well, why not give your eldest a solo adventure with her papa?
Buen Camino!
Thanks! I searched for a lot, but not on 'chariot'!On the VDLP, I encountered a young French couple on bicycles with three youngsters in trailers and so on. They had been travelling like that for thousands of kilometers already. I was really impressed. On this forum, you will also find threads and links to external blogs by people who were on the camino with small children....
If you like the idea of going as a whole family rather than leaving your partner behind to take care of the twins, I think you will first need to work out what sounds comfortable to the two of you. I have a feeling that there are as many ways to approach this as there are families. You could choose to cover short distances every day with a two seater chariot and backpacks on your backs. (Do search for chariot on this forum, by the way). You could go with more luggage but use a luggage forwarding service and increase the daily distances slightly. You could train your 5 year-old to handle 15k distances. You could do a series of combined walk + transit rides rather than walking the whole distance every day. You could rent a car to use as a support vehicle and share driving duties so that each of you gets to walk a bit every day with no luggage to carry, and each of you does their share of caring for the twins, making runs to the supermarket, preparing meals etc.
Your partner is the only one who can tell you what they have an appetite for, and that will surely be the biggest factor in deciding what you do.
This may not be what you’re looking for but on certain sections of the Camino from Le Puy to SJPdP it is possible to hire donkeys for a week or so and I have heard of families with small children managing transport for the kids that way.Hi all,
I call myself a camino veteran. I hope to walk my 14th camino this October (fingers crossed with Covid). I know the Frances really well. Walked it alone, with friends, with my father and sister, with a colleague, but now the time has come for a camino with (a) kid(s). Just for a week. To try how it goes.
I have three daughters, ages 5, 2 and 2 (twins). I have three options:
1- Walk alone (or with friends)
2- Walk with my 5 yo daughter
3- Walk with all three of my daughters and my partner
I prefer option 3, but I have no idea how to do it. I don't want my 5yo walk more than 5km a day. My twins cannot walk 1km. So I need some kind of strollers to push, a bag to carry them or like a bigger pull cart or something where all three can sit in.
Can you help me with this. Are there any of you with experience? Do you have tips?
Thank you so much in advance!
Greets Marcel
So a trekking pushchair would be sturdy enough?
Thats the whole point isn't it. From our, adult, perspective childhood is really short. Half, then a third and ever then decreasing fractions of our lives. We remember our childhoods with affection or dread depending on how lucky we were. I remember mine with warm affection. Every day was an adventure. Packed with new experiences, new people, new taste sensations. Even the weather was different everyday though it never rained on sunny days and the rainy ones brought puddles to splash in and snow. Oh snow, how much fun was that.Childhood is really short
I haven't walked with my own kids (at least not when they were kids; my son turned 16 on the Camino). But I have seen others walking with kids. When I last walked the CF, I saw a Korean family walking with kids aged 5 and 7. Both kids didn't seem to have significant problems with the 20 or so km they were walking each day (although they weren't carrying much, just very small kids backpacks; their parents were generally carrying for them). They still had plenty of energy to run around the albergues in the evening. People with younger children often go with strollers (or with really younger children, strapped to their front or back).Hi all,
I call myself a camino veteran. I hope to walk my 14th camino this October (fingers crossed with Covid). I know the Frances really well. Walked it alone, with friends, with my father and sister, with a colleague, but now the time has come for a camino with (a) kid(s). Just for a week. To try how it goes.
I have three daughters, ages 5, 2 and 2 (twins). I have three options:
1- Walk alone (or with friends)
2- Walk with my 5 yo daughter
3- Walk with all three of my daughters and my partner
I prefer option 3, but I have no idea how to do it. I don't want my 5yo walk more than 5km a day. My twins cannot walk 1km. So I need some kind of strollers to push, a bag to carry them or like a bigger pull cart or something where all three can sit in.
Can you help me with this. Are there any of you with experience? Do you have tips?
Thank you so much in advance!
Greets Marcel
But can they get the distance certificate? No motivation is needed for that, I believe.Hi Marcel, I post this reply only because you mentioned Sarria. Having volunteered at the pilgrims' office a few years ago, I draw your attention to the fact that young children are not issued their own compostela even if they present with their own correctly-stamped credential (two stamps per day from Sarria) and parents attest that their child did indeed walk all the last 100km to Santiago. (I can't remember but I think the pilgrim's office adds the child's name onto the compostela of one of the parents; I am not 100% certain.)
Of course, I am NOT suggesting that that is the aim of your taking your child on Camino.
From my limited experience, it appears that children are issued their own compostela, if they understand the reason for the undertaking i.e., devotionis affectu, voti vel pietatis causa (motivated by devotion, votive or mercy), generally accepted as when a child has taken his or her first communion. So I have seen 12-year old kids receive their compostela. Indeed, staff at the pilgrim's office make special allowance to have the child come behind the counter and personally stamp the cathedral's last stamp onto their credencial to mark the event.
This is not a post to debate the right and wrong of the pilgrim office's decision, as posts on this forum can often descend to. Please do not shoot the messenger.
Thats the whole point isn't it. From our, adult, perspective childhood is really short. Half, then a third and ever then decreasing fractions of our lives. We remember our childhoods with affection or dread depending on how lucky we were. I remember mine with warm affection. Every day was an adventure. Packed with new experiences, new people, new taste sensations. Even the weather was different everyday though it never rained on sunny days and the rainy ones brought puddles to splash in and snow. Oh snow, how much fun was that.
But then I never left my home county till I was 10 or so. I never left my home country till I was 16 or so. I was grounded. I had confidence in myself and was ready for adventure. I'd explored farther and farther from home, on foot and on bicycle gradually extending my range, gradually increasing my life-skills. I'd never been suddenly exposed to bewildering environments and strange technologies; novel regimens of control and restriction or separated from my known and comforting place.
Childhood is short but its all you have when you're a child.
Wow, this is going to be a blast!
YOU will enjoy a Camino together with the kids, as YOU don't want to walk alone.
YOU will enjoy passing peregrinos smiles, delight, and admiration when they see your kinds
YOU will take tons of pictures of your kids, for the memory and to show to your friends
YOU will enjoy the spotlight and the bragging rights of walking under extenuation conditions.
YOU don't write much about what your wife/partner thinks about all this.
It's YOUR Camino.
Please, I would discourage you from walking any Camino with your small children in October, ‘ 21 - even if it is physically doable!
Your children will not be protected from The Delta Variance. Children are dying from it! And Spain is heading in the Wrong-direction with the Delta variance. Wait another year! Hopefully, vaccine will be available to them by then!
Thx so much. I will do some practicing with my oldest. If she can walk 5k without problems then this is a valid option!I've met a young american couple (~30 years) with 3 kids (age 1,5 / 3 / 6-ish) with the 1,5years toddler in an all-terrain-stroller, the 3 year old in an carrier on the back (in german it's called "Kraxe") of the father and the 6 year old was pushing a all-terrain scooter. They said, they are making 10-15km per day. Even the 6 year old had a daypack on their back, the most was stuffed into the stroller's transport compartment.
Kids are capable of doing such distances easily.
My family was on vacation on the coast of the north-sea and my son (5 at that vacation) and wife walked 15km on the beach without any trouble, despite the fact that stormy winds were blowing.
BC
Roland
You didn’t ask me any questions pepi. Realize that’s why this is your ego talking, not mine.Wow, this is going to be a blast!
YOU will enjoy a Camino together with the kids, as YOU don't want to walk alone.
YOU will enjoy passing peregrinos smiles, delight, and admiration when they see your kinds
YOU will take tons of pictures of your kids, for the memory and to show to your friends
YOU will enjoy the spotlight and the bragging rights of walking under extenuation conditions.
YOU don't write much about what your wife/partner thinks about all this.
It's YOUR Camino.
Read what I say about Covid in my post. I ask for advice about strollers than you can give advice on strollers. If my stance on Covid is not clear, just ask. Unsolicited advice doesn’t have the impact you want it to have. Even if your intentions are noble.Please, I would discourage you from walking any Camino with your small children in October, ‘ 21 - even if it is physically doable!
Your children will not be protected from The Delta Variance. Children are dying from it! And Spain is heading in the Wrong-direction with the Delta variance. Wait another year! Hopefully, vaccine will be available to them by then!
Hi Marcel234You didn’t ask me any questions pepi. Realize that’s why this is your ego talking, not mine.
Maybe you are worried about the safety of my children, maybe you even think that i’m an egoistic dad. It’s all good. Just ask questions.
I take your worries into consideration. Thanks!
It would be easier if your partner comes too if you want to take all the children.Hi all,
I call myself a camino veteran. I hope to walk my 14th camino this October (fingers crossed with Covid). I know the Frances really well. Walked it alone, with friends, with my father and sister, with a colleague, but now the time has come for a camino with (a) kid(s). Just for a week. To try how it goes.
I have three daughters, ages 5, 2 and 2 (twins). I have three options:
1- Walk alone (or with friends)
2- Walk with my 5 yo daughter
3- Walk with all three of my daughters and my partner
I prefer option 3, but I have no idea how to do it. I don't want my 5yo walk more than 5km a day. My twins cannot walk 1km. So I need some kind of strollers to push, a bag to carry them or like a bigger pull cart or something where all three can sit in.
Can you help me with this. Are there any of you with experience? Do you have tips?
Thank you so much in advance!
Greets Marcel
You said something like “fingers crossed about Covid.” It’s not super clear what that means. Perhaps clarifying will help people understand your stance.Read what I say about Covid in my post. I ask for advice about strollers than you can give advice on strollers. If my stance on Covid is not clear, just ask. Unsolicited advice doesn’t have the impact you want it to have. Even if your intentions are noble.
You said something like “fingers crossed about Covid.” It’s not super clear what that means. Perhaps clarifying will help people understand your stance.
Oh! I want to hold the cranky baby!And should my path ever cross with a family on a camino, I will be among those to hold the cranky baby, or mind the toddler while a parent takes a shower, goes into the shop…
*Buen Camino*.
You might like to look at Rachel's blog, the mother of kiwi-family, she travelled extensively with her kidsHi all,
I call myself a camino veteran. I hope to walk my 14th camino this October (fingers crossed with Covid). I know the Frances really well. Walked it alone, with friends, with my father and sister, with a colleague, but now the time has come for a camino with (a) kid(s). Just for a week. To try how it goes.
I have three daughters, ages 5, 2 and 2 (twins). I have three options:
1- Walk alone (or with friends)
2- Walk with my 5 yo daughter
3- Walk with all three of my daughters and my partner
I prefer option 3, but I have no idea how to do it. I don't want my 5yo walk more than 5km a day. My twins cannot walk 1km. So I need some kind of strollers to push, a bag to carry them or like a bigger pull cart or something where all three can sit in.
Can you help me with this. Are there any of you with experience? Do you have tips?
Thank you so much in advance!
Greets Marcel
Oh! I want to hold the cranky baby!
Perspective: the little pilgrims (aged 5 and 7) are walking the same distance and pace we are and are able to run around the albergue in the evening instead of collapsing or hobbling around like we do; their parents are going the same distance and pace as us carrying their kids gear as well as their own [the kids did carry small daypacks].
Wow. This was my first ever post in this forum. Did not expect such a rude welcome. Was just trying to help out with regard to other posts. I am not passing judgment but trying to get clarity because his first post was unclear and people had questions. You seem to think even having questions is a bad thing.This isn’t really relevant.
The OP didn’t ask for advice about Covid.
This unique forum is a community of many, many diverse human beings, from many different backgrounds, cultures, races, religions/spiritual beliefs/none, ages, life experiences, physical strength/abilities/challenges, opinions, senses of humour etc. etc. etc … as many differences as there are people here.
We are ideally helpful and supportive (as far as we are able).
We try to offer what we can, where we might be able to contribute towards an OP’s question, dilemma, problem, search.
There are some very experienced members on here, with wide-reaching knowledge, who take time to reassure, inform, direct to sources of information, etc. and many who share their joy and wisdom about these Ways. If it can be done with humour (often bone-dry) all the better!!
All in answer to an Op’s question.
We are not here to pass judgement on an OP’s intentions, unless it has been sought.
If we can foresee genuine danger, that has simply not occurred to to an inexperienced pilgrim, it might be a good idea to ask whether or not a pilgrim might be aware of this potential.
@Marcel234 did not mention Covid in his original post.
He is an adult.
He has already walked on the Camino 13 times.
It is probably safe to assume that he has heard of Covid and that he has taken it into consideration in his thinking.
Welcome to the forum
Buen Camino!!!
Wow. This was my first ever post in this forum. Did not expect such a rude welcome. Was just trying to help out with regard to other posts. I am not passing judgment but trying to get clarity because his first post was unclear and people had questions. You seem to think even having questions is a bad thing.
Wow. This was my first ever post in this forum. Did not expect such a rude welcome. Was just trying to help out with regard to other posts. I am not passing judgment but trying to get clarity because his first post was unclear and people had questions. You seem to think even having questions is a bad thing.
Hey moss7,Wow. This was my first ever post in this forum. Did not expect such a rude welcome. Was just trying to help out with regard to other posts. I am not passing judgment but trying to get clarity because his first post was unclear and people had questions. You seem to think even having questions is a bad thing.
@Marcel234 , Just want to let you know how much I'm looking forward to seeing your posts in October!
Buen Camino to you and your family!
@Marcel234 , Just want to let you know how much I'm looking forward to seeing your posts in October!
Buen Camino to you and your family!
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