Old lungs, bad knees, which camino?

[Prentiss Riddle]

We just got back a week ago from our second taste of the Francés. We only get a little time each year to walk, and at this rate perhaps we'll finish some time in the next decade.

However, with all the reported shortages of beds, we're wondering whether it's time to pick a different Camino. See this inspirational thread: https://www.caminodesantiago.me/community/threads/time-to-switch.40702/

The Francés starting in Pamplona (not SJPP) has been within our powers if we pace ourselves but we hear that some of the alternatives are considerably more rugged and/or have much longer stretches between towns.

Is there a readable assessment somewhere of the walking difficulty of the alternative routes? (Elevation profiles are lovely but we have learned the hard way that some heartbreak hills barely show up as a flyspeck at that scale.)

Or can anyone recommend from experience that one of the less-known Caminos is doable for old farts like us?

¡Gracias!

 

[Mike Trebert]

Howdy maestro,

I've just finished walking the full Camino Frances from SJPDP to Santiago. Loved it. Very challenging. Beautiful, mostly. A fascinating experience. I found it surprisingly crowded for April - but this was my first time. What must it be like in July? Crowds AND heat!

I've started looking into The Via Francigena in Italy. The pictures I've seen look stunning. Who wouldn't want to walk in Tuscany? I'm interested in Florence to Rome - about 375kms. It's doable for me but I'd be interested in taking it slow and easy - I'll never do an insanely long-haul walk again. The VF is very much less populated - because I expect that nothing has the supporting infrastructure of the Camino Frances, and the VF is less famous.

The challenge so far is planning on walking shorter days - 15km max, and slotting into the available accommodation. That's not working so far without lots of transfers to and from the available inns. No hostel tradiation in Italy to the same extent as in Spain, I understand, so the whole experience is different in that regard. There don't seem to be many English guide books available. And then there's the bears. OK, I made that up.

So let's get some info happening and let's all learn something. What are the alternatives? I should say that I'm not religious, so I'm not as locked in to that peregrino/Camino thing that seems to get a hold on so many repeaters. Or are you thinking only of Spain?

Mike

 

[amancio]

well, no camino is really demanding and strenous in terms of hills, perhaps the Primitivo is a bit harder because of the non stop ups and downs in the gorgeous Asturias landscape.

This said, the Portugués from Porto to Santiago only has got two nasty hills, and they are not really that nasty at all, they just require walking a bit slower for one hour, that's it!

Buen Camino

 

[Mark Lee]

Overall the Camino Frances is not all that strenuous. What sections there are of steep hills are spaced so much apart by flatter sections.
Don't let the scuttlebutt on here about bed shortages on the Frances spook y'all off. Just gossip and rumor.

 

[Prentiss Riddle]

Thanks, all. "Strenuous" is in the lungs of the beholder. (And knees, in our case.)

That "Time to switch" thread has some first-person accounts of bed shortages that don't sound like rumor to me. We didn't experience too many shortages in our early-May walk starting at Estella, but we were willing to spend a few extra euros for a private room or a hostal/pensión if necessary. I'm guessing that the shortages hit pilgrims on tight budgets the hardest. We also never walked through to 4 PM.

Mike, thanks for the tip about the Via Francigena. We're in love with Spain (and Portugal) but our imaginations do run elsewhere - we dream of walking ALL the paths! Probably sticking to the Iberian ones for now.

Amancio, thanks for the endorsement of the Portugués.

So - for two people who find the Alto del Perdón or that one hill between Puente la Reina and Mañeru pretty taxing and not something we can do several times a day, are any of the Caminos off limits? For example, how does the Primitivo compare?

Ultreia.

 

[SYates]

Do you want to have Santiago at the end of your pilgrimage or not? If not there are a few European pilgrimage routes outside Spain, or parts of pilgrimage routes in Spain, that would meet this requirement. Buen Camino, SY

 

[cher99840]

@Mike Trebert Cicerone has an English speaking guide in 2 parts. The one that covers the section you referenced is Part 2. My copy was published in 2014 so it's not ancient. Alison Raju is the writer.

 

[Tincatinker]

So - for two people who find the Alto del Perdón or that one hill between Puente la Reina and Mañeru pretty taxing and not something we can do several times a day, are any of the Caminos off limits? For example, how does the Primitivo compare?
Ultreia.

I have a partial occlusion of the anterior artery, a +/- 1cm displacement in my sacroiliac, a knee that took my full weight during an "uncontrolled descent" on a slab climb and smokers' lungs. I walked the Frances, Alto Perdon and the Montes de Oca; I walked the Salvador and the Primitivo. I just went slowly sometimes (well, came to a complete halt a couple of times). No where is off-limits if you really want to go there

ps I tend to do a bit of litter-picking on the really steep bits - gives me the perfect excuse to go real slow

 

[Prentiss Riddle]

Thanks, @Tincatinker. Maybe I should just say we're lazy wimps instead of blaming our infirmities, since there will always be people with worse ones who got their compostelas!

Even if no camino is too rugged for a heart that's true, I'd still love to see a good comparison of various routes by difficulty.

Prentiss

 

[Prentiss Riddle]

Do you want to have Santiago at the end of your pilgrimage or not? If not there are a few European pilgrimage routes outside Spain, or parts of pilgrimage routes in Spain, that would meet this requirement.

Reaching Santiago isn't a must for us. For now, our priority is Spain or possibly Portugal. Care to make some specific suggestions? Thanks!

 

[dougfitz]

Don't let the scuttlebutt on here about bed shortages on the Frances spook y'all off. Just gossip and rumor.

@Mark Lee I don't recall whether you were walking the CF in early May or not, but I was, and my view is that those us that were did a reasonable job of reporting the situation as it was. I also recall most of us who were actually in the midst of it were temperate in our responses to questions that were raised by forum members seeking to understand what was going on at that time.

If your view that this was just 'gossip and rumor' is based on actual experience, please let us know.

 

[wayfarer]

Please refer to Rule #1 before posting.

 

[Tincatinker]

Thanks, @Tincatinker. Maybe I should just say we're lazy wimps instead of blaming our infirmities, since there will always be people with worse ones who got their compostelas!
Even if no camino is too rugged for a heart that's true, I'd still love to see a good comparison of various routes by difficulty.
Prentiss

Prentiss, its beginning to look like you are going to have to compile that particular resource yourself. You could maybe take the scales & elevations of the various caminos from Gronze and plot them in Excel(tm) (other spreadsheet systems are available (its just they are all shite)) which would give you a graphic comparator. Even then its hard to compare say a 10% climb at the end of a 30k day with a 10% descent at the start.
Gronze, bless-em, even provide a scale of difficulty and a scale of 'natural beauty'. Plot those into your spreadsheet and you'll have the most nuanced selection tool there could be.

My criteria for choosing a particular route are a) it exists; b) I can get there; c) the distances between potential accommodations do not exceed my daily capacity (or budget for public transport), and d) that there will be at least one, and preferably many, opportunities for obtaining refreshment and subsistence. I also have a passion for Paleo / Neolithic traces that will influence my decisions on diversions and discretionary departures from the yellow-arrow road. If its 'hilly" ground I go shorter distances in a day or walk longer days with appropriate rest. I'll go further faster on the flat. If The Beloved is with me I'll probably try to avoid cold-water Albergues and bivouacs.

I just re-read your OP. Your assumption that the 'alternative' routes have fewer Albergues / other resources is correct. The Frances is the most intensively resourced route of 'em-all. There are, evidently, occasions when bed demand exceeds local resource but these are erratic, seasonal events. Well reported on this forum and others and a night on a church bench remains both avoidable and survivable. Stay with the Frances guys - you'll do fine.