Oviedo to Santiago: too hilly for a 9-year old?

[Radhika Murari]

Just when I thought we had decided on a starting point, a post said that starting in Oviedo is very hilly and doing even 5 km a day is hard.

I am going to walk form April 22-May 15, 2015 with my son, who will be nine when we start. We would like to end in Santiago and are thinking of walking 15 km a day, but would not be able to do this in hilly terrain with our backpacks. If you think starting in Oviedo would be too hard for us, can you suggest another starting city? We will walk again when my son is older, but I would like our disperse walk to be as simple (dare I say "easy") as it can be.

PS: We have begun our training with a 3-mile walk a day and that is after a day of swimming, biking and general physical exercise.

PPS: He is very excited about doing this and has decided to raise money for the Children's Hospital in Wash, DC. They treat many ill children, regardless of their ability to pay for treatment.

 

[grayland]

There is, in fact, some pretty long climbs in that section.
I wonder if the Camino Ingles would be a possible choice. I have not walked the Ingles so have no personal experience.

 

[Tia Valeria]

Hola Radhika and welcome. We walked approx 15-20kms a day on the Primitivo in 2012 (from Tineo) and recently the Kiwi-family walked with an 8 year old and other older children. If you search Kiwi-family here on the forum then you will find the link to some excellent posts on their blog and you could also PM them.
You can check out our blogs via the Primitivo 2012 link below and also on the blog you will find the link to Terry's Walk to Compostela which gives some information on the Oviedo to Tineo stretch.
Grayland:- I walked the Inglés as a first Camino and Terry said that if I could manage that then I could manage the Primitivo

 

[xin loi]

Lady from OZ walked SJPDP to Santiago with 8 & 9 year old kids in May/June. Carried packs for the entire trip. Nice kids.

 

[ebrandt]

I hope Kiwi-family responds to your post. They just did the primitivo and much more with several kids and I think from what I could read it went fine. Maybe you could even private message them -- its Kiwi-family.

 

[Juanma]

Hello Radhika, and welcome. In our albergue we have had several pilgrims with children in the last weeks: one was a lady with here two grandsons, aged 7 and 9, and they were doing 25-30km per day. Another was a dad and daughter, aged 6!, and were averaging 12-15km per day. Another was a dad with two kids, aged 6 and 9) on their bycicles, averaging some 30km per day. I think it should be possible for you and your kid without a problem. At the most you might have to call a taxi at some specific moment, but that would be it.

Buen Camino!,

 

[Radhika Murari]

Hello Radhika, and welcome. In our albergue we have had several pilgrims with children in the last weeks: one was a lady with here two grandsons, aged 7 and 9, and they were doing 25-30km per day. Another was a dad and daughter, aged 6!, and were averaging 12-15km per day. Another was a dad with two kids, aged 6 and 9) on their bycicles, averaging some 30km per day. I think it should be possible for you and your kid without a problem. At the most you might have to call a taxi at some specific moment, but that would be it.

Buen Camino!,

Thank you so much for this comment! It really makes me feel better. So, we are back on track to start at Oviedo!

Thanks again!

 

[Lynda t]

Saw a whole Italian family walking through Ocebrero from toddlers in push chair with kit hanging off, to 8/9's running ahead when safe and off road. That was in 2010. Boundless energy. Just carry some spare grub for the youngster.

 

[Kiwi-family]

Hi there, Kiwi-family here! As the others say, feel free to PM me if you like. Our youngest had just turned 8 when we walked the Primitivo. She did her first camino a year and a half earlier (Astorga to Santiago). She far preferred the Salvador and Primitivo walking to the Pamplona to Leon stretch.
As always, it depends on your individual kids. We walked a couple of days towards Fisterra with a Spanish family. The second day they decided to do the same distances as us (just when we had decided to shorten our distance in order to stop at the same place as them) - so we all ended up doing 34km. We finished at 3pm - they staggered in about 8pm and were absolutely shattered. Just because there are instances of younger children walking longer distances, it does not mean your own family will be happy with that. There are plenty more instances of 20-somethings walking "only" 20km and struggling - so find your own limit.
You have time to find some hills at home and go and do some hiking. That will give you an idea of how you will do. But don't get overly discouraged when you have (the inevitable) bad day. And the more you walk, the stronger you will become.
Worst case scenario, you can always call a taxi.

 

[gollygolly]

Just when I thought we had decided on a starting point, a post said that starting in Oviedo is very hilly and doing even 5 km a day is hard.

I am going to walk form April 22-May 15, 2015 with my son, who will be nine when we start. We would like to end in Santiago and are thinking of walking 15 km a day, but would not be able to do this in hilly terrain with our backpacks. If you think starting in Oviedo would be too hard for us, can you suggest another starting city? We will walk again when my son is older, but I would like our disperse walk to be as simple (dare I say "easy") as it can be.

PS: We have begun our training with a 3-mile walk a day and that is after a day of swimming, biking and general physical exercise.

PPS: He is very excited about doing this and has decided to raise money for the Children's Hospital in Wash, DC. They treat many ill children, regardless of their ability to pay for treatment.

I walked the Primitivo from Oviedo to Santiago in early August 2014 with my 9 year old daughter (9 and 4 months to be slightly more accurate). She is a good walker, and walked the Camino Ingles in July of last year.

The walk this year I found was quite tough for me - carrying all of the weight was only part of the explanation; I simply found some of the descents tough.

The stages we did were :


29 July Hotel Vetusta, Oviedo

30 July Albuerge at Cornellana

31 July Albuerge at Bodenaya

1 August Albuerge at Borres

2 August Albuerge at La Mesa

3 August Albuerge at Grandas de Salime

4 August Albuerge at Padrón (though the stamp says Ayuntamiento Fonsagrada - this albuerge is just outside Fonsagrada)

5 August Albuerge de Castroverde

6 August Albuerge in Lugo

7 August Lugo - rest day in Lugo and stayed at Hotel Méndez Núñez

8 August Albuerge at As Seixas

9 August Albuerge at De Ribadiso (Ribadiso de Baixo)

10 August Albuerge Santa Irene

11 August Pazo Xan Xorxo

12 August arrival at Santiago

We had two short days at the end, quite intentionally wanting to stay at Pazo Xan Xorxo. You will not regret it if you too choose to stay there !

All the best with your planning and Buen Camino

 

[Tia Valeria]

@Radhika Murari - if you check out the Gronze site for the Primitivo it gives the distances, profiles and also the accomodation along the route, then check out the end stages of the Francés from Melide. By calculating your daily stages backwards from Santiago you should find your preferred starting point. One thing to note is that you get to Fonsagrada from Lugo, or Grandas de Salime from Oviedo and there is no public transport in between these 2 places (26kms). This might help to decide the start and also the airport you arrive at.
Gollygolly's stages are very long by my standards which are 15-20kms a day

 

[Radhika Murari]

I walked the Primitivo from Oviedo to Santiago in early August 2014 with my 9 year old daughter (9 and 4 months to be slightly more accurate). She is a good walker, and walked the Camino Ingles in July of last year.

The walk this year I found was quite tough for me - carrying all of the weight was only part of the explanation; I simply found some of the descents tough.

The stages we did were :


29 July Hotel Vetusta, Oviedo

30 July Albuerge at Cornellana

31 July Albuerge at Bodenaya

1 August Albuerge at Borres

2 August Albuerge at La Mesa

3 August Albuerge at Grandas de Salime

4 August Albuerge at Padrón (though the stamp says Ayuntamiento Fonsagrada - this albuerge is just outside Fonsagrada)

5 August Albuerge de Castroverde

6 August Albuerge in Lugo

7 August Lugo - rest day in Lugo and stayed at Hotel Méndez Núñez

8 August Albuerge at As Seixas

9 August Albuerge at De Ribadiso (Ribadiso de Baixo)

10 August Albuerge Santa Irene

11 August Pazo Xan Xorxo

12 August arrival at Santiago

We had two short days at the end, quite intentionally wanting to stay at Pazo Xan Xorxo. You will not regret it if you too choose to stay there !

All the best with your planning and Buen Camino

Thank you for this!

Did you walk with just your children or with another adult? I have now started worrying about what will happen to my son if something happens to me in the Camino. What did you do to plan for emergencies?

 

[gollygolly]

Thank you for this!

Did you walk with just your children or with another adult? I have now started worrying about what will happen to my son if something happens to me in the Camino. What did you do to plan for emergencies?

Good morning

Apologies for the delay in responding, as I have only just seen this post after logging on for quite some time.

It was just my daughter and myself; as for plans in the event of an emergency, I had a mobile telephone, though network cover was patchy. I imagine that each of us has a different level of comfort about potential risks and consequences of what might happen. My own concern was, and would still be, what if we run out of supplies - water and food - as a young stomach is always requiring replenishing. When are you planning to do the walk is a big factor. Out of the busier summer months, I suspect that there are far fewer people on this Camino, but during the summer months, there is likely to be another pilgrom who can help out in the event of an emergency.

Bon Camino !

 

[katdavis]

Sorry if this is irrelevant now... I walked the Primitivo in Oct 2014 and used a GPS so I have elevation profiles of this walk on my blog if anyone needs to see them. The link is here.

Buen Camino!

Kat

 

[Radhika Murari]

Hi, again!

I am trying to map out the route and get the addresses of the allergies. Can you please tell me if these are the places at which you stayed?

30 July Albuerge at Cornellana: http://www.alberguegijon.com/index.php

31 July Albuerge at Bodenaya: Couldn't find this one. Also, why did you not walk from Oveido to Bodenaya?

1 August Albuerge at Borres: http://www.turismoasturias.es/organ...ergues/albergues-turisticos/albergue-de-pesoz

2 August Albuerge at La Mesa: Couldn't find this one. Can you please tell me which one it was?

3 August Albuerge at Grandas de Salime: http://www.turismoasturias.es/organ...rgues/albergues-turisticos/albergue-de-castro

4 August Albuerge at Padrón (though the stamp says Ayuntamiento Fonsagrada - this albuerge is just outside Fonsagrada): http://cantabricofonsagrada.com

5 August Albuerge de Castroverde: http://camino.xacobeo.es/en/hostels/hostel-castroverde

6 August Albuerge in Lugo: http://caminodesantiago.consumer.es/albergue-de-lugo

7 August Lugo - rest day in Lugo and stayed at Hotel Méndez Núñez: http://www.hotelmendeznunez.com/en/

8 August Albuerge at As Seixas: http://caminodesantiago.consumer.es/albergue-de-peregrinos-de-as-seixas

9 August Albuerge at De Ribadiso (Ribadiso de Baixo): http://caminodesantiago.consumer.es/albergue-de-ribadiso-da-baixo

10 August Albuerge Santa Irene: http://caminodesantiago.consumer.es/albergue-privado-de-santa-irene

11 August Pazo Xan Xorxo: Isn't this moving East away from Santiago?

12 August arrival at Santiago

I appreciate the time everyone is taking to help me plan this.

 

[Pelegrin]

The internet address for the albergue de Borres refers to a different albergue.
Try this one: http://caminodesantiago.consumer.es/albergue-de-santa-maria-de-borres
For Albergue de La Mesa:http://caminodesantiago.consumer.es/albergue-de-peregrinos-de-la-mesa

 

[angulero]

El primer albergue que has puesto está en Gijón, no tiene nada que ver con Cornellana.

El segundo albergue está en Pesoz, concejo limítrofe a Grandas de Salime, pero que no está en el camino.

The first hostel you entered is in Gijón has nothing to do with Cornellana.

The second hostel is in Pesoz, bordering council to Grandas de Salime, but is not on the road.