Phoning for a taxi

[healthytoo]

I have searched for taxi companies on the net & am not having any luck. Maybe you can help me. My husband & I are travelling with 2 other Australian couples, all about 60yo. We start walking 4May2013 from SJPdP. Our accomodation is prebooked, so we have to be at a destination each night....thats ok as our distances are reasonable at 10-25km per day.

The problem for me is that I know the first day will be very hard as I'm a lot slower than the others. I have been training &I know its not a race, but there may not be enough hours in the day to get me to Roncevalles.

My solution was to walk to Orrison on the 3rd May, then catch a taxi back to SJPdP. We have 2 nights in SJPdP. The next day, I could get a taxi back to Orrison and continue walking. I wonder if the "Camino cheat police" will frown on me, but honestly I think its a legitimate solution. How do I contact a taxi in SJPdP?

 

[fortview]

Hi healthytoo,
Have you considered starting in Roncevalles ? It's what I did. My husband started in SJPDP and I got a taxi from there to Roncevalles and waited for him .
It worked for us to do it that way. I don't feel like I missed out. He got to start where he wanted to start. The route from SJPDP is not an easy one, and is not for everyone!
Buen camino , Helen

 

[healthytoo]

Thanks Fortview,
I've only considered it fleetingly, as I think I'd really like to walk from SJPdP. I think it takes far greater courage to forgo that first day, so I congratulate you on your decision (I'm being sincere). I'm hoping that someone will reply with ideas about the taxi option.

 

[Deleted member 3000]

Your hotel can call for a taxi, as can the Pilgrim Office. There are taxis in the center of town as well, near the tourist office.

Buen camino!

 

[Sagalouts]

Hi Healthytoo
no one on here will frown on you,I think your idea is just common sense-many people do this-
someone will come up with any phone numbers you need
but I think all you need to do is ask in the bar at Orrison for a taxi ,he is used to this and then arrange for the same taxi to pick you up the next day,you may even find that others will share the taxi.
Ian

 

[Tia Valeria]

At each place we stayed we found it was easy to collect a phone number for a taxi, in case of emergencies. Ask in SJJP and then again as you move along the Camino. Reckon about 1 euro per km and if the journey is long you might have to cover both ways :!: Taxi drivers are used to returning pilgrims to the pick up points the next day
We only needed to call a taxi once. Just make sure you are somewhere with a mobile signal. Most hilltops are good but some valleys might be more problematic. If in a village the bar might also have taxi numbers too.

 

[sergeantmajormammy]

My solution was to walk to Orrison on the 3rd May, then catch a taxi back to SJPdP. We have 2 nights in SJPdP. The next day, I could get a taxi back to Orrison and continue walking. I wonder if the "Camino cheat police" will frown on me, but honestly I think its a legitimate solution.

I have yet to start my Camino and maybe I will have a different perspective on my return but at the moment I feel that I am walking the camino for my reaons, carrying my personal mental and emotional burdens, as I presume everyone does, be they big or small. I have decided not to worry about what any 'cheat police' may think - this is my way of doing it and as it will not hurt anyone else, it's the right way for me at this time and place in my life.

So healthytoo, call for your taxi, walk at your pace, enjoy the experience and don't worry about what others (who are not even known to you) think.

PS - I hope to change my avatar to a serene mamá after my walk!

 

[methodist.pilgrim.98]

Amazing that if you arrived on a donkey or a horse no one would call you a cheat, yet a taxi is cheating.

It's merely a matter of horsepower.

The other option is to send your rucksack via the taxi while you walk.

Think of it as a metal donkey carrying your pack.

Finally, remind people that sometimes pilgrims have had to get a taxi because an albergue has been full, so they went elsewhere and then returned to their starting point the next day. 2004 San Juan springs to mind.

In March 2012 I asked Rebekkah Scott to pick me up a village short of her home as I could walk no further.

The next day she and Paddy dropped me off at that point and I walked to enjoy a morning tea with them before continuing.

The important thing was not that I had a ride but that I had not skipped a section.

If anyone calls me a cheat they will feel my wrath.

 

[fortview]

I find this concept of " cheating" a bit bizarre . I don't know who the " cheat police" are , and ok there are some holier-than-though types out there, who may criticise other pilgrims about taking taxis or not staying in albergues, but its YOUR camino, and you have to do it the way that works for YOU !
The last 100kms has to be walked, yes, but other than that its a personal choice that depends on many factors, like time constraint , injuries, or preference.
Enjoy your camino healthytoo

 

[methodist.pilgrim.98]

Fortview, well put.

I think part of the issue is that when I first walked the Camino in 1998 there were not the number of albergues there are today.

It was upsetting to arrive at the municipal and find yourself on the floor when others had arrived earlier by taxi and they had a bed. Worse was when I was forecd into the more expensive hostal while someone else stayed in the cheaper municipal.

The Holy Year of 2004 was a real pressure point. I remember arriving in Mansilla and having to pay for an expensive room above a cafe when the municipal was full of people who could not have got there before me except by public transport (in those days I could walk 6km an hour on the flat).

So it has lingered despite the fact that there are many more albergues and the private ones are not much more expensive than the municipals.

I do understand the concept of walking in a straight line but if needs be then we must respond to the situation we find oursleves in.

I believe that healthytoo cannot be accused of cheating. Her boots will have walked all the way from SJPdP to Roncesvalles. Where she spent the night is irrelevant.

 

[walkalot]

Cheating Police? Yes quite bizarre, but if you do exist I am going to give you enough information to have a field day.

I am going to start MY camino from SJPP on April 12th. I have been walking for almost six months for this and I was ready until 2 weeks ago when I injured my leg. It does not look like I will be doing any 25 km days. I am in therapy and my therapist has said absolutely no long walks for another 2 weeks and then has doubts I should take the trip at all. That ain't happening!!

So..... this is the plan. Go to SJPP and walk all the way to Santiago, no problems If that doesn't work then comes plan B. Decide every evening where I want to stop the next day, start walking in the morning and when I can't walk any more, get a taxi, bicycle, horse or whatever to my destination. The next day start from where I am and do the same again. Am I going to walk every step of the way like this? No, but I will get to Santiago having walked as much of the camino as I physically can. That may not be good enough for the "cheat police" but it is good enough for me.

I will still see the places I want to see, meet the people I am supposed to meet, and have six weeks away from my life in the USA. I don't need a piece of paper saying I walked the last 100 km, so that part of the journey will be done in the same fashion. Just do whatever you want as long as you are happy with it!

 

[methodist.pilgrim.98]

walkalot applause.

Sarria to SdC has plenty of albergues so you could walk it slowly and get your Compostella if you leave enough time. After a couple of weeks you will know how far you can walk each day so simply divide 100km by ?? and you have the answer.

Do not give yourself any permanent damage and have a wonderful Camino.