Welcome!
El Camino,
Go on Gronze.com. It will list all of-the various caminos under “Road” . Choose the
Camino Frances (CF). Scroll Down to Sarria (stage29) to Portomarin.as your beginning stage. It is listed as 22.2km which is a little over 12 miles.
You will see a map of that stage.
Underneath the map it says to “see profile stage”. If you click this box you will see the elevation changes.
Each town listed in green has accommodations and/or services available in that
Town. You can click into it to get a better idea of the specifics.
Each town listed in Green color can be clicked as well, resulting in a map with the way marked through the town and the location of the services itself.
TO ANSWER YOUR QUESTION: We can not tell you “how hard the walk” is for YOU! We can give you information to help
you decide how to make the stages manageable and enjoyable. You will get lots of responses, encouragement and specific information on this forum.
My answer is your level of self knowledge and acting accordingly is the key to knowing if your camino
will be hard. But-to assist you..
here are some questions to consider when planning:
How does your body react walking in hot weather verses cool, Or cold weather?
What time of year is best for your body to walk? Allergies, etc
Will You be able to handle an albergue with some loud snoring pilgrims?
How well can you tolerate sleep deprivation?
Can You sleep in an upper bunk bed, or require a lower bunk?
Do you require private rooms daily or periodically?
Do you have any special needs?
From Sarria to Santiago de Compostela (SdC) there will be some road walking and walking through towns on pavement. Will you be prepared to walk on asphalt or stone at times? It will not be all off-road.
How far can you realistically walk each day with some elevation change?
Each stage,as listed in Gronze or
John Brierley’s book, runs from about 12 mile to 14 miles.
Can you do this continuously- walk these distance for five days to SdC?
Some pilgrims folks, for example, will split these stages doing 10-15km per day. and arrive in 8-9 days. Some take a rest day along the way. Others have done about 5-7km per day. Then there are those that do 30+ km per day. Some mixup long and short days, depending on various factors.
Can you carry your own pack? Do you need a transport pack service?
Correos offers a pack service from Sarria all year round.
These are some questions to consider. Your own self knowledge, preparation, and planning will be key to determining the degree of difficulty for you. Happy planning!