Planning trip--and overwhelmed!

[SPQR]

Hello everyone!

This is such an awesome forum!

I first heard about the Camino in 2012. I had originally planned to do it after I graduated high school, but I was unable to. I am, however, committed to doing it this summer, sometime between mid June and August. I really want to complete it before I turn 20 in January. And I want to do it alone.

I did some research earlier on, but now that I'm actually planning to go, I'm completely overwhelmed by just the logistics of everything (especially where/how to book my flight!). I've decided to do the Camino Frances, and am not sure how to start my preparations! I'm planning on doing a lot of internet research. Are there any particularly good guidebooks that anyone would recommend? Just as a general overview?

Cheers!

Lucy

 

[Kanga]

Lucy, don't be overwhelmed. Here's my advice (and you'll get lots). Just take it one step at a time - because, that's what the Camino is. Step after step after step. Don't try to do everything at once. At this stage, just book your flight - to do that you need some basic dates.

Step 1: Work out first when you will go. Spring (April, May) is green and lush and clean and beautiful - but it can be wet and cold. Summer (June, July) is hot but there is usually a breeze. Usually. You have to be prepared to get up early and walk before the sun is high. It is when most schools and colleges are on holidays so you will probably meet more people your own age. August is very hot and not much breeze. Autumn (September, October) is usually beautiful weather for walking but the landscape is quite bare and dry.

Step 2: How long and which route? I think that is easy for a first timer, especially someone young. Go the traditional Camino Frances. Start at St Jean Pied De Port (SJPDP) and walk to Santiago de Compostella. Allow 35 days of walking and sightseeing. plus the time it will take you to get there - and to get home. So flight time plus at least one day of travel, x 2. Plus a day for anything that might go wrong - say 5 to 7 days for travel, depending on where you are from. 6 weeks is good.

Step 3: How do you get to and from the Camino? Lots of threads and information on this forum. Once you have worked that out, use Skyscanner or something similar or a travel agent to find cheap flights. Consider if they are flexible fares. Then book!

After that you can start thinking about the fun stuff - packs and ponchos and shoes and soap that will wash hair, clothes, body and turn you into a marathon walker.

Buen Camino Pilgrim!

 

[chriske]

Thanks for all your positive comments. I hope to start at St. Jean Pied de Port on Monday, May 5. Weather looks good so hopefully the Napoleon route.

 

[dougfitz]

I did some research earlier on, but now that I'm actually planning to go, I'm completely overwhelmed by just the logistics of everything (especially where/how to book my flight!). I've decided to do the Camino Frances, and am not sure how to start my preparations! I'm planning on doing a lot of internet research. Are there any particularly good guidebooks that anyone would recommend? Just as a general overview?

Don't get too overwhelmed by the 'logistics', it does fall into place pretty quickly once you have arranged your travel to the start and from the end. @Kanga's advice above will help you with that.

I wouldn't necessarily buy a guidebook now, but rely on the research you can do on the web for much of the basics. John Brierley's guidebooks are good, but the information ages quickly, and it is important to get a current edition if possible.

As for walking alone, I have walked some of the CF, St Olav's Way in Norway, and the Camino Ingles by myself. I was better prepared for the experience when I walked alone in Norway, having prepared myself mentally for this. You might want to read @lovingkindness' account of her pilgrimage from Trondheim to Santiago on this forum to see some of the challenges that the solo pilgrim faces.

Regards,

 

[SPQR]

Thanks guys! I've been busy with final exams and such, but I'm starting to plan in earnest now! I'm arriving in SJPP on the 19th and am currently starting to look at gear!

 

[SPQR]

Also, does anyone have an opinion on long pants vs shorts for walking in June/July? I'm afraid of sunburn, but also of over heating!

Cheers!

 

[Kanga]

Also, does anyone have an opinion on long pants vs shorts for walking in June/July? I'm afraid of sunburn, but also of over heating!

Cheers!

My current favourites are mid calf peddle pusher style - ie shorter but not shorts.

If you take zip off legs you have a choice. I got annoyed with the feeling of the zips hence my defection.

 

[Bajaracer]

Also, does anyone have an opinion on long pants vs shorts for walking in June/July? I'm afraid of sunburn, but also of over heating!

Cheers!

I wore Mountain Khakis Granite Creek pants and Mountain Hardwear Canyon L/S shirt during the day, I didn't get the life sucked out of me compared to others who wore tank tops and shorts.

 

[Say Simba]

Hello everyone!

This is such an awesome forum!

I first heard about the Camino in 2012. I had originally planned to do it after I graduated high school, but I was unable to. I am, however, committed to doing it this summer, sometime between mid June and August. I really want to complete it before I turn 20 in January. And I want to do it alone.

I did some research earlier on, but now that I'm actually planning to go, I'm completely overwhelmed by just the logistics of everything (especially where/how to book my flight!). I've decided to do the Camino Frances, and am not sure how to start my preparations! I'm planning on doing a lot of internet research. Are there any particularly good guidebooks that anyone would recommend? Just as a general overview?

Cheers!

Lucy

Take everything you hear and reduce it to 10 percent. I did buy a 45 liter pack for the trip, but now see I could have gone to 35 liters. I started at 14.5 kilos, and ended with 9.4 by the time I got on the plane out. I dumped stuff along the way, leaving it for other peregrinos in the Albergues. Two of everything I had left, most of it T-shirts and underwear that wicked away moisture. I would wear one pair of wick away underwear, at the end of the day shower in it and wash at same time, then put on the second pair and leave the other to hang and dry on my backpack the next day. You can see that at work in my signature picture below on how it works. Worked great. Rain parka, fleece vest, one pair of rain repellant hiking trousers, gloves, cap, one underarmor shirt I wore almost daily, two wool socks with two silk liners, water bladder, those were the important things...oh, and John Brierly's book on the Camino and that of Paolo Coehlo's, "The Pilgrimage." Make sure to get the rain repellant bags to store your stuff in as well from any hiking store, not the plastic baggies you store food in. They make horrible noise when going through them in the early morning at the Albergues.

 

[Carolann]

Hi I'm wanting some advice, I will be travelling on my own and was wondering if I could join up with someone I am planning to cycle but depends on if there is a group I would like to join them, I can travel anytime and I'm wanting to do as much as I can.

 

[celtictrekker]

Hello everyone!

This is such an awesome forum!

I first heard about the Camino in 2012. I had originally planned to do it after I graduated high school, but I was unable to. I am, however, committed to doing it this summer, sometime between mid June and August. I really want to complete it before I turn 20 in January. And I want to do it alone.

I did some research earlier on, but now that I'm actually planning to go, I'm completely overwhelmed by just the logistics of everything (especially where/how to book my flight!). I've decided to do the Camino Frances, and am not sure how to start my preparations! I'm planning on doing a lot of internet research. Are there any particularly good guidebooks that anyone would recommend? Just as a general overview?

Cheers!

Lucy

John Brierley Camino de Santiago Maps-Mapas-Cartes, amazon. alot of important information in small booklet

 

[saltwaterpearl]

Also, does anyone have an opinion on long pants vs shorts for walking in June/July? I'm afraid of sunburn, but also of over heating!

Cheers!

There's a third option - a trekking skirt. Very cool, cooler and breezier than shorts. But you can make it warmer when necessary with some leggings (which are also great to sleep in). It's also sun protective. Mine is about mid calf. I wear low cut socks, and only occasionally put sunscreen just around my ankles. And another perk is that it needs far less laundering than pants or shorts.

 

[dougfitz]

Hi I'm wanting some advice, I will be travelling on my own and was wondering if I could join up with someone I am planning to cycle but depends on if there is a group I would like to join them, I can travel anytime and I'm wanting to do as much as I can.

This is very much your own choice. I prefer to walk alone, and avoid the issue of matching my speed to someone else's. On my first camino, I tried but found it too difficult to sustain as I was the slower one, and was always feeling pressured to go faster. Eventually I gave up trying.

This year I walked from Negreira to Finisterre with another pilgrim. We walked at much the same pace, but didn't feel the need to be in lock step all the way. It was a quite different experience to walk under those conditions.

All you have to do is ask, as my companion did when I was leaving the albergue at Negreira. She wanted to walk in company for an hour or so while it was still twilight, and we then just kept walking together for the next four days.

 

[naplesdon]

Hi I'm wanting some advice, I will be travelling on my own and was wondering if I could join up with someone I am planning to cycle but depends on if there is a group I would like to join them, I can travel anytime and I'm wanting to do as much as I can.

You will find a group your first few days or nights, no worries!

 

[Carolann]

Thank you I do hope so. Now to plan my route so much to think about on your own.


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