Hi everone!
My sister and I are planning to do the Camino next year either in June or July 2023 and walk the last 100 km due to time constraints.
Debating either do the walk from Sarria or Vigo. Which of these is better on the knees?
Thanks so much!
To inject some objective measurements into the conversation, my favorite mapping app (mapy.cz) shows that the Camino from Vigo to SDC is exactly 100 kilometers, with total ascent of 1493 meters and total decent of 1281 meters. From Sarria to SDC is 114 k, with total ascent of 2009 meters and total descent of 2189 meters.
In sum, the walk from Vigo to SDC is slightly shorter and somewhat less hilly than the walk from Sarria.
In the end, though, I wouldn't base my decision on those numbers, for neither camino is particularly hilly. The hardest thing on my (also balky) knees is steep descents and uneven, rocky ground, and you'll find that there are few steep sections on either of those caminos, while the trail itself on both routes is almost entirely on smooth, relatively manicured surfaces (often pavement).
Most important, as noted above, is whether you want to be accompanied by lots of other walkers or by fewer. As set forth in the statistics from the Pilgrim's Office in SDC, walkers on the Sarria approach to Santiago outnumber those on the Vigo approach by a factor of 2.5 to 1. That's a big difference, which you'll appreciate -- for bad or good -- on the trail.
More subjectively, most people (me included) find the towns on the last section of the Portuguese more interesting than this on the France.
But chacun a son gout! You won't go wrong whatever you choose.