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Stages from Leon and luggage question from a first timer

holhum

Member
Time of past OR future Camino
Planning for Leon to Santiago June 2019
I am seeing the travel agent tomorrow to book my trip for next year, so hoping for some advice. I am doing a coach tour of Croatia, a cruise out of and returning to Rome, then flying to...Madrid?...to travel on to Leon and walk for up to 3 weeks during June. Jamming a lot in as I am coming from Australia.

First question is, will there be somewhere at Madrid airport or maybe train station where I can leave my suitcase safely (I plan to fly home from Madrid)? I plan to walk with just a 30 litre backpack. Other question is, can anyone share with me suggested stages to do if I can only manage 15 - 20km a day as a usual maximum? I have plantar fasciitis that is bound to be an issue if I attempt long days over this period. And I am thinking I will need some rest days. If not I will walk on to Finisterre if time allows, but Santiago is the goal. Thank you!
 
Technical backpack for day trips with backpack cover and internal compartment for the hydration bladder. Ideal daypack for excursions where we need a medium capacity backpack. The back with Air Flow System creates large air channels that will keep our back as cool as possible.

€83,-
Planning for an easy route, mainly avoiding albergues!

8 (Fri) Leon by bus



9 (Sat) by bus to Virgen; walk to Villar de Mazariife; 13.7 kms



10 (Sun) Hospital; Hostal Don Suero Quinones by bridge



11 (Mon) Astorga;



12 (Tues) Santa Catalina; 10 kms



13 (Wed) Rabanal del Camino; 11 kms The Stone Boat B&B



14 (Thur) Acebo; 15 kms



15 (Fri) Molinaseca; 11.5 kms



16 (Sat) Ponferrada



17 (Sun) Cacabelos; 16 kms (part by bus?) Hotel Moncloa de San Lazro



18 (Mon) Villafranca del Bierzo



19 (Tues) Ambasmestas?



20 (Wed) O’Cebreiro?



21 (Thur) Triacastela; 21.3 kms Complejo Xacaobeo single rooms €37 Restaurant Mirador recommended.



22 (Fri) Sarria; 18.7 kms



23 (Sat) Ferrerios; 13.3 kms



24 (Sun) Portomarin; 9.1 kms Pousada de Portomarin



25 (Mon) Lestedo Rectoral; visit Vilar de Donas Church 4.6 kms detour there & back.



26 (Tues) Melide



27 (Wed) Ribadiso



28 (Thur) Salceda; Pousada de Salceda



29 (Fri) Vilamaior; Casa de Amancio



30 (Sat) Santiago; San Martin Pinario; Hotel Capital Galicia?
 
Welcome to the website!

Madrid airport has a left luggage service.

However, if you are staying in a hotel near the airport before and after your trip, ask if you can leave your bag there for your return.

As a fellow plantar fasciitis sufferer, you have my sympathy! Fortunately, it has not recurred for some time, thanks to insoles in my boots.
 
Get a spanish phone number with Airalo. eSim, so no physical SIM card. Easy to use app to add more funds if needed.
Hi,

there are various spanish websites which offer planning-tools.

Planning-tool 1

Planning-tool 2

Leon-Santiago is about 320 km, so an average of 15-16 km/day.

For further Information on the route (distances, villages, elevation etc.) and alternative accomodation, not only albergues, you may consult this website:

Gronze

BC
Alexandra
 
Hello, fellow Aussie!

When I did my CF, I left my suitcase for 2 weeks at the 'consigna' (luggage storage) in the Madrid Airport. Although practical, it was VERY expensive - around 100 euro.

For less money, I learned later that I could have sent my suitcase by Spanish Post (Correos) to Ivar, who runs this forum and a storage service in Santiago, and have my things with me at my arrival. To know more about this service, check here: http://www.casaivar.com/luggage-storage-in-santiago-de-compostela/

Another option, as mentioned above, is to enquire if you can leave it at your hotel. A third option is to have it carried for you along the way by transport companies, very common in very city of the way.

As for the stages, 15km-20km day is very doable, check Gronze website for a list of accomodation in every city to help you plan your walk: https://www.gronze.com/camino-frances
 
If you stay in a Hotel in Madrid they will be happy to keep your luggage as laong as you have a room booked.
We stayed at an AC and when we returned our luggage was waiting in our room.
Buen Camino
 
Get a spanish phone number with Airalo. eSim, so no physical SIM card. Easy to use app to add more funds if needed.
gronze is very very helpful it shows you the level of difficulty the amount of nature and the incline decline .... you could actually do part of the madrid walk and part of the frances walk it depends your ultimate goal .. the french walk has a backpack forwarding service so you dont even have to carry 30lts

I didnt know what plantar fasciitis was I looked it up... goodness 15-20kms with backpack sounds like a marathon in itself wow I admire you I cant even walk that long over a sustained distance ( like you want to) and I only have flat feet ( not much arch)

Ive looked at about 10 or more camino websites and gronze is the best of them in my opinion :)
 
Hi,

there are various spanish websites which offer planning-tools.

Planning-tool 1

Planning-tool 2

Leon-Santiago is about 320 km, so an average of 15-16 km/day.

For further Information on the route (distances, villages, elevation etc.) and alternative accomodation, not only albergues, you may consult this website:

Gronze

BC
Alexandra
Use the Chrome browser for Gronze and it is in English.

Peace be with you.
 
If you stay in a Hotel in Madrid they will be happy to keep your luggage as laong as you have a room booked.
We stayed at an AC and when we returned our luggage was waiting in our room.
Buen Camino
Excuse my ignorance, but what is an AC? Thanks!
 
The focus is on reducing the risk of failure through being well prepared. 2nd ed.
Staying near the airport is not a good idea! From T4, buses are waiting to take you to Northern Spanish destinations such as Burgos in a couple of hours. Or, take a local train to Chamartin Mainline Station and go northwards from there. On the return journey, it is easy to stay in a hotel right next to Chamartin and then you can be at Barajas Airport in half an hour.
 
Very light, comfortable and compressible poncho. Specially designed for protection against water for any activity.

Our Atmospheric H30 poncho offers lightness and waterproofness. Easily compressible and made with our Waterproof fabric, its heat-sealed interior seams guarantee its waterproofness. Includes carrying bag.

€60,-
From Leon I’d bus, taxi, or hitchhike and begin in Hospital de Obrego unless you like a whole bunch of hard surface and tarmac. Just me reflecting back only 5 days ago ...
 
From Leon I’d bus, taxi, or hitchhike and begin in Hospital de Obrego unless you like a whole bunch of hard surface and tarmac. Just me reflecting back only 5 days ago ...
Or unless you like the feeling of walking the whole thing, the hard parts and the easy parts, the pretty parts and the not so pretty parts.
 
It is worth spending at least a day in León itself. My favourite hotel there is Spa Hotel Paris on Calle Ancha. After León I would take the left route via Vilar de Mazarife (Albergue de Jesus is one of my favourite albergues) and then on to Villares de Orbigo where the albergue is run by a lovely Belgian woman. After that I would head to Astorga and then on to the British albergue in Rabanal and then on to the albergue with a pool in El Acebo. I would then have two lazy days to Ponferrada via Molinaseca.
 
Get a spanish phone number with Airalo. eSim, so no physical SIM card. Easy to use app to add more funds if needed.
And there I was thinking it was a hotel with air conditioning. :)
Agreed, but the OP noted a foot injury so just trying to assist. In Villafranca del Bierzo tonight and we have encountered 2 40/50 yr old women off to hospital in past 6 days with series leg swelling. Hoping not DVT or stress fractures??
 
Agreed, but the OP noted a foot injury so just trying to assist. In Villafranca del Bierzo tonight and we have encountered 2 40/50 yr old women off to hospital in past 6 days with series leg swelling. Hoping not DVT or stress fractures??
What is a stress fracture? thanks
 
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Small break in bone from over stress. Painful.

ah so many many people have brain fractures too on a daily basis...

I think my friend had a stress fracture she was out of action for about three months.
 
ah so many many people have brain fractures too on a daily basis...

I think my friend had a stress fracture she was out of action for about three months.

this is another good reason to use the mochilla service if you are not in the prime physically me thinks
 
From Leon I’d bus, taxi, or hitchhike and begin in Hospital de Obrego unless you like a whole bunch of hard surface and tarmac. Just me reflecting back only 5 days ago ...
Cayou, is that why it seems so many take a bus to Leon and start walking from there, because there's so much pavement/road there and so the best place to get off bus and start walking to avoid so much road walking is Hospital de Obrego?
 
Join our full-service guided tour and let us convert you into a Pampered Pilgrim!
So I walked from Leon, made it to SdC but with shin splints and bronchitis! It was the stretch out of Sarria that brought on the shin splints. The foot held up fine! In hindsight I’d recommend starting at Astorga or even Ponferrada to be honest. I’m glad I got a taste of the end of the meseta but it wasn’t for me, I loved Galicia!
 
The first edition came out in 2003 and has become the go-to-guide for many pilgrims over the years. It is shipping with a Pilgrim Passport (Credential) from the cathedral in Santiago de Compostela.
this is another good reason to use the mochilla service if you are not in the prime physically me thinks
I did end up using the bag service as it meant I could manage 20km or more and keep up with my new friends which was important to me.
 
Down bag (90/10 duvet) of 700 fills with 180 g (6.34 ounces) of filling. Mummy-shaped structure, ideal when you are looking for lightness with great heating performance.

€149,-
If you stay in a Hotel in Madrid they will be happy to keep your luggage as laong as you have a room booked.
We stayed at an AC and when we returned our luggage was waiting in our room.
Buen Camino
I ended up staying at Catalonia Puerta del Sol in the middle of Madrid and they were so lovely!
 
So I walked from Leon, made it to SdC but with shin splints and bronchitis! It was the stretch out of Sarria that brought on the shin splints. The foot held up fine! In hindsight I’d recommend starting at Astorga or even Ponferrada to be honest. I’m glad I got a taste of the end of the meseta but it wasn’t for me, I loved Galicia!
Mmm. I wish I had a map to look at now. Anyhow, Holhum, I can't remember where Sarria is at the moment but how about from the start of SJPdP, are you saying you didn't do that part of the Frances and just started from Leon but would suggest starting from Astorga or Ponferrada, which, I imagine, is close to Astorga? And you're suggesting leaving from one of those places instead of Leon or before because there's a lot of road walking from the beginning of the Frances until Leon/Astorga or....?
 
Astorga is leaving the Plains of Leon. Out of Leon is was hot with a lot of tarmac last Sept. Some like to see everything, me I like the more scenic. Tarmac was not what the original pilgrims walked on?! Hospital to Astorga is our style ... but an Astorga start would be nice too.
 
Ideal sleeping bag liner whether we want to add a thermal plus to our bag, or if we want to use it alone to sleep in shelters or hostels. Thanks to its mummy shape, it adapts perfectly to our body.

€46,-
Cayou, is that why it seems so many take a bus to Leon and start walking from there, because there's so much pavement/road there and so the best place to get off bus and start walking to avoid so much road walking is Hospital de Obrego?

Hi. . .

I do not know what is meant by ". . .why it seems so many take a bus to Leon and start walking from there. . . "

Starting in Leon as the beginning of a pilgrimage to Santiago de Compostela, is usually due to how much time a person has available to walk; for some it is because they are returning to Leon to continue the pilgrimage because that is where they had stopped from a previous pilgrimage.

I am a wilderness backpacker. I have thru-hiked the Pacific Crest Trail. So my comments below are coming from a viewpoint with that background of experience.

Most of the Camino Frances is NOT on busy vehicle roadways. There are sections of the Camino with a senda (paths) which parallel a road. Many times these senda's have a wide buffer from the road. There are other small sections which are on quiet, narrow, single lane country roads, like the Napoleon route out of St Jean Pied de Port. Still other sections which, infrequently, are on a road for a ways. There are a lot of packed dirt narrow farming roads which the Camino follows.

The Camino is NOT a wilderness hike; you are walking from town to town, village to village, and city to city. There is a mix of some urban with a huge percentage of countryside. In my mind, if THAT is what the Camino, ANY Camino is, then that is what the Camino is.

I can say that, even as a very experienced wilderness backpacker, I was never bothered by any of the walk when it occurred on or near those roadways.

I have seen a few posts which you have made that read as though you have an anxiousness about the Camino and roads. Perhaps if you tell us WHY you are concerned about the amount of roads, then we can provide better help for the kind of information you are seeking. :)
 
I wish I had a map to look at now.
That would probably help!

There are bits and pieces of road walking all along the route from SJPP, so I don't think you should base your decision about where to start on that. Deciding to take a bus for the 10 km exit from a city is a detail you can think about the day before you are there.
 
Astorga is leaving the Plains of Leon. Out of Leon is was hot with a lot of tarmac last Sept. Some like to see everything, me I like the more scenic. Tarmac was not what the original pilgrims walked on?! Hospital to Astorga is our style ... but an Astorga start would be nice too.
Yes, I'm with you, Cayou. I like the more scenic too and hope to avoid as much tarmac as possible.
 
Technical backpack for day trips with backpack cover and internal compartment for the hydration bladder. Ideal daypack for excursions where we need a medium capacity backpack. The back with Air Flow System creates large air channels that will keep our back as cool as possible.

€83,-
Astorga is leaving the Plains of Leon. Out of Leon is was hot with a lot of tarmac last Sept. Some like to see everything, me I like the more scenic. Tarmac was not what the original pilgrims walked on?! Hospital to Astorga is our style ... but an Astorga start would be nice too.

Yes, I'm with you, Cayou. I like the more scenic too and hope to avoid as much tarmac as possible.

Let me just say, having walked the Camino Frances, that tarmac is much nicer to walk on than the "original Roman roads" that the Camino sometimes includes. I can say, with a fair bit of confidence, that if the Roman legionnaires marched miles and miles on those roads, they would have hobbled onto the battlefield in no condition to fight anyone. The cobblestones of the Camino Portugues were wonderful in comparison. So much for what "the original pilgrims" walked on. While tarmac is not my favourite surface, some of the alternatives are much worse.

There is a lot of beautiful scenery on the Camino. There are some less scenic parts - often into and out of the cities, but not always. It really depends on what you find scenic. Some find the meseta boring and repetitive and not at all scenic. Others find it majestic. Some of the scenic parts are found walking along roads. Some are not.
 
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Let me just say, having walked the Camino Frances, that tarmac is much nicer to walk on than the "original Roman roads" that the Camino sometimes includes. I can say, with a fair bit of confidence, that if the Roman legionnaires marched miles and miles on those roads, they would have hobbled onto the battlefield in no condition to fight anyone. The cobblestones of the Camino Portugues were wonderful in condition. So much for what "the original pilgrims" walked on. While tarmac is not my favourite surface, some of the alternatives are much worse.

There is a lot of beautiful scenery on the Camino. There are some less scenic parts - often into and out of the cities, but not always. It really depends on what you find scenic. Some find the meseta boring and repetitive and not at all scenic. Others find it majestic. Some of the scenic parts are found walking along roads. Some are not.
Yes, those cobble-stoned streets and alleys can be killers after some time :)
 
The focus is on reducing the risk of failure through being well prepared. 2nd ed.

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