Suggestions-Children and Lodging and Trains

[DebraS.]

Good day to everyone!

I am considering hiking a minimum of the last 100km with my 10 year old grand daughter. I live in France and she lives in the USA. So I want to fly her mom (my daughter) and her two younger daughters (4 and 5) to come spend time in Spain with us. This is what I was considering and would like some feedback.... My daughter and her 3 girls fly to meet me in Madrid, we train to some starting point (to be determined). My 10 year old grand daughter and I will hike each day and my daughter will travel by train to certain points and meet up with us regularly. Does this sound possible? I would love if we could all meet up each night.

I know that if you are not a pilgrim, you cannot stay in the albergues, which is fine. I am ok with paying for rooms for us. I just really want to have this experience with my family but not sure the logistics of this works out well.

Any suggestions? and thank you so very much!

 

[SabsP]

First of all I think it is a beautiful present for your family and yourself.

Secondly...when you walk every step you are indeed a pilgrim! The kind of accomodation does not matter at all.
If you have both a Credencial and you get two daily sellos you are entitled to a Compostela...if that is what you want.
I can imagine that your granddaughter would be very proud of hers.
I think a child would prefer the Camino Frances in terms of "action"
Reaching Sarria from Madrid by train is doable.
Then you could prebook hotels or pensions for the five of you.
Train connections from Sarria to Santiago are scarce but buses are not.
Also do not forget the option of taxis in between the villages for the non walkers.
1 Euro per kilometre is a good rule!
All the best with the prepping!

 

[DebraS.]

Thanks SabineP! You made me feel better about my idea. I was a little hesitant thinking I was insane considering doing it this way but if it goes bad, we can always turn around and go home. I think it is well worth it for the experience. I know they will enjoy most of it and will surely have some difficult days.

After talking with my daughter, she really wants to do it too so we will see if we can find a way to bring the two youngest and not be too rough on them. She wants to bring a fold up wagon and use a waist belt to pull it. It is worth a try even if they only do it a few days and travel ahead on some other days.

 

[bmcbride]

What a lovely idea! You will find lots of accommodation available on the final 100 km. of the CF, and you can do shorter stages that might allow the little ones to be able to walk with you as well. I think that you will find that you get lots of support from the locals and from other pilgrims - although I have seen children (some just babes in backpack carriers) on my Caminos, they are still a novelty and garner a lot of attention. Good luck with your planning; I hope that it all works out for you and your family.

 

[grayland]

Sabine gives very good suggestions above ^^. You are a pilgrim if you are walking. Period.

I would add that the 10 year old can easily carry a small pack with her basic things in it. If you are going to stay in private rooms you will not need sleeping bags...so basic clothes is all she will have. She will feel much more part of the pilgrim group if she is also carrying one.
Pulling a wagon or cart can be very difficult due to the various places where you are on rocky paths..or if rain..mud. Do try to stay in an albergue with the grand daughter at least once for the life experience.

Walking the whole last 100km will entitle you and grand daughter to a Compostella in Santiago at the Pilgrim Office. This will be a grand souvenir that she will always remember.

 

[Kiwi-family]

If you have enough time and are willing to keep your distances short (say 7-10km each day) then there is no reason why the five of you couldn’t all walk! Only if you want to. Having walked with young kids, I would choose to go a shorter distance and have them walk it than pull them in a wagon. Get them to train at home - start small, increase a little each time. Stop to smell the roses, inspect the snails and have a rest if they say they are tired. Of course your daughter will have to do all that - but it might be the beginning of a new family adventure!

 

[Rebekah Scott]

consider having Camino Travel Center help you with logistics. They are experts in the Galician part of the pilgrimage trail, they speak excellent English, and they are very reasonable.

 

[Mark McCarthy]

I am taking a group out tomorrow flying to Madrid and taking the lunchtime train to Sarria. I did an intinerary with both albergue and private accommodation options for the group. Message with your email if you want a copy.

 

[DebraS.]

I am taking a group out tomorrow flying to Madrid and taking the lunchtime train to Sarria. I did an intinerary with both albergue and private accommodation options for the group. Message with your email if you want a copy.

Thank you so much Mark McCarthy! I am definitely using your Itinerary. I ran across it in another post before I even saw your response here. One question, what does it mean when you list "Taxi Backwards" and "Taxi Forward"? Buen Camino!

 

[DebraS.]

If you have enough time and are willing to keep your distances short (say 7-10km each day) then there is no reason why the five of you couldn’t all walk! Only if you want to. Having walked with young kids, I would choose to go a shorter distance and have them walk it than pull them in a wagon. Get them to train at home - start small, increase a little each time. Stop to smell the roses, inspect the snails and have a rest if they say they are tired. Of course your daughter will have to do all that - but it might be the beginning of a new family adventure!

I really like this idea and I am going to see what my daughter thinks of the littlest one actually walking the distance. I have managed to free up an extra week so that gives us about 24 days to do it, so I think that could allow us some rest days if the little one gets a bit cranky about the walking.

 

[Mark McCarthy]

This was an itinerary I put together for someone who could only walk about 6.5km/day. Each stage ends either an overnight stop or a cafe/bar. If the stage ends in a cafe/bar the pilgrims needs to call a taxi to take them to their overnight stop. The overnight stop is sometimes ahead of them (and they need to a taxi forward) and sometimes behind them (in which case they need to get a taxi backwards). The idea is that the following morning they get a taxi back to where they finished the night before and restart their journey.

 

[Former member 49149]

Good day to everyone!

I am considering hiking a minimum of the last 100km with my 10 year old grand daughter. I live in France and she lives in the USA. So I want to fly her mom (my daughter) and her two younger daughters (4 and 5) to come spend time in Spain with us. This is what I was considering and would like some feedback.... My daughter and her 3 girls fly to meet me in Madrid, we train to some starting point (to be determined). My 10 year old grand daughter and I will hike each day and my daughter will travel by train to certain points and meet up with us regularly. Does this sound possible? I would love if we could all meet up each night.

I know that if you are not a pilgrim, you cannot stay in the albergues, which is fine. I am ok with paying for rooms for us. I just really want to have this experience with my family but not sure the logistics of this works out well.

Any suggestions? and thank you so very much!

You will have a marvellous time! My little contribution is a memory of an Italian woman with her five year old daughter: the child skipped and hopped,up and down, on and back, while her mother followed along! Another thought: i have seen entire families in albergues so it is possible, but as another comment said, private accommodation will reduce your weight by cutting out need for sleeping bags and other essentials.

 

[Kiwi-family]

How wonderful if you could walk together. I'm sure you'll not regret it.
Are you familiar with the following:
https://godesalco.com/plan/frances
https://www.gronze.com/camino-frances
http://caminodesantiago.consumer.es/los-caminos-de-santiago/frances/

 

[Cuci]

I am taking a group out tomorrow flying to Madrid and taking the lunchtime train to Sarria. I did an intinerary with both albergue and private accommodation options for the group. Message with your email if you want a copy.

Hi Mark. May I also have a copy of the itinerary you mentioned? My husband and I are planning to bring along my 74yr old mother from Sarria to SdC for the last 100km. Our mother is not walking the route so we were thinking of having her take the cab daily to the next village where we will spend the night. At least if she gets there after breakfast, she may be able to explore and do short walks around the village and just wait for us. Are taxis easy to find ? Or would it also be possible to request the luggage service to take my mother as a passenger ?
Your suggestions will be highly appreciated. Thanks !

 

[Mark McCarthy]

Hi Cuci, no problem. Most of the major stops on this stretch have taxi services. As part of a 18 day walking plan I developed for a pilgrim with medical restrictions I found the telephone numbers for several taxi companies along this stretch. The plan with the telephone numbers is at the following resource: www.caminodesantiago.me/community/resources/sarria-to-santiago-in-very-short-stages.627/ . I am also attaching the itinerary of my latest planned trip.

 

[Cuci]

Hi Cuci, no problem. Most of the major stops on this stretch have taxi services. As part of a 18 day walking plan I developed for a pilgrim with medical restrictions I found the telephone numbers for several taxi companies along this stretch. The plan with the telephone numbers is at the following resource: www.caminodesantiago.me/community/resources/sarria-to-santiago-in-very-short-stages.627/ . I am also attaching the itinerary of my latest planned trip.

Thank you very much Mark for your prompt reply ! The info you just shared with us is so valuable to moving forth with our plans to bring along our mother.

I just have a few more questions, I hope you don't mind.
1. Taxis : how far in advance do we need to book them ? what is the rate like ? was actually thinking of finding a luggage transport service for our bags and request them to accommodate our mother as a passenger, is this also possible ?
2. How much water should we carry on us if we are targeting about 25km a day ? are there free water sources we can refill from along the way ? or should we stick to buying bottled water ?

Muchas gracias.

 

[Mark McCarthy]

Hi Cuci,
1) I am not a great expert on the taxis but from what I understand the rate is very roughly €1/km. I would suggest booking them the night before. In the early part of the Camino around St Jean a lot of the transportation of bags is done in taxis but later on it appears to be done almost uniquely by vans. However, if your mother is getting a taxi you could offset some of the cost by shipping the bags in the taxi. The cost of shipping each bag is normally about €3 from the luggage transport companies.
2) For the Camino, I normally advocate carrying about 2 litres of water in the heat of the summer and 0.5 litres in the winter. There are some water taps in the towns on this stretch which use the town's treated and therefore safe water supply. However, there are plenty of bars along this stretch of the Camino where you can a have a drink and ask them to refill your water bottle. The longest distance on this stretch without a bar is about 8km so you could probably get by with just 1 litre even in the summer.

 

[Cuci]

Muchas gracias Mark

 

[DebraS.]

Hi everyone. I thought I would update about our Camino. So far, we have taken it slow with the 3 girls and have made it to Boente on our 9th day. They are loving it for the most part. The rain gets a bit difficult for them but they actually seem to like that better than the hot days.

We did not take a stroller or wagon thankfully. I think that would have been too difficult with this weather. Actually, the 4 year old is doing better than the rest of us. She runs up the hills when we struggle.

Her and the 5 year old have had competitions to find the arrows and to be the safety leader to warn us when we are in the road or blocking other walkers.

They have become very famous too. Everyone stops to take their picture. They have started to say they are famous stars of the Camino. It is so nice to see people smiling and talking to them.

All in all, it’s a great experience and we expect to finish on the 14th or 15th.

 

[Mark McCarthy]

Hi everyone. I thought I would update about our Camino. So far, we have taken it slow with the 3 girls and have made it to Boente on our 9th day. They are loving it for the most part. The rain gets a bit difficult for them but they actually seem to like that better than the hot days.

We did not take a stroller or wagon thankfully. I think that would have been too difficult with this weather. Actually, the 4 year old is doing better than the rest of us. She runs up the hills when we struggle.

Her and the 5 year old have had competitions to find the arrows and to be the safety leader to warn us when we are in the road or blocking other walkers.

They have become very famous too. Everyone stops to take their picture. They have started to say they are famous stars of the Camino. It is so nice to see people smiling and talking to them.

All in all, it’s a great experience and we expect to finish on the 14th or 15th.

Please keep us posted. It sounds an amazing Camino!