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Hello,
I'll be walking the camino frances for three weeks in august. Of all the cities on the route, I'd really love to see Pamplona so I was considering using that as my starting point. Is it reasonable to walk from Pamplona to Santiago in three weeks? I am in pretty good shape (crossfit 5 days a week) so fitness level isn't really a concern.
Thanks!
Hello,
I'll be walking the camino frances for three weeks in august. Of all the cities on the route, I'd really love to see Pamplona so I was considering using that as my starting point. Is it reasonable to walk from Pamplona to Santiago in three weeks? I am in pretty good shape (crossfit 5 days a week) so fitness level isn't really a concern.
Thanks!
Yes, this is definitely an endurance challenge, and keeping up a 35km/day pace is really tough. Fitness is only part of the equation. Walking for hours every day, day after day is very different than doing an hour or intense exercise each day. And 35 km/day is 7 hours of walking if you can average 5km/hr. If you've never done that before, its hard to predict how your feet and body are going to react to it. I am reasonably fit, and muscle fatigue was never my limiting factor.
YEs, You can do it....
I have twice averaged Pamplona-Santiago in 20 days without any "I need to" plans.... It just happened...
I`m not sure this would be true while in the august heat though... Things are much harder during summer time... Lots of feet problems that just wont go away ( at least for me)...
Good luck and buen camino!
I second all that. August will most likely be very hot, and thos last 10K may be veery hard. Also, as many have said, physical ability is less of an issue than serious feet problems with such a distance each day. I have seen many young, able and fit with serious feet issues after just a few days.I think that if you want to see Pamplona, you should go there first. Then, use some public transport to get to a more reasonable start point, or research and figure out which part you "least" want to walk and transport ahead. If you want to get your pilgrim certificate for walking the last 100 km, of course, you no doubt have been told that you need to walk from Sarria without using public transport (and get two stamps per day).
The previous comments are spot on. I saw many extremely fit young people zooming ahead of me every day, and many of those people needed first aid at night. Feet just don't hold up great for many folks. Your muscles, fitness, and general attitude of "can do" might say yes, but the feet are a tricky matter.
I would not push my own feet to do that many kms. per day. I can handle the occasional long, long day, but mostly you've got to put in those routine 16-24 km. days and then do the huge push day, when it's a good walk and weather holds.
Aside from the feet just not holding up, you may find that you meet a friend, love a town, want to linger longer. I think a flexible approach is best. All this said, if you are approaching it like a "must get from point a to point b," have at it! Whatever suits YOU!
Buen Camino!
Why not 10 hours of walking? Sure, a lot of Camino walkers do a 5 to 7 hour day, but that leaves a lot of extra "down" time during daylight hours.
If your body is up to that amount of walking, then sure - go for it - no reason not to if you want to walk that many hours if you want to. Most people I met on the Camino were not up for that amount of walking day after day though. My feet feet were my limiting factor most days, and they were pretty much done after about 6 hours each day - at my pace, that's 24km - so that's the max that I can reasonably do in a day if I'm going to get up tomorrow and do it again, and then the next day again. I didn't actually know this until I got there because I'd never tried walking that many hours for days and days in a row. And I think most of us are in that position - just don't know how our bodies will adapt to walking for hours and hours every day, regardless of fitness.
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