Time constraints - need advice on where to bus it!

[JanoHoops]

I am heading out on my first Camino on 26 May and due to unforseen circumstances, have only 30 days to get to Santiago. Not ideal, I know....and unfortunately can't change my start point of SJP. Can any experienced people offer advice on which section/s are feasible or recommended to catch a bus or train and make up some time. It feels like sacrilege, not my ideal situation, but unavoidable. Any advice would be appreciated.

 

[Jeff Crawley]

A Spanish friend told me (before my first Camino) that the Camino was like an inside out sandwich - the good stuff is on the outside and the dull in the middle - the Meseta.

Some people swear by walking the Meseta, some swear at it. I crossed it in four days of pouring rain just after harvest and the mud combined with the straw (just like for Moses) into great clumps on my boots.

The second time the forecast was for baking hot weather so I "jumped" and caught a train from Fromista to Leon - it looked even worse at high speed than tramping along.

If you HAVE to jump to keep to a schedule that's where I'd do it.

You can always do it as a penance one your NEXT camino!

buena suerte!

 

[november_moon]

We are considering that too in order to make it work with time constraints. We were walking from Leon last year, but had to cut our Camino short, so we are going back next year and trying to figure out what we can reasonably do with the time we have. I have been reading through the Bierley guide that I have from last year, checking out sections that are described as less than scenic and/or on too much near the highway, etc. It seems that the section going into Leon is kind of sketchy with the highway there, so we are considering taking the bus from Sahagun to Leon - that's about 55km, so approximately 2 days of walking. And from our last Camino, we remember the section leaving Leon was very industrial and un-scenic, so perhaps a bus or taxi out of Leon to cut out a bunch of kms. Last year we walked from Leon to Hospital de Orbigo over 2 days, but with a bit of a jump on the way out of Leon, we could do that in 1 day instead - save a little time there.

Obviously in a perfect world, we'd all have as much time as we needed, but we take what we can get and make the most out of it, right?

 

[JanoHoops]

A Spanish friend told me (before my first Camino) that the Camino was like an inside out sandwich - the good stuff is on the outside and the dull in the middle - the Meseta.

Some people swear by walking the Meseta, some swear at it. I crossed it in four days of pouring rain just after harvest and the mud combined with the straw (just like for Moses) into great clumps on my boots.

The second time the forecast was for baking hot weather so I "jumped" and caught a train from Fromista to Leon - it looked even worse at high speed than tramping along.

If you HAVE to jump to keep to a schedule that's where I'd do it.

You can always do it as a penance one your NEXT camino!

buena suerte!

thanks Jeff, that was my first thought too, then I spoke to someone for whom that was their favourite part, and I thought "back to square 1"!

 

[JanoHoops]

We are considering that too in order to make it work with time constraints. We were walking from Leon last year, but had to cut our Camino short, so we are going back next year and trying to figure out what we can reasonably do with the time we have. I have been reading through the Bierley guide that I have from last year, checking out sections that are described as less than scenic and/or on too much near the highway, etc. It seems that the section going into Leon is kind of sketchy with the highway there, so we are considering taking the bus from Sahagun to Leon - that's about 55km, so approximately 2 days of walking. And from our last Camino, we remember the section leaving Leon was very industrial and un-scenic, so perhaps a bus or taxi out of Leon to cut out a bunch of kms. Last year we walked from Leon to Hospital de Orbigo over 2 days, but with a bit of a jump on the way out of Leon, we could do that in 1 day instead - save a little time there.

Obviously in a perfect world, we'd all have as much time as we needed, but we take what we can get and make the most out of it, right?

I too looked at that highway stretch near Leon and thought that might work. Thanks for this info, really appreciate it!

 

[Mark Lee]

You will probably get some responses to either not skip any of the CF or to change your starting point despite you having already stated that you have to start there. Just warning you...ha ha.
Anyway, I would recommend skipping the section from Carrion de los Condes to Mansilla de las Mulas. That should make up for about three days. You can catch a bus out of Carrion to go there. The bus stop is in the middle of town. Easy to find. It's in a bar/cafe. I think the bus will go all the way to Leon if you had to.
Some will probably say not to do it because you will miss out on walking across the "meseta" on that section, and to some the meseta is a mystical, magical section of sorts to walk. It's a nice stretch, and pretty cool, but I didn't find it to be all that. You won't be missing that much by skipping it, and besides the section between Burgos and Hornillos del Camino is a pretty cool stretch of meseta anyway. So it's not like you will be totally depriving yourself of the "la meseta experience", ha ha.
If you need to skip anything else, I would say skip the stretch going into Burgos. A lot of it is an urban slog alongside a highway. Kinda sucks, but for sure don't skip Burgos or Leon. Gotta see those.

 

[frasert]

Oh no not another "skip the Meseta stoush"

 

[peregrina2000]

I am heading out on my first Camino on 26 May and due to unforseen circumstances, have only 30 days to get to Santiago. Not ideal, I know....and unfortunately can't change my start point of SJP. Can any experienced people offer advice on which section/s are feasible or recommended to catch a bus or train and make up some time. It feels like sacrilege, not my ideal situation, but unavoidable. Any advice would be appreciated.

Hi, Jane,
I would leave that decision to be made once you are walking. There's really no need to plan it in advance, because along the Camino Frances there are buses going from village to village so you can make the decision on the fly when you need to. Some, maybe not many, but more than a few, people walk the Frances in fewer than 30 days, and maybe that will be you. Another factor will be your "camino family" and where they are going and when they are going there. You may just not want to give up your community, and will have to decide where to leave them and how to get to Santiago. I personally would not recommend taking a bus here to avoid that ugly part and a bus there to avoid this difficult part, etc etc, but rather once you get a feel for how you're walking and what realistic distances are, just bite the bullet and jump ahead to a place from which you think you should be able to get to Santiago in the allotted time.

Buen camino, Laurie

 

[whariwharangi]

Just keep walking until the 30 days are up. Come back and finish another time. There is nothing that says you have to walk it all or even the last 100km in one trip. And for sure the camino is about the getting there and not the destination.

 

[jefferyonthecamino]

30 km before to 30 km after leon, and between pamplona and puente la reina

Buen Camino

 

[jsalt]

30 km before to 30 km after leon, and between pamplona and puente la reina

Buen Camino

And miss the Hill of Forgiveness? Nooooooo!

 

[Jo Jo]

My thoughts, and a bunch of other people's, are here: https://www.caminodesantiago.me/community/threads/which-cities-to-skip.32208/page-2#post-294754

 

[Peter Fransiscus]

I am heading out on my first Camino on 26 May and due to unforseen circumstances, have only 30 days to get to Santiago. Not ideal, I know....and unfortunately can't change my start point of SJP. Can any experienced people offer advice on which section/s are feasible or recommended to catch a bus or train and make up some time. It feels like sacrilege, not my ideal situation, but unavoidable. Any advice would be appreciated.

Hi, do the 30 day's from SJPDP and come back and start where you ended and go further to Finisterre and Muxia. Have a wonderful journey and a Buen Camino, Peter.

 

[JanoHoops]

Hi, Jane,
I would leave that decision to be made once you are walking. There's really no need to plan it in advance, because along the Camino Frances there are buses going from village to village so you can make the decision on the fly when you need to. Some, maybe not many, but more than a few, people walk the Frances in fewer than 30 days, and maybe that will be you. Another factor will be your "camino family" and where they are going and when they are going there. You may just not want to give up your community, and will have to decide where to leave them and how to get to Santiago. I personally would not recommend taking a bus here to avoid that ugly part and a bus there to avoid this difficult part, etc etc, but rather once you get a feel for how you're walking and what realistic distances are, just bite the bullet and jump ahead to a place from which you think you should be able to get to Santiago in the allotted time.

Buen camino, Laurie

Thanks Laurie, much appreciated

 

[JanoHoops]

Thank you to everyone who replied, your thoughts and experience really helped. We are on our way, although slightly sidelined in a hotel in Biarritz with a puking Camino companion!

 

[NoQ]

Hi Jano,

You might find that 30 days is enough, depending of course on your fitness and (lack of) injuries. I walked the Camino in 2013 in 29 days and would consider myself a fairly unfit, slightly overweight middle aged office worker who leads a far too sedentary lifestyle.

Once you hit Burgos, you may find that days of 35+ kms are actually very easy. I was so surprised that my wife and I found the book stages to be far too short as we would arrive at our planned destination at the ridiculous hour of 10am (though we walked in summer and set off at around 5.30). I would just take it as it comes and wait and see according to how much you can comfortably and happily cover in a day.

To be absolutely honest, I wouldn't like to miss any section, but if really pushed and you want the Compostela, you could perhaps walk the stage from Carrion to Moratinos and the next day get to Sahagun then take the train from Sahagun to Leon. It would save a couple of days and while you would certainly miss amazing inner contemplation time, you wouldn't miss much in terms of scenery.

 

[JanoHoops]

Thanks NoQ, walking a little further each day is Plan A and it helps to hear it is feasible without being über fit!

 

[Darwin]

Hi myself and my Mum are planning on doing the section from France into Spain, as my mum has done the last 2 stages!

I however have not done this before and trying to organise the trip for us.
We want to do 7 days @20-25k a day. The second week in July. We are moderate walkers.

Can someone please advise, where we should start and finish, any recommendations would be helpful. Apologies about the vagueness.

Thank you in advance

 

[Deleted member 3000]

where we should start and finish

You can plan here:
http://www.godesalco.com/plan

St. Jean Pied de Port is on the end of the Chemin du Puy. The Camino de Santiago planner starts at Roncesvalles. You can pick distances and end points using the two planner.

Have fun!