birnbaumclara
New Member
- Time of past OR future Camino
- the Frances, and Finisterre and Muxia (summer, 2012). Will walk from Le Puy to SJPP (summer, 2014)
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What ever happened to the French gentleman who rented two donkeys and was going to let us know how it went? And the woman with the shoping cart/donkey contraption she was going to take on the Camino and feared dogs would lift their leg on?
Thanks so much for these links. I`ve taken a quick look at some of the sites, and I think I will find out precisely what I need to know.Voici! http://www.bourricot.com/Compostelle/index.html
More general info (in french) http://www.chemindecompostelle.com/AneCompostelle/AneCompostelle.html
I've met three people on the Camino with donkeys and they all regretted it. Hard to carry food for. Hard to find lodging. And when the donkey decides the day is finished, it IS finished, no matter if you are only half way to the Gite. That's all I know.
I've met three people on the Camino with donkeys and they all regretted it. Hard to carry food for. Hard to find lodging. And when the donkey decides the day is finished, it IS finished, no matter if you are only half way to the Gite. That's all I know.
I guess the key question might be......why do you want to walk with a donkey?
Is it for your benefit or the donkey's ?
Those I have seen walking with a donkey seemed to be laden with gear..... easier to just wear a back pack surely ?
Thanks. I have the book and will get to it after I`ve read the RL Stevenson, which I`m in the middle of.Read "Travels with my Donkey" by Tim Moore. He writes a very entertaining story about it.
http://www.amazon.com/dp/0312320833/?tag=casaivar02-20
If he makes you want to do it even more, try to quash the urge!!
I would not bring any more gear than I did when I walked the Camino alone. The 10 K or so would be nothing for the donkey, although it was no big deal at all to have it on my own back. I love walking, I love animals, and I love the French countryside. I would love the companionship of a donkey as I walk through this paradise. That`s my reason.
Thanks so much!Do also read the 19th c account by Robert Louis Stevenson of his Travels with a Donkey in the Cevennes. Today there is a trail which follows his/their route. See more in this earlier Forum thread.
Happy dreams!
@birnbaumclara, perhaps you can contact @GAUVINS. I am not sure that he is still a member of this forum. You can search for all his messages which may contain useful information for you; use the search options in the top right corner of the screen. He walked with two donkeys while he was accompanied by his wife and his two young daughters, and in France only, not in Spain. They all - humans and donkeys - seem to have had no complaints and a happy time. He writes that they did get acquainted with walking with donkeys while still at home. Perhaps you can do this where you live?
He also wrote that he was "a bit puzzled by the [negative] chorus" on this forum concerning walking with donkeys in France. It certainly seems to be popular in some areas, for example in the Massif Central which you mentioned and of course on the RL Stevenson trail.
I have no experience whatsoever and no answers to your questions #1 and #3. There may be more concern on the side of the owners that their customers have "the donkey's interest and needs at heart" than the other way round. I presume that these donkeys are not working animals in the traditional sense, i.e. not raised for farm work and commercial transport.
I see that @MinaKamina has posted excellent links. Hiring a donkey is not cheap!
Dragging a huge, stubborn, hungry animal behind you seems unreasonably much harder than carrying a light backpack.
I couldn`t imagine anything more pleasing.
I would not bring any more gear than I did when I walked the Camino alone. The 10 K or so would be nothing for the donkey, although it was no big deal at all to have it on my own back. I love walking, I love animals, and I love the French countryside. I would love the companionship of a donkey as I walk through this paradise. That`s my reason.
And to me that's a good enough reason...I love walking, I love animals, and I love the French countryside. I would love the companionship of a donkey as I walk through this paradise. That`s my reason.
Personally, I just don't see myself with a donkey having dinner at a nice downtown restaurant, standing in line at the supermarket or checking in a small guesthouse
I'd rather consider bringing my cat.
Found a sweet video of a young French family who hiked the French part of the Chemin de St Jacques with 2 donkeys, 2 young children and a baby in a sling
And some stories:
http://www.ouest-france.fr/pays-de-...jacques-de-compostelle-au-pas-de-lane-2753295
http://marcheurs.blog.pelerin.info/...-vers-saint-jacques-de-compostelle/#more-2718
It may take a while to get to know one another (Après deux jours de route, l'ânesse fait sa tête de mule et fausse compagnie à son ânière pour reprendre seule la direction de Grez-Neuville), and these French pilgrims appear totally willing to accept this as part of their journey.
And to me that's a good enough reason...
Buen camino and best of luck on finding your donkey.
Have you thought of doing the Stevenson Way with a donkey instead? The GR and Miam Miam Dodo guides give details of where donkeys can be hired (and collected at the end) also of accommodation where there is grazing for the beast. Years ago I met a couple doing this who said that the donkey's natural pace is slightly slower than a human's; as a result they had more time to look around and had seen so much more. By the way thr Stevenson is a delightful walk.
Good Luck.
The Stevenson Trail really set up for donkeys, and there are many people who know and love donkeys to help. You said you already did the lePuy route.
Go back to LePuy, but this time head south on the Stevenson. You and the donkey will be glad.
Please read my reply to SixWheeler below as it applies here in terms of overall expense (I hadn`t seen your comment at that time). I have to research my claim that it may be cheaper on the GR 65 because of the "credential", because if that`s not true, I am not fixed on the idea of returning to the Le Puy route. Since the Stevenson Trail is in the Massif Central, I am very interested. My original fantasy many years ago was of walking with a donkey in the Massif Central, and I don`t even know what sparked that image since I didn`t even know where the Massif Central was at the time (or the Camino de Santiago for that matter). It`s magical for me that I only found out once I decided to walk the Le Puy route a few years ago. This thread, and comments like yours are delicious. Thanks so much!
Each time I want to reply to someone on this thread, I press the "reply" button.
Your replies look like they have been done right. Here is something it took me a while to figure out, although I'm not sure that it answers your question. Or that you really want the details. However, here goes...
When you first click on Reply, the entire post is copied into a window below, with some "Quote" code around it. (That's what puts it in the pink box when it is posted.) Then you type your message below. If, by mistake, you type your words in between the QUOTE bookends, it will be hidden in the pink box. Or if you type before the first QUOTE end, it will appear before the quoted message.
If you highlight only some words in the post you want to reply to, and use the +Quote button that appears, then only those words you highlighted will be saved. When you click "Insert Quote," those words are put in a pink box. For example I'm going to do that below...
Another tip is that you can use Reply and then delete whatever part of the first message you don't want to include in the pink box.
I loved the Stevenson trail and met many nice donkeys along the way. I'm on a kayak trip at the moment but can provde a lot of info when I get back
On the Stevenson, your donkey will have donkey friends to pasture with. They like that.
Read "Travels with my Donkey" by Tim Moore. He writes a very entertaining story about it.
http://www.amazon.com/dp/0312320833/?tag=casaivar02-20
If he makes you want to do it even more, try to quash the urge!!
(was notified of this thread. In a rush - I apologize for a quick post from my phone)
We walked 1500+ kms last summer with 2 donkeys (Salomé and Lolita), and our family of 4, including our 4 year old. Fantastic experience.
1. We rented from professional breeders. They select animals based on their breed and temperament and train them as pack animals. Not at all trivial. Donkeys prepped for chemin du Puy are Pyrénées donkeys, roughly the size of a mule. They are fitted with horseshoes on their front legs. Donkeys rented on the Stevenson are much smaller are walk barefoot.
2. Pyrénées donkeys can walk as fast or faster than their human companions. We averaged close to 30kms per day at 4.5 km/h.
3. Providing for donkeys is simple. They need grass and water. Brushing every morning / evening. Cleaning hoves every morning. Diet can be supplemented with carrots, apples, old bread. Occasionally oats.
4. The quality of your relationship with the donkey is critical. We were advised to avoid a brute force approach (and witness how ineffective it is) and warned that donkeys will try your will (and they do). My understanding is that a pack donkey is a working animal and that you must shape the donkey's expectations in a caring yet firm manner.
5. It is said that the best donkeys are castrated males, followed by pregnant females. Females in heat sometimes become somewhat temperamental. An uncastrated male is outright dangerous.
6. We've encountered maybe a dozen donkeys, most on the Stevenson. We've encountered 2 young children (long distance) and BOTH were riding with donkeys.
7. We've walked from Puy en Velay to Auch to St guilhem le désert to Puy en Velay. Maybe our expectations had been raised too high, but Stevenson has been a disappointment. This is the only portion of our summer where we've had to compose with fully booked accommodations (and no campsites), and where walking with a donkey felt more like a Disney ride. On the other hand, the Chemin d'Arles felt authentic and much more impregnated by the spirit of Compostelle.
8. Walking with a donkey makes it easy to carry camping equipment. This should help wrt budget.
Hello Birnbaumclara,
Some feedback about walking with a donkey, from an experience some 20 years ago. We rented donkeys from an agency which doesn't exist any longer and walked in the Mezenc/Gerbier de Joncs area in the Massif Central, with our kids (14, 12, 9 and 3) and two donkeys, from gite to gite along a closed loop for a week. The animals carried our stuff and the youngest kid.
We were given limited information by the agency, the most important one was : "Don't let them do what they want. If one stops for grazing, just kick (gently!) its head." So we went.
The first day is all about testing. At the end of the day, there will be only one boss, you or the donkey. Let it be you. They would stamp on your feet, on purpose (although they have four legs, they know perfectly where they are), blow down your sunglasses with an ear, try to stop... Show authority! Far from stubborn, they act as a three year old kid...
The daily care is rather limited : take off the pack saddle, check the hoofs for possible blocked stones, tend to the bruises due to horseflies, thank them for their help... Leave the animals graze in an assigned piece of land.
The donkeys were quite friendly and cooperative. The main problem is their fear of water : you have to insist, or even bribe them, to cross streams or puddles.
Altogether, great memories for the whole family!
Some contacts (no personal experience) : http://www.ane-et-rando.com/chemin-stevenson
So we take a tent!I've met three people on the Camino with donkeys and they all regretted it. Hard to carry food for. Hard to find lodging. And when the donkey decides the day is finished, it IS finished, no matter if you are only half way to the Gite. That's all I know.
Hi, indeed we have - luckily we can call the rental company and they come and take him home to join his 60 strong donkey family!! Will be a heart-wrencher for sure but cant really take him home to Canada!Have you thought about what to do with the burro when you reach Santiago?
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