Walking Frances with 10-year old granddaughter

[Rachel from Seattle]

Hello Pilgrims,
I’ve been telling my granddaughter for years that she and I will walk the Camino together when she is in double-digits. That time will be late June, as soon as school is out. I have previously walked the Frances and the Norte. We plan to start around the Leon vicinity and go to Santiago and hopefully Muxia. I wonder if any of you have specific advice for walking with this age-group and if you (or the child) would care to comment. Thank you in advance.

 

[Deleted member 67185]

Here are a couple of threads:

https://www.caminodesantiago.me/com...rience-walking-with-my-10-year-old-son.51382/

https://www.caminodesantiago.me/community/threads/walking-with-a-nine-year-old.51051/

 

[Rosalinda]

Is she as excited about walking as you are? My husband and I took our two boys with us in 2015. We walked from Sarria to Santiago they were experiencing a state of digital withdraw-no xbox. They were mad! They hated the camino! After we arrived to our hotel in Santiago my husband and I were talking about coming back and doing it without the kids because it was so emotionally and physically challenging doing it with them; they overheard us and said they wanted to come back. In 2017 we walked the Camino Sanabres and they brought their phones and they hardly complained. (They didn't use the phones while walking but did so once we reached the hotel.)

 

[nycwalking]

You can check out World Towning vlogs on YouTube.

They are a YouTube family of four: dad, mom, 14 and 10 year old kids, who walked the camino last year.

Might give you some tips.

Buen camino.

 

[Rachel from Seattle]

You can check out World Towning vlogs on YouTube.

They are a YouTube family of four: dad, mom, 14 and 10 year old kids, who walked the camino last year.

Might give you some tips.

Buen camino.

Thank you very much for the suggestion. I watched the whole series. Such a cute family.

 

[Rachel from Seattle]

Here are a couple of threads:

https://www.caminodesantiago.me/com...rience-walking-with-my-10-year-old-son.51382/

https://www.caminodesantiago.me/community/threads/walking-with-a-nine-year-old.51051/

Thanks Dave Bugg. Looking forward to reading these threads!

 

[Rachel from Seattle]

You can check out World Towning vlogs on YouTube.

They are a YouTube family of four: dad, mom, 14 and 10 year old kids, who walked the camino last year.

Might give you some tips.

Buen camino.

Thanks NYC!

 

[Gumba]

Hi, we walked March/April 2018 with our then 9 and 11 y.o boys (11 y.o turned 12 on the Camino). We are walking again in Dec 2019/Jan 2020 - they will be 11 (just) and 13. Like Rosalinda, they boys had phones which helped them. They were a lot faster than us! Like all of us, they had days where they motored past and days that were hard. It was wonderful having such undivided attention to talk and discuss things. Our older son is very outgoing and would often join other walking parties! The boys carried their teddies across the Camino. They enjoyed having Cola Cao (hot chocolate) everyday when we had our cafe con leche. The food was fine. I found that we stopped and 'smelled the roses' a lot, stopped at various playgrounds. Went wandering around the villages. We mostly stayed in hotels or private rooms, personal preference. Boys are looking forward to staying in albergues next time around. Sorry, the above is a bit all over the place!

I would be happy to answer any specific questions you have - or the boys could answer - either here or via private message.

 

[Rachel from Seattle]

Is she as excited about walking as you are? My husband and I took our two boys with us in 2015. We walked from Sarria to Santiago they were experiencing a state of digital withdraw-no xbox. They were mad! They hated the camino! After we arrived to our hotel in Santiago my husband and I were talking about coming back and doing it without the kids because it was so emotionally and physically challenging doing it with them; they overheard us and said they wanted to come back. In 2017 we walked the Camino Sanabres and they brought their phones and they hardly complained. (They didn't use the phones while walking but did so once we reached the hotel.)

Hi Rosalinda, thanks for responding. My granddaughter is very into it and we’ve already started training walks, but as we all know it’s tougher than it sounds. My plan is to walk as much as we can but if we need a rest day or to bus a bit or send our packs forward we will. Interesting that your boys wanted to go back after initially hating it. What a great experience for your family to share!

 

[Rachel from Seattle]

Hi, we walked March/April 2018 with our then 9 and 11 y.o boys (11 y.o turned 12 on the Camino). We are walking again in Dec 2019/Jan 2020 - they will be 11 (just) and 13. Like Rosalinda, they boys had phones which helped them. They were a lot faster than us! Like all of us, they had days where they motored past and days that were hard. It was wonderful having such undivided attention to talk and discuss things. Our older son is very outgoing and would often join other walking parties! The boys carried their teddies across the Camino. They enjoyed having Cola Cao (hot chocolate) everyday when we had our cafe con leche. The food was fine. I found that we stopped and 'smelled the roses' a lot, stopped at various playgrounds. Went wandering around the villages. We mostly stayed in hotels or private rooms, personal preference. Boys are looking forward to staying in albergues next time around. Sorry, the above is a bit all over the place!

I would be happy to answer any specific questions you have - or the boys could answer - either here or via private message.

 

[Rachel from Seattle]

Hi Gumba— This is what I was hoping to hear about. Glad to have the Cola Cao mystery solved. I noticed the World Towning kids were really into it. My gd doesn’t have a phone yet and I’m not sure her parents want her to have one but I might have an old one we could fix up. I hadn’t thought about her going ahead of me on her own but if we met another kid or people we bond w it might happen. Did you have any rules w them to make it work? Thanks for the offer to pm you or have my gd pm your boys. How many kilometers did you average per day? Did they listen to audiobooks or music? Thanks so much for taking the time.

 

[Gumba]

To answer your questions - boys had a Kobo app so would read books that we downloaded prior to walking, plus music and played games. None of us used our phones (books/music) while walking - for no particular reason.

We generally walked 20-25 km per day. One day we walked 10km (bliss!) and from Saria to SdC we decided to slow down and walk 15 kms. by then it was easy peasy and most enjoyable.

We did decide to catch a train from Leon to Sarria as we had heard the snow was very deep especially heading up O'Cebreiro. We felt it just wasn't safe enough to put our children at risk.l They specifically asked that we walk it next time around. We will see, we will be passing through early January.

The 9 year old had the most energy the entire way...

 

[Leibniz]

Love this thread! My kids are 18 and 16 now but I really wish I’d had the chance to take them on the Camino when they were younger. So I’m living it vicariously through the posts above.

 

[domigee]

Hello Pilgrims,
I’ve been telling my granddaughter for years that she and I will walk the Camino together when she is in double-digits. That time will be late June, as soon as school is out. I have previously walked the Frances and the Norte. We plan to start around the Leon vicinity and go to Santiago and hopefully Muxia. I wonder if any of you have specific advice for walking with this age-group and if you (or the child) would care to comment. Thank you in advance.

Hi Rachel,
One year (in July/August), we walked from St Jean to Santiago with my friend’s nephew, who turned 11 on the Camino. Plenty of ice cream, even sweets (I think it was to stop him talking so much ). Seriously: plenty of water, lots of good food and a nap in the afternoon worked well.
The fun bit was collecting as many sellos as possible (he ended up with lots of filled up Credentials) oh... and waving to lorries who would honk back
We all had great fun!
Have a wonderful Camino.

 

[domigee]

Hi Gumba— This is what I was hoping to hear about. Glad to have the Cola Cao mystery solved. I noticed the World Towning kids were really into it. My gd doesn’t have a phone yet and I’m not sure her parents want her to have one but I might have an old one we could fix up. I hadn’t thought about her going ahead of me on her own but if we met another kid or people we bond w it might happen. Did you have any rules w them to make it work? Thanks for the offer to pm you or have my gd pm your boys. How many kilometers did you average per day? Did they listen to audiobooks or music? Thanks so much for taking the time.

Just thought I’d answer your query...
We walked it in 31 days. He was full of energy.
He didn’t have a phone and frankly, we didn’t leave him out of our sight... We ended up as a little group of 4 and he either walked with his uncle or the friend we’d met or me ... but never on his own, no.
I can’t recall him having audio books or music, we just sometimes borrowed his uncle’s ipad and played ‘Angry birds’ a lot

 

[janines1]

Hi Rachel, that is very exciting. A couple years back Patricia (Trish) Ellis Herr walked with her 2 girls Alex and Sage. The have/had a very nice website called Girls on the Way, I think they were about 8 and 10, enjoy the way with your grand daughter

 

[Rachel from Seattle]

To answer your questions - boys had a Kobo app so would read books that we downloaded prior to walking, plus music and played games. None of us used our phones (books/music) while walking - for no particular reason.

We generally walked 20-25 km per day. One day we walked 10km (bliss!) and from Saria to SdC we decided to slow down and walk 15 kms. by then it was easy peasy and most enjoyable.

We did decide to catch a train from Leon to Sarria as we had heard the snow was very deep especially heading up O'Cebreiro. We felt it just wasn't safe enough to put our children at risk.l They specifically asked that we walk it next time around. We will see, we will be passing through early January.

The 9 year old had the most energy the entire way...

Wonderful intel - muchas gracias!

 

[linkster]

I met some grandparents and their granddaughter in Orisson. I had dinner with them in Roncevalles ... the granddaughter hardly spoke o them at dinner. She spoke to me and was very pleasant, but not with them. She was experiencing withdraws from friends, and maybe mom & dad. Grandpa would not allow her to use her phone.

Anyway, she flew home early from Pamplona. They worked it out for her to skip school for a month, and she ditched them or visa versa. Teach her patience by being patient. Teach her compromise by compromising. You get the idea. We all need to feel in control of our personal space.

He walked his own camino. Why not let her walk hers?

 

[Rachel from Seattle]

I met some grandparents and their granddaughter in Orisson. I had dinner with them in Roncevalles ... the granddaughter hardly spoke o them at dinner. She spoke to me and was very pleasant, but not with them. She was experiencing withdraws from friends, and maybe mom & dad. Grandpa would not allow her to use her phone.

Anyway, she flew home early from Pamplona. They worked it out for her to skip school for a month, and she ditched them or visa versa. Teach her patience by being patient. Teach her compromise by compromising. You get the idea. We all need to feel in control of our personal space.

He walked his own camino. Why not let her walk hers?

I hope that doesn’t happen to us!

 

[linkster]

I hope that doesn’t happen to us!

I neglected to say that I hope it does not happen to you! The reward is worth the risk. I relish the opportunity to spend time with my kids even when they are a PITA.

¡Buena suerte!

 

[Rachel from Seattle]

I neglected to say that I hope it does not happen to you! The reward is worth the risk. I relish the opportunity to spend time with my kids even when they are a PITA.

¡Buena suerte!

Lol

 

[Via2010]

Hi Rachel,

I did Astorga-Santiago with my nephew (almost 10) in April 2011. He got his own childrens back-pack (22 L) and carried most of his stuff (only his sleeping bag was too voluminous, so I had to put it in my back-back). He enjoyed walking and recovered easily from the daily walks (up to 28 km/day). The spanish are very fond of children, so in every bar or albergue he was offered some sweets, biscuits etc. He sometimes thought that the elderly spanish ladies were a bit nasty!
He liked "cola cao" (hot chocolate) and fresh orange juice, but also wanted to try "pulpo" and "snails".
Arriving at the seaside in Fisterra with its long beaches was a special treat for him.
He preferred albergues with small bedrooms (up to 6 persons) or private rooms.
Now at the age of almost 17 he thinks of going back on the camino again, but with his girl-friend, not with his aunt!

BC
Alexandra

 

[Rachel from Seattle]

Hi Rachel,

I did Astorga-Santiago with my nephew (almost 10) in April 2011. He got his own childrens back-pack (22 L) and carried most of his stuff (only his sleeping bag was too voluminous, so I had to put it in my back-back). He enjoyed walking and recovered easily from the daily walks (up to 28 km/day). The spanish are very fond of children, so in every bar or albergue he was offered some sweets, biscuits etc. He sometimes thought that the elderly spanish ladies were a bit nasty!
He liked "cola cao" (hot chocolate) and fresh orange juice, but also wanted to try "pulpo" and "snails".
Arriving at the seaside in Fisterra with its long beaches was a special treat for him.
He preferred albergues with small bedrooms (up to 6 persons) or private rooms.
Now at the age of almost 17 he thinks of going back on the camino again, but with his girl-friend, not with his aunt!

BC
Alexandra

I have a feeling my granddaughter will be stronger than me but we'll see. We've been discussing the word grit, which is what the Camino tests me on on a daily basis.

 

[donalomahony]

This appeared in my feed today https://www.caminodesantiago.me/com...-walking-with-my-10-year-old-son.51382/unread from 2017

 

[Rachel from Seattle]

Did the kids you walked with use sticks (hiking poles)?

 

[domigee]

Yes, he had a wooden pole bought in St Jean.