Way point feedback.

[lanval]

Hello all,

As my son will be joining me part of the way through the camino (In León on day 18), I need to have a good idea of where I will be and when so we can connect.

So I've come up with a list of the places I intend to overnight in and I was wondering if I could get some feedback on the choices.

Route

• St Jean Pied de Port
  Roncesvalles
  Larrasoaña
  Uterga
  Estella
  Torres del Río (rest day)
  Navarrete
  Azofra
  Viloria de Rioja
  San Juan de Ortega
  Burgos
  Hontanas (rest day)
  Boadilla del Camino
  Carrión de los Condes
  San Nicolás del Real Camino
  El Burgo Ranero (rest day)
  León
  Hospital de Órbigo
  Santa Catalina de Somoza
  El Acebo
  Cacabelos
  Vega de Valcarce (rest day)
  Fonfría
  Sarria
  Gonzar
  Melide
  Santa Irene
  Santiago de Compostela (rest day - maybe)
  Negreira
  Oliveiroa
  Finisterre

 

[William Marques]

Good plan but try not to be too tied to it.

Route

• St Jean Pied de Port
  Roncesvalles
  Larrasoaña
  Uterga
  Estella
  Torres del Río (rest day)
  Navarrete
  Azofra
  Viloria de Rioja
  San Juan de Ortega
  Burgos
  Hontanas (rest day)
  Boadilla del Camino
  Carrión de los Condes
  San Nicolás del Real Camino
  El Burgo Ranero (rest day) A rest day here would be dull, dull, dull, I would take it in Leon
  León
  Hospital de Órbigo
  Santa Catalina de Somoza
  El Acebo
  Cacabelos
  Vega de Valcarce (rest day) Again I would rest in Villafranca instead, I love the town.
  Fonfría
  Sarria
  Gonzar
  Melide
  Santa Irene
  Santiago de Compostela (rest day - maybe)
  Negreira
  Oliveiroa
  Finisterre

 

[lanval]

William, thanks for the advice.

Does this look better?

• St Jean Pied de Port
  Roncesvalles
  Larrasoaña
  Uterga
  Estella
  Torres del Río (rest day)
  Navarrete
  Azofra
  Viloria de Rioja
  San Juan de Ortega
  Burgos
  Hontanas (rest day)
  Boadilla del Camino
  Carrión de los Condes
  San Nicolás del Real Camino
  El Burgo Ranero
  León (rest day)
  Hospital de Órbigo
  Santa Catalina de Somoza
  Riego de Ambrós
  Villafranca del Bierzo (rest day)
  O Cebreiro
  Samos
  Ferreiros
  Palas de Rei
  Ribadiso da Baixo
  Pedrouzo –
  Santiago de Compostela (rest day)
  Negreira
  Oliveiroa
  Finisterre

 

[Trudy]

Could I suggest that you change the rest days. You will exhaust the sights of Hontanas, Torres del Rio and El Burgo Ranero in 1/2 an hour, but

Estella,
Burgos and
Leon

are all beautiul places and worhy of extra time.

And try to spend more than one day in Santiago de Compostela. There is so much to see in the city, and it has a wonderful ambiance. You may also want to spend time here catching up with fellow pilgrims.

Also, while it's good to plan ahead, as others have said be flexible. The Camino has a way of disrupting all good plans, be it by weather, injury, illness, detours, or just a need to relax and go slowly.

Trudy

 

[lanval]

Thank Trudy.

I'll move the rest days. As for the schedule, the main thing is to get to Leon by the right day to met my son. If I get too far behind I'll have to warn him to met me elsewhere, but Leon is the goal.

I do hope to spend a day or two in Santiago after getting to Finisterre. My wife and other son will be waiting for me in Santiago for a few days. Then a trip south to the Alhambra; another dream I intend to fulfil on this trip.

 

[WolverineDG]

Michael, may I suggest some tinkering with your schedule? Viloria de Rioja to San Juan de Ortega is all uphill. It is a VERY steep climb out of Villafranca & no water fountains until San Juan. Perhaps you should stay at Villafranca Montes de Oca instead of San Juan, climb out the next day, then spend the night in Ages or Atapuerca instead? Atapuerca has a visitor´s center focused on the excavations in the area & shows a very interesting film (well, to me at least) about the fossils & humanoid remains they have found there. The albergue in San Juan is okay, but I hear the bathrooms are not nice & one pilgrim I met who stayed there said she didn´t shower because of it. The church, on the other hand, was one of the nicest & most "holy" small church I looked into. It´s a shame about the albergue there, since I liked the church & would have liked to have stayed.

You will enjoy the private albergue at Boadilla. It was a slice of heaven to me & my friends (although it looks iffy from the outside).

Kelly

 

[lanval]

Hello Kelly,

Thanks for the advice, I appreciate it.

I've moved my San Juan stay over to Atapuerca. It adds a day to the walk, but I think I may have been a tad optimistic on the first part and the extra day is a good thing. This change relaxes the first half of the walk a fair bit.

So I'm now sitting at this:

• St Jean Pied de Port
  Roncesvalles
  Larrasoaña
  Uterga
  Estella – rest day
  Navarrete
  Azofra
  Viloria de Rioja
  Villafranca de Montes de Oca
  Atapuerca
  Burgos – rest day
  Hontanas
  Boadilla del Camino
  Carrión de los Condes
  San Nicolás del Real Camino
  El Burgo Ranero
  León – rest day
  Hospital de Órbigo
  Santa Catalina de Somoza
  Riego de Ambrós
  Villafranca del Bierzo
  O Cebreiro – rest day
  Samos
  Ferreiros
  Palas de Rei
  Pedrouzo
  Santiago de Compostela – rest day
  Negreira
  Oliveiroa
  Finisterre

 

[WolverineDG]

Have a good trip, Michael. You might want to look over the Hontanas-Boadilla section as well. It´s a steep climb out of Castrojeriz too. 3 days of "mule-killer" descents aren´t fun. If you can make it, great, but if not, see if Casa Nostra in Castrojeriz is still open. It was a nice place to stay.

Some more advice: listen to your body. I´ve met many pilgrims with blister-filled feet, one so bad he was in hospital over night with orders to stay in Burgos at least 3 days. His feet were scary looking although when I saw him today, his feet looked almost normal. Others have been getting very sick. If you don´t stop when your body says to, you WILL get sick, one way or the other.

Tips: never pass up the opportunity to sit down, use the restroom, or wash your hands with soap.

Kelly

 

[JaneB]

re your plan to visit the Alhambra. PLEASE please book your tickets ahead of time. You can do this online and the system now is that you book either a morning or afternoon ticket rather than the timed entry that used to be the case. We planned to visit for my birthday this year only to discover that all tickets for the week that we were in the area had been booked months ago. This wasn't at the height of the season, so book as soon as you know when you'll be visiting.

 

[lanval]

Jane, thanks so much for the warning!

I've checked online, and they seem to only provide tickets three months in advance. I've set up a reminder for three months before I expect to visit.

Again, thanks so much, it would have been so depressing if I couldn't see the gardens.