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Search 69,459 Camino Questions

What about my wife?

pilgrimglenn7

Active Member
Time of past OR future Camino
st james way and portugese
Hey All

I am planning on riding the Way of St James and wondering what is cheapest way of my wife to travel from the start of Way of St James to Compastella and then onto Muxia and Fisterre and back to Santiago? she cant ride or walk the camino but wants to support me but wonders how she can get to next town and help us find accommodation and places to eat. We are both vegetarians.

Also what is best month? may or september?

We are planning minimum next year or year after as i am recovering from a serious car accident

Glenn
 
A selection of Camino Jewellery
If I had to choose between I'd say May, September is very hot, and busier. I like May into June myself, when all is green, with flowers everywhere - beautiful. (having said that, this year I am going in September again - its the only month we can get off)
I think your wife would need to leave much later than you in the mornings, and taxi to where you are walking.
There is little point in getting there too early as places arent open. There is very little open in the mornings, just bars and cafes.
The choice of accommodation is often limited in smaller villages, with a wider range of accommodation in towns and cities.
There will be a lot of waiting on her part. A taxi for 25 kms takes only a small fraction of the time it takes to walk it.
 
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If I had to choose between I'd say May, September is very hot, and busier. I like May into June myself, when all is green, with flowers everywhere - beautiful. (having said that, this year I am going in September again - its the only month we can get off)
I think your wife would need to leave much later than you in the mornings, and taxi to where you are walking.
There is little point in getting there too early as places arent open. There is very little open in the mornings, just bars and cafes.
The choice of accommodation is often limited in smaller villages, with a wider range of accommodation in towns and cities.
There will be a lot of waiting on her part. A taxi for 25 kms takes only a small fraction of the time it takes to walk it.
Anamarie many thanks for your advice and helpfulness :) and all the best on your time in September :) How much would it cost for a taxi to travel say up t0 50-60 kilometres? I know here in australia its a prohibitive cost.

Anything else you care to share will be greatly appreciated :) Buen Camino
 
A selection of Camino Jewellery
If your wife is planning to travel the same stages as yourself then probably she will have to travel by taxi much of the time. Or you will have to put a lot of time and effort into researching bus services and timetables. A lot of the Camino Frances is in rural areas and passes through villages with little or no public transport. As you intend to cycle you have the possibility of longer stages and therefore more options than a walker would have. So you can probably choose to stop mostly in larger villages and towns which might have some bus services. But even then I doubt you could plan a whole route around them.
 
If your wife is planning to travel the same stages as yourself then probably she will have to travel by taxi much of the time. Or you will have to put a lot of time and effort into researching bus services and timetables. A lot of the Camino Frances is in rural areas and passes through villages with little or no public transport. As you intend to cycle you have the possibility of longer stages and therefore more options than a walker would have. So you can probably choose to stop mostly in larger villages and towns which might have some bus services. But even then I doubt you could plan a whole route around them.
thanks mate much appreciative in your comments :) how much would it cost to have a taxi ride say 50-60 kilometers ?
thanks again Buen Camino
 
how much would it cost to have a taxi ride say 50-60 kilometers ?
I've never used a taxi on the Camino myself so I can only say what I've read on here: that along the Camino Frances the average cost of a taxi is around 1 euro per km. A very expensive way to get from SJPDP to Santiago I'd say!
 
€2,-/day will present your project to thousands of visitors each day. All interested in the Camino de Santiago.
Anamarie many thanks for your advice and helpfulness :) and all the best on your time in September :) How much would it cost for a taxi to travel say up t0 50-60 kilometres? I know here in australia its a prohibitive cost.

Anything else you care to share will be greatly appreciated :) Buen Camino
Taxi's are roughly 1 euro per km. There are buses that link some of the smaller places, but I've heard that they are not that frequent, so I'm not sure if that would work. I used buses twice to do some side trips eg Burgos to Bilbao for a day- they were very economical, about 26euros from memory, which was heaps cheaper than taxi's.
Other people on this forum have more knowledge about using buses, on the Camino itself I walked everywhere, so I never enquired.
 
If your wife is comfortable driving in Europe, rent a car. It will be cheaper and more flexible than taking taxis. For your situation, I think it offers many advantages - You will easily be able to meet up during the day. It will give your wife the freedom to make her own side trips to places of interest, use out-of-town supermarkets for grocery shopping, and use the boot/trunk to store non-valuable luggage (but for goodness sakes never leave valuables in the car and never leave anything in view). Finally, it gives you a backup plan in case your cycling Camino doesn't pan out the way you expect. With a car and a bike rack you can switch down to a road trip with cycling excursions.

1) First get some quotes from comparison sites:
https://www.autoeurope.eu
www.kayak.com

2) Then call or email autoeurope.com and get a quote for a short-term lease with buy-back:
www.autoeurope.com/peugeot-open-europe-lease/

My gut tells me that a two month lease with buy-back is going to be your best option. I believe it should be possible to pick up in Portugal and drop off in France or vice versa. It might sound too good to be true, but as a non-EU resident you can get a great deal this way:
www.tripsavvy.com/buy-back-car-leases-in-europe-1509095

Just as a benchmark, the absolute cheapest car rental that I know of in France is around €180 for 30 days for a Renault Twingo from Super-U supermarkets. It's probably not suitable for you because of the service restrictions (Max one month rental, inconvenient pick up locations, no one-way rentals, high insurance excess, awful website). But it gives you a rock-bottom benchmark to keep in mind as you review quotes for one-way rentals etc.

EDIT: On second thoughts, if you can work around the challenges with Super-U, it might be worth considering for the time that you're in France. It would take some ingenuity to make it work though. You would need to return the car to the place where you rented it, which means a cross-country drive at the end of the month, and then public transportation to get back. I would also recommend an additional insurance policy to cover the excess. And you might need help to deal with the website.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
For researching bus options, check the Alsa bus company website. There are other, more local services as well, but this can be your starting point. Much of the Frances parallels the main roads between Roncesvalles and Santiago, so there are usually access points for buses. Which means you can research this. Try using Rome2rio website for researching as well.

Good luck.
 
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Download the Rome2Rio app. Have a look at your likely stages and it will tell you what is available re bus and train which is much cheaper than taxi. Download the apps for ALSA etc as these are quite user friendly and much easier than navigating actual bus stations and machines. I can tell you that for ALSA buses you need a booking as they do not stop in towns along the way where there are no bookings and they do not fluff around leaving withing a couple of minutes of arrival. Renfe trains are easy to navigate too and you actually have a booked seat.
My partner had sinusitis and couldn't walk as far as needed for a couple of stages of the Levante. I wrote a letter explaining what the deal was in case of problems, with my contact details if needed. He did unexpectedly have to change to a bus as the train stopped at an earlier station due to a timetable change on one day but negotiated that hurdle despite no Spanish.
 
If you are doing a major route like the Frances, there are usually one or two buses each day from town to town. The bus companies providing this 'life line' service connecting small towns include:

ALSA - https://www.alsa.com/en/web/bus/home
Empresa Freire, S.A. - http://www.empresafreire.com/en/
Conda, S.A. - http://www.conda.es/
La Estellesa, S.A. - https://www.laestellesa.com/
Autobuses Jimenez - https://www.autobusesjimenez.com/
Autobuses Amaya - https://autobusesamaya.com/
Monbus - https://www.monbus.es/en

Local governments contract with these companies to provide service from specified towns and cities. So, you have to check with each to determine if they go where you want to go.

Look for a button called "Horarios" (Schedules).

Remember that there might only be one bus daily, or one in the early morning and another in the later afternoon.

The alternative is a taxi at about €1 per km.

I recommend using buses wherever possible. They are clean, safe and CHEAP.

Alternatively, you can send the boss ahead a couple of days if to a major place like Logrono, Burgos, Leon, Astorga, Sarria, Santiago. This way you / she only has to catch one bus and she can be there playing tourist and to meet you on arrival. Of course, you need book ahead as well.

Whenever life or the Camino presents you a challenge... ADAPT and OVERCOME...

Hope this helps.
 
Hey All

I am planning on riding the Way of St James and wondering what is cheapest way of my wife to travel from the start of Way of St James to Compastella and then onto Muxia and Fisterre and back to Santiago? she cant ride or walk the camino but wants to support me but wonders how she can get to next town and help us find accommodation and places to eat. We are both vegetarians.

Also what is best month? may or september?

We are planning minimum next year or year after as i am recovering from a serious car accident

Glenn
Have a look at the Alsa website, the bit between Burgos and León has about three services a day and more or less follows the camino
 
Down bag (90/10 duvet) of 700 fills with 180 g (6.34 ounces) of filling. Mummy-shaped structure, ideal when you are looking for lightness with great heating performance.

€149,-
As others have suggested, check out local buses before you fall into needing taxis. Spanish buses are safe and comfortable and makes Canadian public transport rather third-worldy in comparison.

A cursory glance at the Francese route suggests to me that buses are easily available from Pamplona to Santo Domingo de la Calzada, and from Burgos on. They normally leave either first thing in the morning, or in the late afternoon. They may not be always available on Sundays and the Saturday schedule, serving shoppers, may be quite different. Many happy hours can be spent on Rome2rio and individual sites figuring out the schedule. My experience of Spanish taxis is that they are roughly a euro per kilometre, but she will sometimes be able to share them with other pilgrims who are taking a break through injury or sloth. 2tandreo's post is a pinnable and has much useful information.
 
If your wife is comfortable driving in Europe, rent a car. It will be cheaper and more flexible than taking taxis. For your situation, I think it offers many advantages - You will easily be able to meet up during the day. It will give your wife the freedom to make her own side trips to places of interest, use out-of-town supermarkets for grocery shopping, and use the boot/trunk to store non-valuable luggage (but for goodness sakes never leave valuables in the car and never leave anything in view). Finally, it gives you a backup plan in case your cycling Camino doesn't pan out the way you expect. With a car and a bike rack you can switch down to a road trip with cycling excursions.

What Raggy said. We were touring parts of France and Spain before and after the Camino and did the long-term lease thing. We drove to SJPDP - walked across the Pyranees, then took a bus back to SJPDP, grabbed the car, and drove to Sarria and parked it at an albergue and continued our journey to Gonzar (then I took a taxi, about 20 Euros, to get it so we could get to a farmacia, then left it in a horse pasture near an albergue for about a week while we walked to SdC)

Final trip to get it was a bus ride from SdC to Palas de Rei and another 20 Euro to Gonzar to get the car.
 
Get a spanish phone number with Airalo. eSim, so no physical SIM card. Easy to use app to add more funds if needed.
I pulled together a tentative itinerary for my husband who was going to ride and my father-in-law who would have taken public transport.... it can be done (even taking into account whether there would be inexpensive non-Pilgrim-only accommodation. Let me know if you’re interested in a copy of the spreadsheet.
 
This is very doable.

As you walk your wife can take bus or train from town to town. Your best bet is to have your wife transport from larger towns and cities and await your arrival. Reason being, in some tiny towns the bus that arrives at 6pm is the 6pm bus on next day your wife will take to meet you at some very late hour in next town. Usually, this means the longest she’ll be on her own is a few days possibly a week.

In 2001, my mom and I did just that and this was prior to a cell phone in every hand.

My mom went with intention of walking the way. I was 39 and could easily average 30kms a day. She was a 70 year old couch potato, eight kms a day in August heat was a stretch.

From Roncesvalles she trekked to first small town then cabbed to Larrasoaña. Next day on road to Pamplona it was a Sunday no cabs. As we walked along at her pace our first camino angel arrived. A local picnicking with his family noticed her distress.

He commandeered another local to drive mom to Trinidad del Arre. I walked there . We ate lunch. She found a hotel in Pamplona. Restaurant helped us manage that and call cab to drive her there. I walked to Pamplona, met her at our agreed upon hotel.

And, that was our camino.

We would settle on a joint meeting city town for next day or few. I walked. She’d transport there find lodging. Once that was secure. She’d manage to tell albergue where she was staying. Not once did a hospie fail to relay her message. Because, she had a pilgrim’s passsport occasionally we sleep in albergues.

Sometimes we would meet up daily, more often than not a few days or a week would elapse before we would see one another.

The nicest part; I enjoyed the albergues and meeting other pilgrims on my own; while she saw every nook and cranny of Spain via bus, train, and extensive sightseeing while awaiting my arrival. Then when we’d get together we either stayed at hotel or hostel or every now and then an albergue; sightsee, enjoy our company.

Get yourself a bus and train schedule and camino guide, make a plan, take cells, and you’ll both be just fine.

Buen camino to you both.
 
A selection of Camino Jewellery
Anamarie many thanks for your advice and helpfulness :) and all the best on your time in September :) How much would it cost for a taxi to travel say up t0 50-60 kilometres? I know here in australia its a prohibitive cost.

Anything else you care to share will be greatly appreciated :) Buen Camino
 
Camino Facil, the luggage transfer service, is offering taxi service .
You could email them and ask.
Buen Camino
 
Everyone should also avail themselves of the free app Rome2Rio. Also available at www.rome2rio.com, this app provides Point A to Point B travel suggestions for virtually any two places on the planet.

It does not solve your problems, but it DOES get you pointed in the right direction. For example, if a bus is indicated, there will be a link to the bus company.

This WILL help you.
 
€2,-/day will present your project to thousands of visitors each day. All interested in the Camino de Santiago.
Glenn,
After reading your request and some of the replies, all good indeed, it did come upon me to ask if your wife needed to be with you for each and every day. Perhaps, an alternative could be to send your wife ahead to the larger towns and cities along the Frances where she could stay for a few days. She could scope out the attractions and pick what the two of you might like to enjoy together. She could keep busy with photographing much of what she enjoyed on her own. You could spend your nights without her in the albergues to economize. Buses do run along much of the Frances but generally between the larger towns and cities. ALSA runs between the major cities. Many local lines stop at towns along the way. For example, I know that there is a local bus running between Logrono and Burgos, stopping at many of the common stage destinations in between those two cities. Best wishes to both of you. And even though it's a ways off, buen camino!
 
Everyone should also avail themselves of the free app Rome2Rio. Also available at www.rome2rio.com, this app provides Point A to Point B travel suggestions for virtually any two places on the planet.

It does not solve your problems, but it DOES get you pointed in the right direction. For example, if a bus is indicated, there will be a link to the bus company.

This WILL help you.
thanks again mate :) much appreciated just dowloaded this app on my android
 
A selection of Camino Jewellery
Glenn,
After reading your request and some of the replies, all good indeed, it did come upon me to ask if your wife needed to be with you for each and every day. Perhaps, an alternative could be to send your wife ahead to the larger towns and cities along the Frances where she could stay for a few days. She could scope out the attractions and pick what the two of you might like to enjoy together. She could keep busy with photographing much of what she enjoyed on her own. You could spend your nights without her in the albergues to economize. Buses do run along much of the Frances but generally between the larger towns and cities. ALSA runs between the major cities. Many local lines stop at towns along the way. For example, I know that there is a local bus running between Logrono and Burgos, stopping at many of the common stage destinations in between those two cities. Best wishes to both of you. And even though it's a ways off, buen camino!
Buen Camino Jim thanks for your suggestions and especially the buses. Reason why we want to spend every night together is that we depend on each other so much we need each other at night. And i promised her she where ever i went would be with me every night unless she was dead or impossible for me to stay with her :) thanks though again
 
Down bag (90/10 duvet) of 700 fills with 180 g (6.34 ounces) of filling. Mummy-shaped structure, ideal when you are looking for lightness with great heating performance.

€149,-
If your wife is comfortable driving in Europe, rent a car. It will be cheaper and more flexible than taking taxis. For your situation, I think it offers many advantages - You will easily be able to meet up during the day. It will give your wife the freedom to make her own side trips to places of interest, use out-of-town supermarkets for grocery shopping, and use the boot/trunk to store non-valuable luggage (but for goodness sakes never leave valuables in the car and never leave anything in view). Finally, it gives you a backup plan in case your cycling Camino doesn't pan out the way you expect. With a car and a bike rack you can switch down to a road trip with cycling excursions.

1) First get some quotes from comparison sites:
https://www.autoeurope.eu
www.kayak.com

2) Then call or email autoeurope.com and get a quote for a short-term lease with buy-back:
www.autoeurope.com/peugeot-open-europe-lease/

My gut tells me that a two month lease with buy-back is going to be your best option. I believe it should be possible to pick up in Portugal and drop off in France or vice versa. It might sound too good to be true, but as a non-EU resident you can get a great deal this way:
www.tripsavvy.com/buy-back-car-leases-in-europe-1509095

Just as a benchmark, the absolute cheapest car rental that I know of in France is around €180 for 30 days for a Renault Twingo from Super-U supermarkets. It's probably not suitable for you because of the service restrictions (Max one month rental, inconvenient pick up locations, no one-way rentals, high insurance excess, awful website). But it gives you a rock-bottom benchmark to keep in mind as you review quotes for one-way rentals etc.

EDIT: On second thoughts, if you can work around the challenges with Super-U, it might be worth considering for the time that you're in France. It would take some ingenuity to make it work though. You would need to return the car to the place where you rented it, which means a cross-country drive at the end of the month, and then public transportation to get back. I would also recommend an additional insurance policy to cover the excess. And you might need help to deal with the website.
thanks for all the options :) we have a company here in Australia that covers you with insurance and unlimited kilometres and drop off fees but we plan to go from one pick up and return to same place as pick up.

Thanks again Buen Camino
 
As others have suggested, check out local buses before you fall into needing taxis. Spanish buses are safe and comfortable and makes Canadian public transport rather third-worldy in comparison.

A cursory glance at the Francese route suggests to me that buses are easily available from Pamplona to Santo Domingo de la Calzada, and from Burgos on. They normally leave either first thing in the morning, or in the late afternoon. They may not be always available on Sundays and the Saturday schedule, serving shoppers, may be quite different. Many happy hours can be spent on Rome2rio and individual sites figuring out the schedule. My experience of Spanish taxis is that they are roughly a euro per kilometre, but she will sometimes be able to share them with other pilgrims who are taking a break through injury or sloth. 2tandreo's post is a pinnable and has much useful information.
i agree t2andreo has been most helpful but so has everyone but he works there as a volunteer and never hesitates to answer my lot of questions :) and you have been also helpful :) Buen Camino
 
The 2024 Camino guides will be coming out little by little. Here is a collection of the ones that are out so far.
I pulled together a tentative itinerary for my husband who was going to ride and my father-in-law who would have taken public transport.... it can be done (even taking into account whether there would be inexpensive non-Pilgrim-only accommodation. Let me know if you’re interested in a copy of the spreadsheet.
thanks so much :) Kia Ora and yes we would be very interested thanks :)
 
This is very doable.

As you walk your wife can take bus or train from town to town. Your best bet is to have your wife transport from larger towns and cities and await your arrival. Reason being, in some tiny towns the bus that arrives at 6pm is the 6pm bus on next day your wife will take to meet you at some very late hour in next town. Usually, this means the longest she’ll be on her own is a few days possibly a week.

In 2001, my mom and I did just that and this was prior to a cell phone in every hand.

My mom went with intention of walking the way. I was 39 and could easily average 30kms a day. She was a 70 year old couch potato, eight kms a day in August heat was a stretch.

From Roncesvalles she trekked to first small town then cabbed to Larrasoaña. Next day on road to Pamplona it was a Sunday no cabs. As we walked along at her pace our first camino angel arrived. A local picnicking with his family noticed her distress.

He commandeered another local to drive mom to Trinidad del Arre. I walked there . We ate lunch. She found a hotel in Pamplona. Restaurant helped us manage that and call cab to drive her there. I walked to Pamplona, met her at our agreed upon hotel.

And, that was our camino.

We would settle on a joint meeting city town for next day or few. I walked. She’d transport there find lodging. Once that was secure. She’d manage to tell albergue where she was staying. Not once did a hospie fail to relay her message. Because, she had a pilgrim’s passsport occasionally we sleep in albergues.

Sometimes we would meet up daily, more often than not a few days or a week would elapse before we would see one another.

The nicest part; I enjoyed the albergues and meeting other pilgrims on my own; while she saw every nook and cranny of Spain via bus, train, and extensive sightseeing while awaiting my arrival. Then when we’d get together we either stayed at hotel or hostel or every now and then an albergue; sightsee, enjoy our company.

Get yourself a bus and train schedule and camino guide, make a plan, take cells, and you’ll both be just fine.

Buen camino to you both.
thanks so much :) we need to be with each other every night but we do appreciate your comments :) BUen Camino
 

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