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What if I wimp out?

Joannie W

New Member
What alternatives are there to walking?

I'd love to start from Leon & Astorga, but walking all that distance would not fit into my 2.5 wk trip plan.

Are there buses or other alternatives to walking, in case I wimp out? And to speed me up now & then? Or maybe biking thro moderate terrain? Thanks,
Joannie W (Hikin' Granma)
 
The 2024 Camino guides will be coming out little by little. Here is a collection of the ones that are out so far.
give it a try & trust your feet

there are buses in most towns that would take you ahead or back , but consider walking on , the people you meet on the trail is the reward . that part of the trail has refugios ever few miles and its worth the effort-darrell
 
The one from Galicia (the round) and the one from Castilla & Leon. Individually numbered and made by the same people that make the ones you see on your walk.
You can make it without the bus.

Hi Joannie.
My father (58 years young with a recent knee replacement) and I walked from O'Cebreiro in 2003 and it took about 7 days of walking. Since we had planned a 14 day trip this gave us a couple of days to get to our starting point and a couple of days in Santiago.
I thought this worked out well. We didn't have to stress out about making long distances each day and were able to enjoy the walk.
I think this is preferable to starting further away and then taking the bus for some stretches. For some reason it seems a more "authentic" pilgrim's experience to me.

Anyways here's what we did:
We flew overnight from Chicago to Madrid then rented a car in Madrid and drove to Ponferrada (where we could return the car). Not sure, but I think the drive took about 3 hours.
The next morning we took a taxi up to O'Cebreiro (about a half an hour ride) and started our walk from there. Of course since you have a little more time than we had you might want to just start walking from Ponferrada, or do what we did and walk a little shorter distance each day.
If you start in Ponferrada though, you'll have to walk up O' Cebreiro- which may not be the most fun way to start your trip.
Here was our tentative itinerary before we started: (I can't remember if we actually stayed in Santa Irene or not- but it was somewhere around there.)

O'Cebriero
21 km to:
Triacastela
18.5 km to:
Sarria
23 km to:
Portomarin
27 km to:
Palas de Rey
26.5 km to:
Ribadiso
19 km to:
Santa Irene
23 km to
5/23- Santiago.

Hope this helps.
Buen Camino.

-Drew
 

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