When the Camino comes a-knockin'...

[LongRun64]

The Camino is on my mind. Not quite sure whether I'm reflecting on past ones or planning a new one. Maybe both. Anyway I'm sitting here nibbling turron and wavering between reading Ivar's Most Read Topics Yesterday on the Camino Forum and reading my new book on someone's pilgrimage. So it looks pretty much like it's calling again.
I'd like to go alone on my next one. I will definitely go alone when I next plan to go. But there's the rub. Plan. I'm not so sure that the word 'plan' has any place in my Caminos. If anything, it sets out a series of expectations that the Universe delights in tearing down and generally kicking about. So next time I will pack my bag, experience at least has made me satisfied with that, then head off. No guidebook for me thank you very much. Each to his own for sure. But last time I went, that guidebook weighed me down physically as well as mentally. The source of many arguments. Not to mention tantrums (on my part) every time the quoted mileage fell short of our actual. Should have just walked everyday until I'd had enough and then found a place to stay. Sounds simple enough but factor in walking companions and differing ideas and opinions and there you go. Trapped in the plan again.
On my last camino I met a lady who said she was wanting to learn how to trust. As in trying not to plan ahead, book albergues up days in advance etc. She wanted to trust the Camino to provide. I met her again in Santiago and she had managed to do that. She'd enjoyed her experience so much she was hoping to return with her son.
On the other hand in the early part of my Camino Frances I met a man who proudly told me 'I know everywhere I'm sleeping every night from here to Santiago'. Now that takes planning to a whole new level. But alI could think about was the lost opportunities.
Anyhow I have no advice to give. Everyone has their own Camino and they need to find it out for themselves.

 

[J Willhaus]

@LongRun64 would you plan to walk with an APP of any kind? The reason I ask is that they often have maps which can show your location on a map. These can replace a guidebook. Depending on the Camino you choose, other members often use GPS apps to help them and look at the "tracks" of others when the way is not well-marked. I used an App this summer for the first time and it was helpful in finding water points, etc.

I don't like to reserve ahead, but do sometimes during busy times. I like to stay in places where you can't make a reservation, but I do call ahead sometimes to see if there are still beds available in the next town. Enjoy your thoughts about the next Camino. It is an enjoyable form of planning in itself...

 

[Artchi]

hello. i'm currently in Terradillos de los Templarios which it's about halfway to Santiago. My only plan is that I have no plan, Flying by the seat of my pants for the first time in my life! Not knowing what tomorrow will bring is making my whole experience very unique. Buen Camino

 

[LongRun64]

@LongRun64 would you plan to walk with an APP of any kind? The reason I ask is that they often have maps which can show your location on a map. These can replace a guidebook. Depending on the Camino you choose, other members often use GPS apps to help them and look at the "tracks" of others when the way is not well-marked. I used an App this summer for the first time and it was helpful in finding water points, etc.

I don't like to reserve ahead, but do sometimes during busy times. I like to stay in places where you can't make a reservation, but I do call ahead sometimes to see if there are still beds available in the next town. Enjoy your thoughts about the next Camino. It is an enjoyable form of planning in itself...

Yes that's a good point. I probably would look into the available apps to see if any appealed.

 

[LongRun64]

hello. i'm currently in Terradillos de los Templarios which it's about halfway to Santiago. My only plan is that I have no plan, Flying by the seat of my pants for the first time in my life! Not knowing what tomorrow will bring is making my whole experience very unique. Buen Camino

Buen Camino! It is so liberating isn't it?

 

[K_Lynn]

I planned to walk my Camino alone last year. I didn't tell most of my friends I was going until 2 days prior. I did not want to share it with people I knew, I did not want to be responsible for their Camino experience, I did not want to miss out on meeting new people and experiencing those new relationships that sometimes lasted an hour, a day or a couple of weeks of walking together.
I had not booked my rooms in advance of going, but did book a few days ahead as I went, which greatly alleviated my panic.
I'm researching my next Caminos (Portugues) and Ingles and have invited my sister to join me on the Ingles. I've decided I would like to share that one with her. For some reason, I want her to understand something about my experience.

 

[Artchi]

Buen Camino! It is so liberating isn't it?

yup. i'm having the best time of my life. Buen Camino

 

[Artchi]

I planned to walk my Camino alone last year. I didn't tell most of my friends I was going until 2 days prior. I did not want to share it with people I knew, I did not want to be responsible for their Camino experience, I did not want to miss out on meeting new people and experiencing those new relationships that sometimes lasted an hour, a day or a couple of weeks of walking together.
I had not booked my rooms in advance of going, but did book a few days ahead as I went, which greatly alleviated my panic.
I'm researching my next Caminos (Portugues) and Ingles and have invited my sister to join me on the Ingles. I've decided I would like to share that one with her. For some reason, I want her to understand something about my experience.

@K_Lynn great words of wisdom. The responsibility of having someone else is huge. That's one of the lessons I learned the hard way! ....Nobody needs to know where i'm going....That's exactly how i'll roll from now on. Buen Camino

 

[ChrisGall]

Yes that's a good point. I probably would look into the available apps to see if any appealed.

I used camino ninja a lot. It shows you the distance to each town ahead, and also the elevation changes (even more important, in my opinion). Even shows graphically the steepness/flatness of the path ahead. Very useful. And, if you're out there without wifi or other connection, it will still show your location on the Camino in the map. It's free. The developer died, I read, so the lodging info is not updated. But I consulted it daily to see the choices I had ahead Re: distances and towns.

 

[Graeme Cook]

Mrs C and I walked the Camino Frances earlier this year - our first Camino. We had a plan in as much as we had our first night’s accommodation booked and thus an initial direction of travel but thereafter with the desire to play it by ear. Next year we hope to walk the Portuguese route with friends who, we know, will want to plan in much greater detail than we felt necessary. No worries. Everyone is different. My plan is not to know their plan in which case I will be even less prepared than I was last time.

 

[GailGwyn]

Mrs C and I walked the Camino Frances earlier this year - our first Camino. We had a plan in as much as we had our first night’s accommodation booked and thus an initial direction of travel but thereafter with the desire to play it by ear. Next year we hope to walk the Portuguese route with friends who, we know, will want to plan in much greater detail than we felt necessary. No worries. Everyone is different. My plan is not to know their plan in which case I will be even less prepared than I was last time.

We walked the Frances this year with 2 friends. I booked the first few days accommodation just to give us a start and assumed (wrongly) that we would thereafter make our own loose arrangements and meet up at some point each day. Unfortunately their idea of Camino was to have every day organised for them and to stick with us 24/7. I now realise that I should have been crystal clear from the start so we all knew what to expect. It caused a lot of tension. I won't ever do anything similar again.

 

[Isabelpilgrim]

The Camino is on my mind. Not quite sure whether I'm reflecting on past ones or planning a new one. Maybe both. Anyway I'm sitting here nibbling turron and wavering between reading Ivar's Most Read Topics Yesterday on the Camino Forum and reading my new book on someone's pilgrimage. So it looks pretty much like it's calling again.
I'd like to go alone on my next one. I will definitely go alone when I next plan to go. But there's the rub. Plan. I'm not so sure that the word 'plan' has any place in my Caminos. If anything, it sets out a series of expectations that the Universe delights in tearing down and generally kicking about. So next time I will pack my bag, experience at least has made me satisfied with that, then head off. No guidebook for me thank you very much. Each to his own for sure. But last time I went, that guidebook weighed me down physically as well as mentally. The source of many arguments. Not to mention tantrums (on my part) every time the quoted mileage fell short of our actual. Should have just walked everyday until I'd had enough and then found a place to stay. Sounds simple enough but factor in walking companions and differing ideas and opinions and there you go. Trapped in the plan again.
On my last camino I met a lady who said she was wanting to learn how to trust. As in trying not to plan ahead, book albergues up days in advance etc. She wanted to trust the Camino to provide. I met her again in Santiago and she had managed to do that. She'd enjoyed her experience so much she was hoping to return with her son.
On the other hand in the early part of my Camino Frances I met a man who proudly told me 'I know everywhere I'm sleeping every night from here to Santiago'. Now that takes planning to a whole new level. But alI could think about was the lost opportunities.
Anyhow I have no advice to give. Everyone has their own Camino and they need to find it out for themselves.

This year was the first where I booked any rooms ahead of time. I was concerned about bed availability, though I m not convinced I really needed to be. In some ways I didn't enjoy it as much, but in other ways it was fun to sleep in my own room, and do a bunch of more touring things like finally visiting the castle in Ponferada, or sites in Leon I let myself enjoy the cities more by not rushing, but balanced that with really wanting to stay a night halfway between beds and feeling obligated to keep going. For the most part, there did seem to be beds, a lot of places I stayed were not full. It was June a d early July.

 

[Rita Flower]

We walked the Frances this year with 2 friends. I booked the first few days accommodation just to give us a start and assumed (wrongly) that we would thereafter make our own loose arrangements and meet up at some point each day. Unfortunately their idea of Camino was to have every day organised for them and to stick with us 24/7. I now realise that I should have been crystal clear from the start so we all knew what to expect. It caused a lot of tension. I won't ever do anything similar again.

I had a similar experience with a friend on Camino Portuguese. We both had a really hard time with each other because she needed to plan and know ahead of time where she was sleeping and I wasn’t interested in planning at all.
But it depends on which Camino you are on. I am currently on VDLP just about to turn into Sanabrés. I don’t think you could do VDLP without some planning because of the distances and availability of accommodation.

 

[USMC-Pilgrim]

The Camino is on my mind. Not quite sure whether I'm reflecting on past ones or planning a new one. Maybe both. Anyway I'm sitting here nibbling turron and wavering between reading Ivar's Most Read Topics Yesterday on the Camino Forum and reading my new book on someone's pilgrimage. So it looks pretty much like it's calling again.
I'd like to go alone on my next one. I will definitely go alone when I next plan to go. But there's the rub. Plan. I'm not so sure that the word 'plan' has any place in my Caminos. If anything, it sets out a series of expectations that the Universe delights in tearing down and generally kicking about. So next time I will pack my bag, experience at least has made me satisfied with that, then head off. No guidebook for me thank you very much. Each to his own for sure. But last time I went, that guidebook weighed me down physically as well as mentally. The source of many arguments. Not to mention tantrums (on my part) every time the quoted mileage fell short of our actual. Should have just walked everyday until I'd had enough and then found a place to stay. Sounds simple enough but factor in walking companions and differing ideas and opinions and there you go. Trapped in the plan again.
On my last camino I met a lady who said she was wanting to learn how to trust. As in trying not to plan ahead, book albergues up days in advance etc. She wanted to trust the Camino to provide. I met her again in Santiago and she had managed to do that. She'd enjoyed her experience so much she was hoping to return with her son.
On the other hand in the early part of my Camino Frances I met a man who proudly told me 'I know everywhere I'm sleeping every night from here to Santiago'. Now that takes planning to a whole new level. But alI could think about was the lost opportunities.
Anyhow I have no advice to give. Everyone has their own Camino and they need to find it out for themselves.

LongRun64, what a talent you have for expressing your feelings about the Camino. Reading your thoughts reminds me of many of my own "promises" to myself for the next one. I am a retired logistician and oh how I want to plan every detail. I live by:
1. It's easier to change a plan than come up with a plan.
2. No plan survives contact with .... (fill in the blank.)
3. Refer to Rule #1.

I walked the CF from SJPDP to SDC in 34 days. I messed up bad one day, it was the worse day to mess up (lodging reservation), brutally hot climb up to La Faba / O'Cebreiro in June (the day the German tourist passed away.) It was there I realized all I had to do was ask for help. I used google translate to engage with the helpful bar owner of La Faba. He found room for me there and contacted JACOtrans to get my bag to the correct destination. The Camino provides, if I am strong enough to trust it! Camp Portuguese 2023 here I come! Buen Camino!

 

[Rushie]

The Camino is on my mind.
Anyhow I have no advice to give. Everyone has their own Camino and they need to find it out for themselves.

Camino was calling me for over 20 years ,I finally took myfirst step on the 27th of April 2022 I've done 2 France routes SJPDP to Finisterre, at the moment I'm on the Madrid route i can't see an end to my Pilgrimage I'm so grateful for what Camino has given me the list is endless. At times now I'm planning my next route and have to put it out of my head I try to live for today let tomorrow take care of itself, buen camino peregrino

 

[sarahchicago]

I walked with my husband for my first Camino (sjpdp-SdC). It was his second after a solo in 2018. we loved “planning” together but that was a mix of a few key reservations (orisson, roncesvalles, SdC) and looking at you tube videos, google maps, apps, reading others’ accounts, reading history of the pilgrimage, of Spain, going to Spanish restaurants and, of course, walking and walking and walking. The planning was joyful, not stressful *for us* and we were happy that as we discussed and reviewed, we made a plan to stay “off-stage” for about half the Camino. On days we had reserved ahead (especially after Sarria), I was grateful to have a specific destination as motivation when I was tired and this also allowed us to be more leisurely during the day. We were able to visit historical sites along the way instead of worrying about finding beds.
That said, I’m going solo on the portugues next May and only reserving one night. My husband will meet me in SdC but I’ve given him a 3-4 day range and I’ll let him know when I’m getting close. Or he might walk back a couple of days and meet me. Being looser with my planning feels right this time- probably because it’s my second camino!