Where/how to save 5 days walking , time constraint.

[Thornley]

Any advice from experienced pilgrims appreciated .
Have friends who are doing another Camino Frances , and will then go to Lisbon for the Portuguese Camino.
They have only 30 days , they will not hurry and we have been debating for the last week where to leave out.
** They have already walked from Ostabat to Muxia and will again start in St JPP.

My thoughts are
[1] Bus from Belorado
[2] Train from Sahagan

This saves them 100km approx

Other friends here have suggested the Mesata , however they wish to walk part of this beautiful area.
They are both 70 years and rarely do they walk over 22km/day . This has been there rule for years on many different camino's and they won't change.

What is recommended after Belorado and or Sahagan to force them to skip another section??
And if there is another section please recommend.
We had wonderful nights in both Tosantos and Bercianos , towns that are after my recommendations for the bus/train

Any ideas from the old weary legs of experienced pilgrims appreciated
Thanks,
David

 

[zammy]

Don't jump any part but start from a calculated point west of Pamplona, this enable them to walk with people they will meet all the way without having to "cut' the walj which is unpleasnat. Let the experince be continuous.
The Meseta is a wonderful experience to walk through.

 

[StuartM]

I found Astorga to Rabanal a bit dull, just featureless farmland most of the way. Ponferrada's suburbs also feel like they go on forever, you could skip from there to Camponaraya and not miss much.

 

[Thornley]

Thanks Zammy for the starting point.
These older cousins of mine have already walked from Le Puy to the coast in 2005 and after they walk their "decided" distances this year they will go to Lisbon to walk the Portuguese Camino to Santiago then Muxia.
They have walked 5 different camino's and are aged 70 years.
They will just take their time.
Have decided [ last night at least] to leave @ Balorado [ bus to Burgos] and then when they reach Sahagun will get the train to Ponferrada.
That takes 200km off this early walk before train to Lisbon.

Yes Stuart , they will miss the Astorga part , and as Falcon said missing the down hill part to Ponferrada is not a great loss , especially having already completed an earlier crossing.

 

[Albertinho]

Thanks Zammy for the starting point.
These older cousins of mine have already walked from Le Puy to the coast in 2005 and after they walk their "decided" distances this year they will go to Lisbon to walk the Portuguese Camino to Santiago then Muxia.
They have walked 5 different camino's and are aged 70 years.
They will just take their time.
Have decided [ last night at least] to leave @ Balorado [ bus to Burgos] and then when they reach Sahagun will get the train to Ponferrada.
That takes 200km off this early walk before train to Lisbon.

Yes Stuart , they will miss the Astorga part , and as Falcon said missing the down hill part to Ponferrada is not a great loss , especially having already completed an earlier crossing.

Hola. Walking from Lisbon to Santiago with an average pace of 22 kms per day in 30 days is quite a challenge but it should be possible .

For my wife and myself, I figuered out - with a pace of a maximum of 20 kms a day - that it will take us about 40 days. .I must admit we will take some restdays in Tomar, Coimbra and Porto and from there we will walk up to Vigo in Spain, following the coastal route In Vigo we will take an other restday .the coastal route is a little bit longer. We do not have limited time so we will see when it ends up. We live in Europe so we allways will come home either by plane or train.

They have to consider that between Lisbon and Porto the distances between one hostal to another sometimes is over 30 kms so they have to fiddle about a bit by taking public transport to shorten a day trip for finding a bed. We will use John Brierley's guide for that first part.
If you send me an email address I will sent them a word document with the route we will do.
When are they walking.? We will start 6th of May next from Lisbon.
Maybe we will meet up somewhere ! ?

Bom caminho

 

[Thornley]

Hi Albertinho,
The 30 days is on the Frances mate.
They have already walked it, just going for a repeat
BEFORE
The walk from Lisbon.
They are 70 and will not walk more than 20-22 /km a day
Thats why they sought some parts to leave out on the Frances .

They have a few months to walk and i know when they get to Caminha they will get the ferry and walk the coastal part to Vigo.A beautiful place to stop.
They have done a few camino's Albert and will stop in the bigger cities to enjoy the fine dining. They are old toffs mate who love the walks and the simplistic way .
Thanks for the help offered, appreciated . They leave in June .
Buen Camino Albertinho and have those pedron peppers when you arrive there.