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Hello All !! My start date is racing towards me, and I am getting worried about being between hostels after a long day. I am going to be slow, have been reading Brierleys guide, but worried about the long days where there is nothing in between the designated stops. Any ideas to calm my fears!!
Peregrino, thank you sooo much, 50% is a ratio I can live/walk with! Do you think after a few days of walking I will be able to gauge if I can make it to the next town, I hate to use up all my spare days in the 1st week. Thank you again for your advice, I need it and appreciate it. GypsywindHi gypsywind, first of all forget about the stages in the Brierly Guide, they are only recommendations. If you find yourself at a town or village at a particular time of the day and you feel its getting late just stay there even if its not where you intender to stop. Let your pace and the Camino make the decisions of where you will stop for the day. We planned destinations in 2012 but only kept to them about 50% of the time, sometimes we walked further, sometimes less. Have a safe and enjoyable Camino.
Buen Camino.
I need that to be one of my mantras, this is MY walk !!! Thanks for the input
Thanks for all that, I feel like my concerns are getting more extreme, not less, the closer I get. I need to start breathing and let it roll as it should!! Love your photo ID! Never STOP...Hi gypsywind, first of all forget about the stages in the Brierly Guide, they are only recommendations. If you find yourself at a town or village at a particular time of the day and you feel its getting late just stay there even if its not where you intender to stop. Let your pace and the Camino make the decisions of where you will stop for the day. We planned destinations in 2012 but only kept to them about 50% of the time, sometimes we walked further, sometimes less. Have a safe and enjoyable Camino.
Buen Camino.
Ventosa is at the 6km mark after Navarette and has an albergue. And don't worry about your daily mileage. Be amazed though when you are done and look at a map or globe and realized you walked from there to there!!!!Between Navarette & Najera as well, if I recall...
In my edition of Brierley, he says this:Hello All !! My start date is racing towards me, and I am getting worried about being between hostels after a long day. I am going to be slow, have been reading Brierleys guide, but worried about the long days where there is nothing in between the designated stops. Any ideas to calm my fears!!
Not even Brierley recommends that you follow the Brierley stages!Find your own pace, but the one described here will allow you to reach Santiago gracefully in 5 weeks.
No, absolutely not!C....... Now, would you like me to list all my fears that gave me so many sleepless nights before I left......?
Hello All !! My start date is racing towards me, and I am getting worried about being between hostels after a long day. I am going to be slow, have been reading Brierleys guide, but worried about the long days where there is nothing in between the designated stops. Any ideas to calm my fears!!
Peregrino, thank you sooo much, 50% is a ratio I can live/walk with! Do you think after a few days of walking I will be able to gauge if I can make it to the next town, I hate to use up all my spare days in the 1st week. Thank you again for your advice, I need it and appreciate it. Gypsywind
Peregrino, thank you sooo much, 50% is a ratio I can live/walk with! Do you think after a few days of walking I will be able to gauge if I can make it to the next town, I hate to use up all my spare days in the 1st week. Thank you again for your advice, I need it and appreciate it. Gypsywind
My wife and I are very slow walkers and we walked at the busiest time last fall, sept/oct. We found that reservations were needed as there were the two of us. With one you might slip by more easily. We would figure how far we wanted to walk the next day and make our reservations in the evening. Sometimes the Alberque operators would help us if there was a problem, but my wife figured out the language without much difficulty. One word of advice. If you are a slow walker you will find out that Buen Camino has several different meanings. In a some of cases it means get out of my way. But then there are all the wonderful people that mean it in the most friendly way and stroll along and talk for a few minutes. The part we liked about walking slowly was we had time to turn around and look behind us and around us and not just at the path in front of us. If the way was too difficult and we fell too much behind we simply called a taxi or got on a bus. I know this is not kicking it old style, but we didn't mind and it took the worry out of having to maintain a schedule.Hello All !! My start date is racing towards me, and I am getting worried about being between hostels after a long day. I am going to be slow, have been reading Brierleys guide, but worried about the long days where there is nothing in between the designated stops. Any ideas to calm my fears!!
And don't hesitate to use a transport for your backpack on a longer than normal stretch. it's okay to take a break from the pack now and then. I did the camino last fall and walked every day....but had some short days and days without my pack during my 56 days on the trail. I even took a taxi once and a bus twice before reaching Sarria. By then I walked with my backpack every day....I just turned seventy seven and did all but fourteen days by myself at my own pace. I was fortunate to meet four different people who walked my pace because of foot problems for a few days. But I still met many new rinds along the way that I would find every week or so when I checked into my albergue each afternoon. I walked many times before dawn...it's beautiful...and stopped early in the day. Always stayed in the dorms and loved every minute of my camio. MarthaI need that to be one of my mantras, this is MY walk !!! Thanks for the input
You will build up a keen sense of what is 'doable' for youBut unless you are very walking fit already, it will take a few days to find your 'rhythm'.
In fact after 5 or 6 days on the road, you will feel very 'at home' with the whole thing
Hola and welcome to the Forum. Yes there has been a lot of good advice. One of the big/small advantages of not adhering to the Brierley stages is that you will get to stay in towns/villages who really need your Euros and will in turn provide a welcome that you would otherwise have missed. If time becomes an issue you can take a bus/taxi/train and skip a few stages (say Belorado to Burgos; or Leon to Astorga). But this is up to you; its your Camino. CheersHello All !! My start date is racing towards me, and I am getting worried about being between hostels after a long day. I am going to be slow, have been reading Brierleys guide, but worried about the long days where there is nothing in between the designated stops. Any ideas to calm my fears!!
12 miles ?! Thanks , that has really helped my stress, I believe I can do that, everyday, besides, I am so blessed to be able to, today, extend my stay and have an extra 5 days!!!Just to repeat what has already been said, the Brierley Guide is just a book of maps and you can stop wherever you like. On the Camino Frances you will never find a gap of more than 19kms between places to stay, so just go with the flow.
Thank you soo much, what an inspiring thing to push away the worries!! I will do what I do, and am proud already!No, absolutely not!
Next month I'm on my sixth camino [Sureste] and again in May, maybe the Primitivo [7th].
I worry about all of them. Where will I eat? Where will I sleep? Will I be able to reach the next village? .... and they all turn out perfectly OK.
I walk very short distances .... 20k maximum, and I've been known to walk just 6 kms some days!
Don't hesitate to take a bus, train or taxi if it helps you.
Relax. Enjoy. You don't say which camino you're walking - I assume the French route, which will have many other pilgrims to reassure and help you if necessary.
Gypsywind - this is your pathway, your pilgrimage: relax and enjoy it!
Thank you for that, it is the journey, and I have been without one for so long, I plan & plan & miss the trip, that will not happen on the camino !!! thankyou againIn Jane's book, "Women of the Way: Embracing the Camino," she talks about this experience. "...If I were to do it again, I would change only a few things. I would get better maps or guidebook. I would not be so regimented in my daily schedule; I had a sense of needing to constantly move forward, and, consequently, I did not take time to visit places that were of interest, such as the monastery in Samos. I would be more adventuresome in sampling the Spanish cuisine, and look for places that offered good and reasonably priced food. Getting the pilgrim's menu was economical and easy— almost every town had a version— but it did become monotonous."
Her walk was 43 days and she wished it had been 65. There is so much to see. Don't let the destination be the goal, let the journey be the goal.
My husband and I are slow walkers. We went during a very busy month when hostels filled quickly. You basically have to be off the trail by 1pm, as they fill rapidly starting at noon. We often stayed halfway between the Brierley suggested stops and we booked a day ahead. If you book ahead, most hostels will hold your bed until 3. In the cities, Pamplona, Burgos, Astorga & Santiago, we booked two night hotel stays. We found that from Sarria on, we had to book the stops 5 days out, especially in Santiago where beds fill rapidly. If you are going in a slower month, you may not have the issues we did. Regardless when you go, it is wise to pre-book Orisson (or Kayola) and Roncevalles, as beds are limited in both places. We got into Roncevalles at 5pm and had to sleep in shipping containers. And, we were lucky to get those. Some people slept on the floor. Hope this helps...Hello All !! My start date is racing towards me, and I am getting worried about being between hostels after a long day. I am going to be slow, have been reading Brierleys guide, but worried about the long days where there is nothing in between the designated stops. Any ideas to calm my fears!!
Traverse City !!! Do you know my cousins? That does help, thank you for the time, I am starting April 1st, and will hope it's not that hard, I am concerned about booking in advance if I have to pre pay, and no refunds, but I am more concerned about no beds!!! I will think all your info through, Thanks again!My husband and I are slow walkers. We went during a very busy month when hostels filled quickly. You basically have to be off the trail by 1pm, as they fill rapidly starting at noon. We often stayed halfway between the Brierley suggested stops and we booked a day ahead. If you book ahead, most hostels will hold your bed until 3. In the cities, Pamplona, Burgos, Astorga & Santiago, we booked two night hotel stays. We found that from Sarria on, we had to book the stops 5 days out, especially in Santiago where beds fill rapidly. If you are going in a slower month, you may not have the issues we did. Regardless when you go, it is wise to pre-book Orisson (or Kayola) and Roncevalles, as beds are limited in both places. We got into Roncevalles at 5pm and had to sleep in shipping containers. And, we were lucky to get those. Some people slept on the floor. Hope this helps...
Hello All !! My start date is racing towards me, and I am getting worried about being between hostels after a long day. I am going to be slow, have been reading Brierleys guide, but worried about the long days where there is nothing in between the designated stops. Any ideas to calm my fears!!
Thank you so much, SYates, you have alot of good info, i appreciate it. I am relaxing more about the planning .There is no reason at all to follow the 'Bierley Stages'. There are albergues every few km on the Camino Frances, so you can walk your own Camino. Buen Camino, SY
Who are your cousins??? You may not have the crowding issues in April. With the exception of Orrison/Kayola, you don't have to pre-pay when booking albergues just call ahead. You will get a list with phone numbers when you pick up your credential at SJPDP.Traverse City !!! Do you know my cousins? That does help, thank you for the time, I am starting April 1st, and will hope it's not that hard, I am concerned about booking in advance if I have to pre pay, and no refunds, but I am more concerned about no beds!!! I will think all your info through, Thanks again!
Hello All !! My start date is racing towards me, and I am getting worried about being between hostels after a long day. I am going to be slow, have been reading Brierleys guide, but worried about the long days where there is nothing in between the designated stops. Any ideas to calm my fears!!
I had a similar experience last year when I met a couple of ladies many times at Albergues and cafes. They were much slower walkers, but kept turning up in front of me. They finally admitted to taking taxis nearly every day and just walking the last few minutes to the Albergues.@gypsywind , No such thing as a slow walker, relax , find your own pace and before you know you will be meeting people in albergues that you thought will be days ahead of you. When I walked El Camino in 2014 I met a gentleman 4 days into the Camino. he was suffering badly with knee soreness . He arrived in Santiago one day ahead of me.
Accommodations no problems in the Camino Frances.
Relax and Buen Camino
This can happen if the fast walkers take a rest day somewhere but you don't.Strangely though, you tend to meet people again, dont quite know how it happens, but I often caught up on pilgrims I never thought I would see again.
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