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Sunday, May 29, 2016

Summary of our Camino

Now that we are back in Camino season for many walkers, I have realized that I never put together a summary or complete day by day experience for our Camino.  Although it has been less than a year, I had to pull out my pilgrim passport to check a couple of the stops.  In all, we walked for 33 days and had one day we decided not to walk because of the heat (well over 100 degrees F) and two days due to food poisoning.

Using just the days that we actually walked, we averaged 14.6 miles per day, well above the 12 miles that I had loosely planned for the trip.  I wanted to make sure that we would complete the pilgrimage, so I allotted up to 42 days for walking.  If we were able to complete the journey sooner, we would either walk to Fisterra or spend the time in England relaxing.  Marion had recently become very interested in British culture and wanted to spend as much time as possible in London.


As it turned out, my tendinitis was hurting too much to continue the walk to Fisterra.  We had not slept in Albergues for the last couple nights due to availability, so we drove out to Fisterra, enjoyed the town and flew to London the following day.  We continued walking all over London and still averaged at least 10 miles per day.  Once you start, it is difficult to stop walking.

I’ve been asked numerous times why we selected the Valcarlos route.  Simply, I wanted to make sure that we would still be walking on Day #2, and this was the safest option given that we had almost no training leading up to the Camino.  I know the walk to Roncesvalles is considered by some as the most beautiful stretch of the Camino, but I’ve hiked through many beautiful mountains and wanted to make sure that our family would be able to walk on Day #2.  It’s a pilgrimage with the goal of arriving in Santiago on foot, and I was going to plan as best as possible to complete the journey.
In reviewing our itinerary, our easiest day was by far the first, which was an easy 7 miles to Valcarlos.  

Our itinerary was affected by us wanting to avoid certain cities that we had previously stopped in and wanting to stay in certain cities (Azofra, Burgos, Leon, Astorga, Foncebadon, Ponferada and O’Cebreiro) for a variety of reasons.  Azofra has an albergue with 2 people per room, Burgos and Leon are major cities to visit, Astorga is the chocolate capital of Spain and home to burritos, Foncebadon and O’Cebreiro are near the top of mountains and Ponferrada has the famous Castillo de los Templarios.  I can't believe that Brierley's guide doesn't include a stop in Ponferfada.


I have made notes next to each day as to how we felt at the end of the day about our progress.  Sometimes the Camino leaves you no choice but to either stop early and enjoy the town or go outside of your comfort zone and make it a long day.  As we gained confidence, we were able to get outside of our comfort zone, literally, and walk more than 20 miles per day a few times.  Sixteen to eighteen miles was just the right amount of distance, depending upon the weather.  We are from a very mild part of California where the temperature rarely rises above 80 degrees.  Walk in 90 degree heat simply zapped our energy levels and force us off of the trail at an early time.

Toward the end of the Camino, the temperature dropped, allowing us to walk until much later in the day, which was preferable.  When the weather forced us off of the trail by 12 or 1pm, we felt like we stopped to early and could still make a few more miles if it were more temperate.  Only one, day 33 walking to Ventas, did we not have any energy the entire day.  We had planned to walk much further, but had to struggle to walk the 13 miles.


My recommendation is to not plan ahead other than the cities that you wish to visit.  I am glad that we stopped in all of our “must stop” cities, but this did cause us to adjust, either stopping early or stretching out.  I would enjoy feedback about our stops and if you have walked, how you itinerary differed or mirrored ours.


Day #
City
 KM
 Miles
Comments
St. Jeaan Pied de Port
1
Valcarlos
          11.7
            7.3
Getting into shape
2
Espinal
          18.6
          11.6
Up and over the Pyrenees
3
Zubiri
          15.2
            9.4
Going down the Pyrenees
4
Pamplona
          20.9
          13.0
A must stop city
5
Puenta la Reina
          23.8
          14.8
Miscalculation, too far, too hot
6
Puenta la Reina
                - 
                - 
Rest day, over 100 degress
7
Estella
          21.9
          13.6
Still hot, still getting into shape
8
Los Arcos
          21.5
          13.4
Still hot, still getting into shape
9
Viana
          18.4
          11.4
Still hot, still getting into shape
10
Navarrete
          22.1
          13.7
In shape
11
Azofra
          22.4
          13.9
A must stop city
12
Redecilla
          25.6
          15.9
Finding our grove
13
Villafranca
          23.9
          14.9
Finding our grove
14
Atapuerca
          18.3
          11.4
Splitting the difference to Burgos
15
Burgos
          20.0
          12.4
A must stop city
16
Hornillos
          21.0
          13.0
Should have walked more
17
Itero de Vega
          30.7
          19.1
Overdoing it a bit
18
Villacazar de Sirga
          27.9
          17.3
Just right
19
Ledigos
          29.1
          18.1
Just right
20
Bercianos del Real Camino
          26.9
          16.7
Just right
21
Reliegos
          20.5
          12.7
Splitting the difference to Leon
22
Leon
          24.3
          15.1
A must stop city
23
San Martin
          26.0
          16.2
Just right
24
Astorga
          23.8
          14.8
A must stop city
25
Foncebadon
          26.4
          16.4
Hard day uphill
26
Ponferada
          25.1
          15.6
Illness
27
Ponferada
                - 
                - 
Illness
28
Ponferada
                - 
                - 
Illness
29
Pereje
          31.1
          19.3
Ready to go
30
O cebreiro
          23.1
          14.4
Just right
31
Triacastela
          20.7
          12.9
Next stop too far
32
Ferrerios
          32.2
          20.0
Just right
33
Ventas
          21.0
          13.0
Tired after a big day
34
Melide
          26.4
          16.4
Just right
35
Pedrouzo
          33.9
          21.1
Just right
36
Santiago
          19.8
          12.3
Tough Day
Total
        774.2
        481.1
Average
          23.5
          14.6