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
|
