Advice for My Nephew Planning to Walk the Camino in Spain This Summer

Dear J.,

Good to hear from you and glad that you and M. will be doing the Camino in Spain this summer! It is an experience of a life time and we highly recommend it!  We did the Camino exactly 15 years ago when I was reaching a milestone birthday and celebrated it while walking the Camino! I wanted to do sometime spectacular and the Camino was it. 

Uncle S. and I were so glad that we did it then. We walked the Camino Frances. We started our journey by taking a plane to Paris, then a train to the French and Spanish border town, Irun.  We  walked 250 kms over a period of 2 weeks. But Uncle S. was overly ambitious and pushed ourselves too hard for the first few days. He also enjoyed the vino that came with every meal and he finally got sick after 3 or 4 days of our walking trip. So we had to take a few days off from walking for him to recover before we could continue. 

There was medical assistance along the Camino route. We went to see the doctor at one of the clinics who said Uncle S. got sick because he plunged into the daily strenuous physical activities too fast, plus he was not used to the heat as well as too much vino daily!

 So for the first few days, you folks need to break yourselves in gently.  Don't be overly ambitious. I would suggest doing around 15 - 20 kms first, then you can increase the distance after you are used to the walking.

We stayed mostly in the government's sponsored albergues which were quite cheap. At the time, it was first come first served, no reservations needed.

Instead of pushing ourselves to walk as many kms as possible, we learned our lesson. After Uncle S. recovered from his illness,  we did what the locals did and followed a much better routine while continuing the camino.

Suggested schedule for walking the camino in Spain

 6:00am - Get up, pack and leave the hostel. Start walking after breakfast around 6:30am

 We walked and took short breaks every hour enjoying beverages at cafes and conversations with fellow pilgrims. We  walked until around 12pm.

12:00pm  - Line up for a bed at an albergue

As long as we stopped walking and lined up by 12pm, we were able to get a bed without booking. People usually book private or popular albergues. Private albergues are much more expensive.  Please check online and see if you can book albergues run by the Spanish government.

2:00- 4:00pm -  shower, wash clothes,  taking nap / rest

Being North Americans, we were not used to taking naps. We made the mistake of walking in the afternoon the first few days and became very tired, dehydrated and S. getting sick. Then we learned.  After we got our beds assigned, we went out for a quick lunch, then went back to the albergue for an afternoon nap and rest.  The afternoon was very hot in Spain and most shops shut down anyway. We slept in the afternoon for a couple of hours, then we got up, walked around sight seeing. 

6- 8 pm - Dinner 

Spaniards tend to have late dinner. But to accommodate the people walking the camino ( pilgrims), the restaurants offer a pilgrims' special at around 7:00pm. The pilgrims' special was worth waiting for as it included a three course meal and free vino or aqua for 6 - 7 euro only. You will need a full meal as you are walking so much during the day. 

9 - 10pm - bedtime 

We went to sleep at around 9:30pm. Most people walking the Camino do sleep early and get up early to walk. Many of the albergues closed at 10pm.

The Spanish government did a good job serving the pilgrims on the Camino route we were walking.  Uncle S. got a free medical consultation when he was sick. When the albergues were full in some small towns, the local town's council opened up  some school gymnasiums for pilgrims to sleep the night. They would not leave the pilgrims sleeping in the wild and be attacked by animals!  We did not book anything and we always had a place to sleep. We slept one night on the floor of an albergue and one night in a school gym.    When we look back now, It was quite an adventure. We have so many stories to tell for years after that!  

I did not write a blog at the time of our camino as I didn't know how to post blog entries yet. But I did take good notes. A few years ago, I did include our camino experience in my blog. Below are the links:

https://rtam1206.blogspot.com/2014/01/pushing-our-limits-walking-camino.html

https://rtam1206.blogspot.com/2014/01/meeting-interesting-people-on-camino.html

Best wishes to your camino experience. Please don't hesitate to contact me if you have any more questions!

Love from Aunt R.