When and which part to walk with my 7 year old

[Sacha]

Hello! I want to take my 7 year old son on his first camino for about a week. I don’t need to end in Santiago. I was hoping for input from fellow parent pilgrims.

I need to go in a school holiday obviously, thinking either end of August (too hot for my liking) or Easter.

Thanks in advance!

 

[Anhalter]

Pamplona to Logrono might be an Idea. It's roughly 100k, lots of nice little villages in between and pretty landscape. Should give some flexibility with daily distance, which i guess might be important with a 7yo. If you cover more ground and arrive with time to spare you can easily just continue from Logrono (and then take a bus or taxi back or forward to a town with a train station)

 

[Sacha]

Pamplona to Logrono might be an Idea. It's roughly 100k, lots of nice little villages in between and pretty landscape. Should give some flexibility with daily distance, which i guess might be important with a 7yo. If you cover more ground and arrive with time to spare you can easily just continue from Logrono (and then take a bus or taxi back or forward to a town with a train station)

Great suggestion thank you! Pamplona and Logroño are two of my favorite cities alonf the French way!

 

[JustOneGuy]

Hello! I want to take my 7 year old son on his first camino for about a week. I don’t need to end in Santiago. I was hoping for input from fellow parent pilgrims.

I need to go in a school holiday obviously, thinking either end of August (too hot for my liking) or Easter.

Thanks in advance!

Congratulations! I can't give you any advice on that, but I love parents who start walking early with their sons!

7 years can be difficult, and you'll probably have to carry him on your shoulders at some point, and then they may or may not continue to do it as adults, but it's so important to have that kind of experience when they're still kids!

 

[Sacha]

Congratulations! I can't give you any advice on that, but I love parents who start walking early with their sons!

7 years can be difficult, and you'll probably have to carry him on your shoulders at some point, and then they may or may not continue to do it as adults, but it's so important to have that kind of experience when they're still kids!

Thanks, I have always loved seeing families with young kids on the camino aswell!
I am confident he will not need to be carried. He is an energetic boy and does a lot of hiking and biking with me in Andorra aswell.

I believe this experience will do him a lot of good.

 

[J Willhaus]

What are his interests? That may help you decide. There's the castle at Ponferrada or maybe walking along the beach at Finesterre? Between Portomarin and Palas de Rei there's an Iron Age hill fort and another cool castle a quick cab ride from Palas de Rei (Castillo de Pembre). You could break that up easily for a 7 year old as there's lots of lodging. Would he like the processions at Easter? If you walk at Easter, there will be less lodging open so be sure to reserve. Many places open for the season at that time or wait until after Easter.

 

[Sacha]

What are his interests? That may help you decide. There's the castle at Ponferrada or maybe walking along the beach at Finesterre? Between Portomarin and Palas de Rei there's an Iron Age hill fort and another cool castle a quick cab ride from Palas de Rei (Castillo de Pembre). You could break that up easily for a 7 year old as there's lots of lodging. Would he like the processions at Easter? If you walk at Easter, there will be less lodging open so be sure to reserve. Many places open for the season at that time or wait until after Easter.

Yea I was wondering about walking around easter.. Easter week is 13 to 19 april. I was thinking to start walking a few days later, but I am worried about how busy the albergues are. Ideally I prefer not to reserve any places ahead of time, but not sure that is a good idea around easter with a child in tow..

Great idea about thinking about special places for my son to see. I’m gonna keep that in mind. Thanks!

 

[J Willhaus]

In Galicia all the Xunta albergues will be open and don't take reservations. The main towns usually have very large albergues and smaller towns in between have smaller ones that can be virtually empty.