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Just wondering have you done the Camino Frances and your thoughts if you have.
Awesome, it could have been my own slideshow? I did the same walk one month before.
Fantastic! My wife and I plan to walk the Portuguese next October (2025). How much road walking did you experience? And how was the weather?
Hola, Mick! I walked the French Way from St. Jean Pied de Port in 2012, so couldn’t help having that as a standard of comparison in my mind. For my first day and a half, I enjoyed the ocean views, but it didn’t feel particularly “Camino-y” to me, which sealed my decision to join the Central Route. By the time I got to Sao Pedro de Rates, I was like “Ah, yes — here’s the Camino views and vibe I remember!” Portugal is so pretty and the people I met were unfailingly kind and welcoming. A general impression I came away with was how hilly the walk was — the French Way had its hills, of course, but they just struck me as being more plentiful and frequent on the Portuguese Central. And I can attest that anything you read about all the cobblestones in Portugal is not an exaggeration
. The Spanish leg of the walk was equally lovely, and it was cool to approach Santiago from a different direction than the first time and enjoy the sights and people I encountered along the way. All things considered, if I had to choose between the two, the main factor in my decision would be how much time I have — two weeks or four. Apart from that, I’d say you can’t go wrong either Way!
Hola, Dean! The weather during my journey was a mixed bag — some days I was applying sunscreen, other days I was buttoning the sides of my poncho to keep the wind from exposing me to the rain. I will say that either way, the temperatures were very reasonable, never too hot on those sunny days and never too chilling on the wet ones. It seems I picked a good time of year to walk! As for road walking, there was very little along scary busy roads, thankfully, but I think you’ll find yourself on asphalt or cobblestones as often as a wooded trail. (I’m sure someone has the data on the actual percentage of road vs. trail along the way!) As someone who has always preferred dirt to blacktop, I can say the road walking really wasn’t an issue. Indeed, there were times when my knee was giving me fits that I would’ve loved to have been on a road rather than navigating a rock-strewn tricky downhill!
Same for me in 2019.
Excellent and thanks for the quick response!
