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Advice on skipping Meseta

I LOVE this advice... you can walk appropriate sections with your son and rest when you need to. Every morning and evening you will be together on the Camino. No need to listen to any judgements. This may be the only time to go with your son and you should enjoy it, as you can. I suspect the mountainous sections will be wise to skip, in light of your serious knee injuries.
 
Let us pick up your suitcase once you arrive in Europe....
...and ship it to Santiago for storage. You pick it up once in Santiago. Service offered by Casa Ivar (we use DHL for transportation).
 
Don’t allow the age thing to get you! I began “Camino-ing” at 82. Guess my theme song would be “I did it my way”. Had read books but did not yet know about this website. Had Brierly and had used Booking.com in the past and thought I could again if needed. Although I had lived in Europe, I forgot about the May 1 holiday and cleverly arranged to arrive in Bayonne that day. So the first couple of days were more interesting than I had planned, but full of helpful people. If you can walk and can keep from thoughts like “but, they will think...” —- or anything similar, you can have a glorious time whatever comes up. Crying is okay. Cursing is okay (silently perhaps!). Singing is REALLY okay.... Bushels of thanks to all here who help me keep on doing all I can. And who share your joys and “not so much”!
 
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Hi to everyone who gave me such encouragement and advice. I never closed this thread with a final post so - somewhat late - here it is . I had an amazing journey all the way to Santiago de Compostela. My walking poles were indispensable to manage impact and balance. I just took my time, savouring each day and moment, even the days of continuous rain. Met some wonderful people and made heart to heart connections that continue to enrich my life. My spirit soared.
I’m currently planning another Camino stage to do this year. My knee continues to be a problem, but it’s all soft tissue, no arthritis, and I have learnt how to manage it on the Camino, I hope This time I think I will try León to Cruz de Ferro - more ups and downs for sure, but a stage I would really like to aim for.
Thanks again everyone - hope to see you on the way xx
 
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The first edition came out in 2003 and has become the go-to-guide for many pilgrims over the years. It is shipping with a Pilgrim Passport (Credential) from the cathedral in Santiago de Compostela.
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I salute your great article! Wish all newbies would read it! Congratulations!

And the iconic view from the Alto de Mostelares after Castrojeriz shows a perfect image of the Meseta. A 9-10 days of easy walking.
 
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Great writing, @jungleboy. I have not walked the Francés in many years, but have had meseta-like stints on the Ebro, Levante and Catalán. For me, those wide open spaces in springtime are about as life-affirming as it gets. The exhilaration comes from being all alone with nothing but those endless vistas all around me — waving green fields, stark blue skies, and the occasional pueblo and poppy field dotting the landscape. When the fields are brown and dried up, it is harder to get to that point, but it’s possible I think.

I am not sure I would get the same sense of magic if I were on the moving sidewalk that the Francés has become. But maybe the meseta’s bad rap means that lots of pilgrims skip it and you can hope to find your moment of being alone with your demons and your angels and the Castilian landscape.
 
peregrina2000 said:
I am not sure I would get the same sense of magic if I were on the moving sidewalk that the Francés has become
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You might be surprised that it's actually possible to walk with some sense of solitude on the meseta, even now. The secret is staying in small places between traditional stages — especially places that do not have Wi-Fi or even electricity. Last year I walked across the meseta in late May/early June and had a lot of time to myself, between the waves of pilgrims staying in more popular destinations.
 
alexwalker said:
I salute your great article! Wish all newbies would read it! Congratulations!
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peregrina2000 said:
Great writing, @jungleboy.
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Thank you both!

VNwalking said:
Absolutely. But everyone has their own opinion. @Dinah Shaw , can you say more, or do you just want to be the dissenting voice?
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Of course, that was tongue in cheek!

Off-stage is an interesting discussion. When Wendy and I walked our first camino (the Francés), we planned to stay off-stage because we'd done this on other multi-day hikes like the Annapurna Circuit in Nepal and been very happy that we'd done so. But we didn't 'get' what the camino was at that stage, and soon we found that a) the shared experience with other pilgrims was a big part of it, and b) unlike in the Nepal example, where the traditional end-of-stage villages were just the larger ones that could better accommodate groups, some (though not all) traditional end-of-stage places on the Francés are part of camino lore and have sites to explore that are harder to appreciate/enjoy if you're just passing through on your way to the next town (e.g. early on the Francés: Puente la Reina, Estella etc). Now that we've walked a couple of solitary caminos (the Madrid, the CP from Lisbon during the pandemic), I'm not sure how I'd feel about the enormous (non-COVID) crowds on the Francés.

To bring this back to the Meseta, if you're walking it for the first time, I would still recommend staying in some of the traditional places (e.g. Castrojeriz, Carrión, Mansilla de las Mulas) but maybe mixing up some of the other stops if that's practical stage-management-wise.

Finally, the last few days of the Camino de Madrid is an excellent Meseta alternative to the Francés because you still have the landscape, the canal (and it's an even better walk along the canal IMO), the Romanesque-Mudéjar fusion (San Gervasio and San Protasio) and a historic albergue (Grajal) without the crowds.
 
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Let us pick up your suitcase once you arrive in Europe....
...and ship it to Santiago for storage. You pick it up once in Santiago. Service offered by Casa Ivar (we use DHL for transportation).
Perhaps we passed on the meseta, I was walking there at that time too.
 
My advice would be do not skip the Meseta - it is an integral part of the whole experience. Personally I loved it as much as any other stage.
 
Camino Way markers in Bronze
The one from Galicia (the round) and the one from Castilla & Leon. Individually numbered and made by the same people that make the ones you see on your walk.
I always found the infamous and to some dreaded "LA MESETA" (said in dramatic, spooky tone of voice lol) to be no different than the rest of the Camino Frances. No more challenging or austere. Not spooky, lonely or desolate. Just flat farm country, folks. Have similar terrain all over the world. There's plenty of accommodations on that stretch of the Frances and plenty of cafes and bars and restaurants. If so much was not mentioned/written about it I do not think anyone would give it any thought. Maybe I just do not have as much of an imagination as others, lol.
Anyway, prospective pilgrims take note, do not treat it any different than any other section of the Frances.
 
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