Calling all spreadsheet nerds, I need planning inspiration!

[Former member 59618]

I'm considering doing a winter camino in late January/early February. This means I have to set aside my spontaneous nature and actually *gasp!, plan out where I'm going to sleep each night. I'm a bit of a paradox, as I do love me a good spreadsheet for planning purposes, camino or otherwise. It's just that after intensely researching for months, I love tossing out the plan and going with the flow. My past caminos have taken place during the early fall months, so I rarely booked ahead as most business and albergues were still open.

But winter weather and closed albergues won't allow for such frivolities. I'm wondering if anyone has any templates or spreadsheets they find useful for planning out each day. And...if you do, would you be willing to share? Not private information of course, but perhaps a skeleton version of what you've used?

 

[Tincatinker]

Well, i'm guessing you are aware of the resources available to help you populate a spreadsheet so here is mine for the South Downs Way. Free for end use by anyone that wants it. Just please don't try and book for next month. Accommodation is scarce

 

[mspath]

truenorthpilgrim,

Relax you need not plan everything ahead!

Do be aware that whatever the season hospitaleros usually know who and what is open on the next section of the path; thus you need not plan everything ahead.

In the happy, easier past years, 2007, 2008, 2009, and 2010, when I walked the CF late autumn and winter accommodation started to close mid October but some place was always open. There were no summer crowds and beds/bunks were available. I usually slept in albergues, often the sole pilgrim, but also in back rooms of an open bar/restaurant.

Walking off-season during those past years I rarely saw more than 20 pilgrims at one time. There usually was a strong sense of camaraderie amongst those of us on the route especially during storms or difficult stretches

Difficult CF stretches after storms could be; the Valcarlos route up to Roncesvalles (the Napoleon route is closed from November to April), across the Montes de Oca from Villafranca, Najera to Santo Domingo de la Calzada, Monte Irago and, of course, to and from O Cebreiro.

Helpful passing strangers also gave advice. Little was hectic; without the hordes of summer all had time to share info....However you must be prepared for cold, ice and snow.

Good luck, stay safe and Buen camino.

 

[Former member 59618]

Do be aware that whatever the season hospitaleros usually know who and what is open on the next section of the path; thus you need not plan everything ahead.

Ah, yes makes sense. Didn't even think about this.

 

[Former member 92300]

I'm considering doing a winter camino in late January/early February. This means I have to set aside my spontaneous nature and actually *gasp!, plan out where I'm going to sleep each night. I'm a bit of a paradox, as I do love me a good spreadsheet for planning purposes, camino or otherwise. It's just that after intensely researching for months, I love tossing out the plan and going with the flow. My past caminos have been in early fall, so I rarely booked ahead as most business and albergues were still open.

But winter weather and closed albergues won't allow for such frivolities. I'm wondering if anyone has any templates or spreadsheets they find useful for planning out each day. And...if you do, would you be willing to share? Not private information of course, but perhaps a skeleton version of what you've used?

You might simply want to do what I did on the Norte in late May-June. I knew ahead of time that not all albergues were open (due to COVID and due to seasonal opening dates) - so each day I went to gronze.com to take a look to see what was available in the upcoming towns.

What Camino are you doing? I also used this website https://godesalco.com/plan/frances to plan my Frances - you can download excel spreadsheets with either all of the towns or just the stages you are planning to stop at - and then add columns for what you want/need. I added all my travel dates and the names of my albergues that I had reservations at... but I only reserved a few days. I added columns for marking whether meals are included and how much I paid.

 

[Former member 59618]

You might simply want to do what I did on the Norte in late May-June. I knew ahead of time that not all albergues were open (due to COVID and due to seasonal opening dates) - so each day I went to gronze.com to take a look to see what was available in the upcoming towns.

What Camino are you doing? I also used this website https://godesalco.com/plan/frances to plan my Frances - you can download excel spreadsheets with either all of the towns or just the stages you are planning to stop at - and then add columns for what you want/need. I added all my travel dates and the names of my albergues that I had reservations at... but I only reserved a few days. I added columns for marking whether meals are included and how much I paid.

Thanks for reminding me of that godesalco website! I will play around with it...

 

[C clearly]

Here's an example of what I do - it's an excerpt from my VDLP-Sanabres spreadsheet. I like to have a Plan A and a less ambitious Plan B. I take this on a single sheet of paper. It is quite easy to look and see the implications of any change in plans. The daily distances are all calculated from the column of separate distances. I also include the Actual Date so I can check for Monday closures, etc., as well as make sure my start and end dates fit.

It takes quite a bit of work to adjust all the stages, and massage everything so the totals cross-check, but it entertains me on winter evenings in the same way as jigsaw or crossword puzzles entertain other people.

I probably did my first one as an elaboration of a Godesalco spreadsheet. Now I have a dozen or so in various stages of completion.

 

[simply B]

It is perhaps my peculiarity of having had so much time spent on spreadsheets professionally that I did NOT want them interfering with a Camino that I am of one mind with @mspath ...

Just go...and be prepared for adverse conditions.

The weather will be cold, and often wet.

The albergues will be cold and the showers even colder!

But your fellow pilgrims will be "warm" to degrees well above ordinary.

B

 

[Glen Moray]

Well, i'm guessing you are aware of the resources available to help you populate a spreadsheet so here is mine for the South Downs Way. Free for end use by anyone that wants it. Just please don't try and book for next month. Accommodation is scarce

Ouch!!! I had forgotten how expensive the UK is and what great value for money accommodation in Spain is in comparison.

 

[timr]

Well, i'm guessing you are aware of the resources available to help you populate a spreadsheet so here is mine for the South Downs Way. Free for end use by anyone that wants it. Just please don't try and book for next month. Accommodation is scarce

Great to hear that you have a plan @Tincatinker .
I was shocked (like @Glen Moray) to see the cost of accommodation - er here in the country I am presently living in! Even though I knew at some level.
But it is staggering, compared to southern Italy where I have just spent a month walking, staying predominantly in B&Bs.

 

[Camino Chrissy]

Just go...and be prepared for adverse conditions.

The weather will be cold, and often wet.

The albergues will be cold and the showers even colder!

But your fellow pilgrims will be "warm" to degrees well above ordinary.

B

Although I sadly no longer do my Caminos "your way", I totally respect those who choose to continue to wing it and make few plans prior to setting their foot down in the ground that first day.
I absolutely love these words! ..."But your fellow pilgrims will be "warm" to degrees well above ordinary."

 

[TDS]

Well, i'm guessing you are aware of the resources available to help you populate a spreadsheet so here is mine for the South Downs Way. Free for end use by anyone that wants it. Just please don't try and book for next month. Accommodation is scarce

Walked several trails in northern UK and Cotswold Way, but running out of ideas if to walk any others in the UK. Haven’t really considered the South Down Way as thought it might not be too interesting??? What did you like, not like? Nice villages? Scenic countryside? Thx

 

[Tincatinker]

Walked several trails in northern UK and Cotswold Way, but running out of ideas if to walk any others in the UK. Haven’t really considered the South Down Way as thought it might not be too interesting??? What did you like, not like? Nice villages? Scenic countryside? Thx

I live on the coastal fringes of the South Downs. I walk them most weeks. I love the "whalebacked" rolling hills, the views across the Weald that on a misty morning appears to have filled with water again. There is history, modernity and a few good pubs. Though Strongs' John Barleycorn; Brickwoods Little Brickie; Alton Red; Gales HSB; King & Barnes Sussex Best are all beers I'll never taste again the memories linger.

This trip is planned as a commemorative. I walked the full path in my youth, when I married, for my fortieth and now my seventieth.

 

[Camino Chrissy]

I have walked the Cotswold Way quite a long time ago, and have been interested in walking a portion of the Southwest coastal path, but I read it often can have high winds and rain in any season, so it kind of "puts me off". Yes, the costs in England are very similar to the USA.
I felt that my trip to Ireland was somewhat less expensive.

 

[Harland2019]

Well, i'm guessing you are aware of the resources available to help you populate a spreadsheet so here is mine for the South Downs Way. Free for end use by anyone that wants it. Just please don't try and book for next month. Accommodation is scarce

From your accommodation, it looks like a pub crawl! Just my type of walking in the UK.

 

[Tincatinker]

From your accommodation, it looks like a pub crawl!

There are other sorts of walk?

 

[Harland2019]

I have walked the Cotswold Way quite a long time ago, and have been interested in walking a portion of the Southwest coastal path, but I read it often can have high winds and rain in any season, so it kind of "puts me off". Yes, the costs in England are very similar to the USA.
I felt that my trip to Ireland was somewhat less expensive.

I walked the SWCP in April/May 2007 over 41 days, from memory I only had one day of heavy rain. Can't recall any winds that were pushing me around. As it is the old coastguard path it is obviously "up and down" as it stays close to the cliff edge but is not, in my opinion, dangerous. But when I started a local recommended that I stop to take photos and not take them whilst walking as there have been fatalities by walkers not paying attention. It is a really nice walk but at age 75 I think that it is a bit beyond me nowadays as from end to end it is the equivalent of ascending Everest 4 times. Happy to give you more details if you want to PM me.

 

[Camino Chrissy]

Harland, thanks for sharing your experience. I was only considering walking a portion, possibly 100+ miles as I knew there is quite a bit of up and down as I have watched a few videos.
.

 

[Former member 104145]

You might find this site useful.

Camino de Santiago

Bienvenido a la Web de la Federación Española de Asociaciones de Amigos del Camino de Santiago. Todo sobre el Camino de Santiago, información, guías, descripción, planos, consejos, albergues, hospitaleros, noticias, Asociaciones de Amigos del Camino.

www.caminosantiago.org

I used their del Sureste list of albergue along with Apple and Google maps to find and mark all their locations to make a guide in Apple Maps.

 

[Sixwheeler]

Well, i'm guessing you are aware of the resources available to help you populate a spreadsheet so here is mine for the South Downs Way. Free for end use by anyone that wants it. Just please don't try and book for next month. Accommodation is scarce

That's a pub crawl.

 

[Tincatinker]

It’s a walk. I’ll be walking. And sadly there is a serious dearth of accommodation, let alone affordable accommodation, around here. Some of the cheaper places have taken the sensible decision to go bust. If a YHA bunk bed is coming in at minimum £39, breakfast extra then, for me, the whole system is bust. Luckily for me I worked hard and saved hard all my adult life so I can squander the children’s inheritance with equanimity. But I do feel sympathy for younger people, perhaps without my means, who simply cannot afford to walk this “green and pleasant”.

I carried a tent and camped with discretion on my first four ventures. That is beyond my capacities this time.

 

[ScorpioGirl22]

Well, i'm guessing you are aware of the resources available to help you populate a spreadsheet so here is mine for the South Downs Way. Free for end use by anyone that wants it. Just please don't try and book for next month. Accommodation is scarce

I created a similar one but with an added column for "Notes" in which I put things such as if I have to call ahead one day / how I booked the accommodation: Booking.com or directly with the establishment / and if there was any important to watch for that day. e.g. a variant turn-off ; Cruz de Ferro.; etc.

 

[Nancy R.]

You might simply want to do what I did on the Norte in late May-June. I knew ahead of time that not all albergues were open (due to COVID and due to seasonal opening dates) - so each day I went to gronze.com to take a look to see what was available in the upcoming towns.

What Camino are you doing? I also used this website https://godesalco.com/plan/frances to plan my Frances - you can download excel spreadsheets with either all of the towns or just the stages you are planning to stop at - and then add columns for what you want/need. I added all my travel dates and the names of my albergues that I had reservations at... but I only reserved a few days. I added columns for marking whether meals are included and how much I paid.

Thanks that's a very useful website!

 

[Schamber]

I'm considering doing a winter camino in late January/early February. This means I have to set aside my spontaneous nature and actually *gasp!, plan out where I'm going to sleep each night. I'm a bit of a paradox, as I do love me a good spreadsheet for planning purposes, camino or otherwise. It's just that after intensely researching for months, I love tossing out the plan and going with the flow. My past caminos have taken place during the early fall months, so I rarely booked ahead as most business and albergues were still open.

But winter weather and closed albergues won't allow for such frivolities. I'm wondering if anyone has any templates or spreadsheets they find useful for planning out each day. And...if you do, would you be willing to share? Not private information of course, but perhaps a skeleton version of what you've used?

I can send you mine if you give me your email.

 

[trecile]

I can send you mine if you give me your email.

Please respond to other members by using the "conversation" option when you click on their user name.

 

[Schamber]

Please respond to other members by using the "conversation" option when you click on their user name.

Sorry, i don’t see that option

 

[C clearly]

Sorry, i don’t see that option

Touch their user name, and a box appears. In the lower right you should see "Start conversation".

 

[trecile]

Touch their user name, and a box appears. In the lower right you should see "Start conversation".

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