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Caution to the wind or planning safely? Which way should we travel?

Consigliere

Active Member
Time of past OR future Camino
October 2013, April 2018, October 2023
So I've noticed a trend on the Forum that differs a tad since I did my first Camino in 2013.

There are more Pilgrims planning their Camino carefully. I'd rather this not be a discussion that sets people apart, but rather an exploration on the pros and cons with each "way", or opposing perspectives.

Honestly, in life I tend to lean toward being prepared, but on Camino I'd much rather throw caution to the wind and simply let the way unfold, even if this means having to search for another sleeping option. I try and cultivate soul.

Thoughts?
 
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Can you tell me what you mean by " cultivating soul"? Not wanting either to discuss pro and con but really curious what you mean?

Normally on my Caminos I do not overplan though I know my limitations of daily distances so I more or less know where I will stop.
This year I booked all the nights for my two friends and I due to limited time and family obligations.
 
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Last year, in April, we worked as hospis in an albergue on the Meseta. At the same time we were reading posts on this forum about how hard it was to find accommodation. Our albergue was never more than 66% full and often less than that. So we began asking incoming pilgrims if they had had problems finding places in albergues. The main reaction was to look at us as if we were mildly crazy (which may be the case, but let that pass). ´Well, maybe this or that place had a lot of people in it, but mainly, no´ was the gist of what they said.

Now this is anecdotal so possibly totally wrong, but the situation seems to have flipped around. Whereas a hotel is where you stayed when the albergues were full, now the default or preferred option is the booked accommodation, with the result that public albergues are often a lot less than full. There is pressure on albergues between SJPdP and Pamplona, but otherwise the accommodation you cannot book seems to be still there.

Another thing we noticed, and this will always be so, the camino is unpredictable as are most things in life, so a degree of flexibility is a nice thing to have on a long journey.
 
Another anecdote: Last year, mid May, i was sternly warned by some pilgrims staying with me at Orisson (which i had to reserve) that i would have to sleep under the stars because everything till Pamplona was absolutely booked out. Next day when i arrived in Zubiri at 16:30 i walked into the first albergue and got a bed because someone with a reservation did not show. But at least two other albergues in town where also still accepting people.
Then i pretty much winged it up till Sarria and since we became a little group to walk together we usually called ahead an hour or three if they had space for the lot of us.

Personally, i like to have some kind of plan, and i need to be back at home more or less on time, but during the Camino i like to have flexibility. Feeling strong, walk a long day, met people and had a great conversation, why not stop here.
 
Okay, thoughts. And an anecdote. (Don't you like that word?)
I recently met a young woman who was thinking of walking the CF. Some days later she came to a mass to honour St James. She told me she had booked her flight and was about to set off. I think with minimal planning. Even her footwear, no new shoes, just her old runners, till they might or not collapse.
We had a brief contact after a few days, now who knows where she is, but no news is good news.
I will meet her again, on her terms.
By the way, cultivate soul?
Forgive me, what on earth do you mean?
Either plan or take each day as it comes. No need to give yourself grief, at all.
Please, believe me: I truly wish you will have the camino meant for you this time, a full ten years after your first. Never mind what anyone else says. Make it yours. Do throw caution to the wind. And do not forget to report back.
 
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I experienced this last October - was staying in a private bookable place in Mansilla (as the lovely municipal was still closed). A couple of fellow pilgrims were getting quite panicked, saying absolutely everything was already booked up in Leon. So I approached Convento de las Carbajalas with a slightly more anxious step than usual. And blow me over, the place (which has 130 beds) was practically empty.
Consigliere, it is one of the big advantages of walking in October is that you should be able to wing it without succumbing to bed race anxiety. We found it more crowded at the start of November after Sarria - more people were joining as well as a lot of the bigger commercial albergues already closed for the season. A couple of Xuntas we stayed in completely filled up around us - but not until about 5pm. Our experience was that there were more laid back late-arriving pilgrims than the wired bed-racers you get in high season.
 
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Cultivating soul for me is letting go. Accepting what happens in life and finding meaning in it. For me this means finding something good in the parts of life that take us in directions we least expect.

Honouring what transpires. Sometimes this means stopping after 3 hrs in a town that looked exceptionally pretty. Sometimes feeling pissed off that I didn't get what I planned, and trying to find meaning in it.
 
I am so looking forward to being back on the CF with the freedom to choose very spontaneously were to stop for the night.
I've been on a little travelled route in France over the last 2 summers which involved alot of planning and other than camping having to book accommodation at least 2 days in advance. I love planning but the flexibility of the CF is a delightful luxury!
 
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Hi @Consigliere I will also be back on the Frances this year - from mid October. And, like you, it will be 10 years since my last time on that path, other than a few days here and there at various intersections with other Caminos.

Like @roving_rufus I've walked less travelled routes - in the last 10 years - (in both Spain and France). Those routes, usually with very few pilgrims, sometimes require a little planning or at least ability to call ahead - not due to any bed race but to check that the gite / albergue is open and/or someone is available to give you the key! All part of the adventure.

My first two times on the Frances (2011 and 2013) - there was no need or even a thought of reserving. We plan to do the same this time, and see what happens. I'm looking forward to seeing - and adapting to - whatever the Frances has in store for us.

Enjoy your 10 year reunion
 
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I dunno, whenever I try to carefully plan or cultivate any of my Caminos, Life laughs at me; it’s big trickster energy. For me, overly planning my Camino makes it feel a touch more hollow, less serendipitous.

I’m in the “mostly wing it” club, only booking ahead for the albergues I love (definitely Orrison or Borda after SJPdP, Casa Susi, Casa Las Almas in Espinosa del Camino, El Encanto in Villares del Orbigo).

I wholly dislike crowds on the Camino (don’t get me started on the Sarria stretch) preferring quieter months. Which yes, does mean I may need to book ahead to ensure an albergue is expecting me, but only by a day.

So I guess I’m 80% wing it, 20% plan ahead.
 
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Pelerina said:
My first two times on the Frances (2011 and 2013) - there was no need or even a thought of reserving.
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I walked my first Camino with Elias Valiña's famous red guidebook and a slim supplement from the Confraternity of St James. Many of the hostals and most of the refugios mentioned in the guides had no phone numbers or even postal address listed. You had to ask around for directions when you arrived. Booking ahead was simply not part of most people's thinking.
 
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truenorthpilgrm said:
So I guess I’m 80% wing it, 20% plan ahead.
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I think that's the same for me/us. For our upcoming Camino Frances I have a few 'post it notes' (that's my name for plans - more ideas than something scheduled). There are 3 or 4 albergues I'd like to revisit / try - and a couple of villages I'd like to spend time in that I whisked through before - so I keep those mental 'post it notes' in mind, knowing that some or all or none will eventuate. But in their place, something else will unfold.
 
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I ask myself the same question every night, “to plan and book ahead or not to plan and book ahead?” I’m walking solo soon so I’ve decided to wing it. How it will go, on the Frances, I don’t know. I’ll find out I guess. If it proves too difficult, I’ll start booking ahead.
 
I don't think this is a simple yes or no answer. I'm very much in the ideally walking everyday and decide on the way with your fellow 'camino family' where to stop. In practice, for a number of reasons you may need to plan a bit ahead.
I think it's best to be agile and go with the flow.

Everyone is going to have a different strategy to deal with this going forward. Avoid being rigid and being smart task configuration may be sufficient
 
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Possibly do not ask others who are not you; rather, ask yourself since any way of doing the Camino is fine if it suits the person involved. You know more about yourself than any of us do. Even my input ought to be ignored!
 
"The Camino Provides" ... just let it. Don't let "fear" rule your life. Be flexible and make the best of what the Camino gives you. There are lots of options when you're really not doing much more than walking from town to town.
Buen Camino
 
Umm... both?

I like to be prepared, to research and plan. I like to know what is available at each place along the way, to have some idea of the history of the places I visit and pass by.

But I also like to let the way unfold and make each decision at the last possible moment. I know a lot more on the day than I know in advance when I am doing my initial planning. In advance, there is no way to know what the weather will be like on any particular day in my Camino, or how I will be feeling (physically and mentally), or whom I will be walking with and what their situation might be, all of which might influence what is the best decision for me at the time.

So my compromise is to research and plan, but postpone committing as long as possible. Hold the plans in an open palm instead of a clenched fist and let the way unfold.
 
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I love that @David Tallan, hold the plans in an open palm instead of a clenched fist.

From the reponses above, I get the sense that winging it, is more for a second of third time (when you have a better idea of your favourite places to revisit); than for a first time when you can't rely on that knowledge.

After a first camino, a first solo walking trip; I was much more relaxed in going on another one. With the experience in one hand and a plan (loosely ) held in the other, I was much more comfortable in winging it.And maybe my level of winging it has nothing to do with someone else's.
 
klimmo said:
From the reponses above, I get the sense that winging it, is more for a second of third time (when you have a better idea of your favourite places to revisit); than for a first time when you can't rely on that knowledge.
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My experience was the exact opposite - on my first Camino I had no advance reservations or definite plans for my night stops but with the knowledge gained from that first walk I had places to aim for specifically on future walks.
 
I’ve always found that “letting go” to be the most beautiful aspect of the Camino. (It’s also what’s drawn me back time afort time)
 
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Interesting thread. I’m coming for the first time in April and for various reasons will start in Leon rather than SJPDP. I’m someone who likes to know where I’ll be sleeping so I’m trying to weigh up the benefit of knowing where I’ll be versus losing spontaneity. I’m 69 and doing it on my own so if I’m too much in pensions I could miss out on companionship. Think I need to be out of my comfort zone at least some of the time. Thanks for all your thoughts on this.
 
This year, I walked on CF for the fourth time (from Roncesvalle to Burgos in late May)-- My 3rd (last) time was in 2015.
1. Everyone knows it is best to reserve at Orisson.
2. We arrived in Roncesvalle, with a reservation (which they now allow) at 4:45 PM. We were aghast at the number of people there. It took us 2 1/2 hours just to register!!! During that time, it was hard to watch what occurred:
--they are appeared to be at least 50 people who had reservations. There were so many people that they were put in groups of three or four different colors. Everyone with a reservation eventually got into the building, but it took many hours.
--While waiting, there were about 20 people waiting since around 1 PM hoping to get beds if people didn't show up for reservations. This was at 4:15 and around 6 PM they were told that they did not expect any more beds to be available. I suspect a few other people may have gotten some beds early on but I'm not sure. these people were helped and getting taxis. And everyone who arrived later than 6 PM had no chance of getting a bed.
--I became friends with one of the hospideros (?) you told me around 8 p.m. that through various sources they had gotten feedback that there were no beds available that night until Pamplona. The next morning we met someone who was walking who actually had to go to Pamplona to find a bed.
--That same night we saw, and heard about a lot of really sad stories. One older man, when told there are no beds, said "I can't keep walking"--a young woman gave up her bed so that he would have one. The hotels in Roncesvalle varied in price, but some of them are quite expensive. Of course, all of the hotel beds filled up also.
--I suspected about 50 people could not find a bed anywhere that night except going to Pamplona or beyond.
3. I also had a reservation for my second night.
4. We got to Pamplona around 1 PM and the big municipal Albergue only had about 30 beds left. After we napped and showered, there were a few women on the street, crying because there was nowhere to sleep, and they planned on heading to the bus station to sleep on the floor. However, this was on a Saturday. So arrive early or avoid Pamplona on Saturday.
5. From there on, we made reservations, but at times it could be quite difficult, especially if I only tried to reserve one night ahead, sometimes taking a very long time to find a place available, and usually at a much higher rate.
 
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It makes me a little sad when people tell me that they have booked every night of their Camino, because I really think that they miss something special about the Camino, especially the Francés where there are so many little towns that it makes it easy to walk a little farther or stop early as the mood strikes you, or your sore feet demand. I love those days when you just happen upon a village or town that just speaks to you, and you want to stay there. If you are carrying your own pack and haven't reserved at the town farther up ahead you can just stop.
Booking everything also means that you may get separated from people that you really enjoy walking with.
 
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trecile said:
It makes me a little sad when people tell me that they have booked every night of their Camino, because I really think that they miss something special about the Camino,
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I have met too many people who have been struggling to keep up with their pre-booked itinerary for the idea to have any appeal for me. Several times it has been a first-time walker who had booked their accommodation in advance strictly according to John Brierley's stages but then found that an injury or illness had slowed their progress.
 
Just a note: Not getting a bed is not usually a fatal condition. When you're really tired, you can sleep just about anywhere. Get a couple of friends and curl up on the church porch. Pilgrims have been sleeping rough for centuries, and many lived to tell the tale.
(If things get really dire, call the Guardia Civil pilgrim division, they'll find something for you, even if it's the floor of the local gym or medical dispensary.)
 
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You asked for pros and cons. I'm an arch planner and usually set off on solo trips with a detailed day to day schedule. I was horrified when the friend who invited me to go with her on my first Camino insisted that we should take it as it came apart from booking a first night at Roncesvalles. On the second day we arrived late and exhausted at Zubiri, where the whole place was full. But a kind hospitalera organised a bed and a taxi to it, and after that I just relaxed. I do book a day or less ahead if there is only one place to stay within my likely walking distance. But the huge pro, for me, of spending many days when I do not know where I will be sleeping, is that I have become much better at living with uncertainty. That is a permanent pro, a direct result of the Camino, for which I am deeply grateful.
 
Spot on Trecile,

My fondest memory in 2018 was stopping at a village with a friend simply because it was nestled in a valley with a river beside.

Another time we were forced forward due to lack of accommodation. We stayed in a top notch ex monastery and had a wonderful groupwork exercise with Monks that were exceptionally kind.

You just never know what might transpire
 
We're finally doing the CP via Fatima next month. In the planning since 2018, we were booked for September 2020 before the world stopped. We made the decision in the early stages that we were going to 'let go and let God' when it came to which path we would walk after Porto. I'm a spreadsheet, whiteboard & multiple contingency plan type of person and it's now starting to cause some anxiety because it's suddenly real.

After a three year delay, we have got so many links to quirky attractions on the camino between Lisbon and Porto that we're doing a "church crawl" through Portugal looking for incorrupt saints and chicken miracles. Much of that part of the camino is pre-booked already.

After Porto, nothing is booked. We haven't decided which way to walk yet. We have our guidebooks, a few apps and no idea how many km we will walk per day. So for the last three years, I've mostly ignored everything north of Porto and will see what happens on October 11th.
 
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There’s an entire flock of reincarnated chickens on the Iberian peninsula!

On my first return from Portugal many years ago, having picked up the traditional souvenir in Barcelos, I was (unusually) stopped at UK customs who enquired what I was bringing into the country.

‘ just a small plaster model of a cock’

Not a glimmer of a smile; just instructions to completely empty my rucksack and wait for a couple of hours.

Anyway. Planning is for everyday life. Just know what direction you’re walking in and take life as it comes.
 
henrythedog said:
Not a glimmer of a smile; just instructions to completely empty my rucksack and wait for a couple of hours.
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So you weren't adequately briefed as a young dog about the inherent dangers of trying any form of humour with border control officials, security checkpoint staff, and check-in desk attendants. I take it that you are now your most respectful self at these places, and no longer an embarrassment to your master!
 
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Yes, I live and learn.
 
To give you another perspective, I am usually a planner. I take enormous pleasure in planning. I read, research, hunt each town on Google maps for likely accommodation and read reviews. This can keep me very happily occupied for many months. When our Podiensis journey was cancelled in 2020, I still had my pleasurable months of planning before the disappointment of cancelling everything.
As I write, I am on a holiday in Western Australia (Ningaloo) which uncharacteristically I didn’t do much planning. I was booked on a dive boat but I had left my other few days unplanned. I managed to find the last accommodation available, didn’t know about a wonderful dive with manta rays that I needed to book earlier so missed out, and arrived at a gorge with a wonderful boat trip that we missed out on by half an hour because we were winging the day and didn’t know about it.
It has reinforced to me that my deep planning has always enabled us to enjoy all that is there to experience and to not plan, research and book ahead leads to missing out on many wonderful experiences. Our hotel tonight is a very expensive 3 bedroom unit which was the only place available!!!
I will always plan and prebook. Not only do I get great enjoyment, I don’t miss out on anything, and I have the great comfort of knowing that a bed is waiting for me at days end. When I am hobbling along in great pain with my tendinitis, drenched by a thunderstorm it is often all that keeps me going.
 
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My wife and I have basically 'winged it' on each our six Caminos other than booking airport hotels.
We have a rough plan as ultimately we do need to make a return flight home.
We never book ahead otherwise. We always ask to see our potential bunk room or private room before laying our money down...and yes we have walked away from a few accommodations over the years.
We prefer the flexability of not pre-booking as we often either stop short or exceed our original destination each day.
We have yet to sleep outside, but on a few occasions had to press on as their was ' no room at the inn.'
The randomness of this often resulted in some of our most memorable nights.
Again though, people should do what is in their own personal comfort zone.
 
Brilliant way to look at it.Hope you really enjoy your walk.
 
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I do the same. I'm fully booked until I start the Camino. And fully booked prior to leaving.

I've even left the CF route once with a friend and took to another route for the last 200km or so. So good to feel the freedom to change something that may not be fruitful.
 
Consigliere said:
There are more Pilgrims planning their Camino carefully.
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I find this a strange notion. The proposition seems to rely on some link between booking accommodation and actually planning. Such a link might exist, but it is far from clear that making extensive bookings is actually useful planning. More, if one engages a travel company to do this, one outsources the 'success' of one's pilgrimage to a third party. Clearly it can work, but it doesn't make it careful planning.

It is possible to analyse this in either of two frameworks, and I have worked in organizations that have used one or the other. The military framework layers are typically strategic, operational and tactical. In business models, the layers have the same names, but a different order, strategic, tactical and operational. One way or another, it amounts to the same thing.

Taking the former, your planning thinking might be:

a. strategic: I wish to undertake a pilgrimage to Santiago de Compostela to venerate the saint in the traditions of my faith as a Catholic. To achieve this, I will need to:
  • get myself to Spain, or somewhere close
  • undertake the pilgrimage, supporting myself along the way
  • return home.
b. operational
  • Strategic objective 1:
    • from Australia, the only practical travel method to Europe generally is by air
    • but from an entry point in Europe, there are other options, such as train, bus, or hiring a car.
    • what accommodation will I need during and at the end of my travels.
  • Strategic objective 2:
    • When will I be able to save enough to remain self-sufficient for the journey, or should I consider doing a shorter camino that I can afford now.
    • What are the ways and means that I will use for this? Will I travel solely on foot, or should I contemplate that I will need to use other transport? Will I rely on finding albergues or do I want or need to consider other forms of accommodation?
    • If I have special food requirements, will these be available on the route that I am taking.
    • Do I have enough information about my accommodation needs to contemplate booking everything, or just some of the journey? Will I get more information about this while I am walking that would change my thinking about what and when to book?
  • Strategic objective 3
    • Will I extend my travels, before or after my pilgrimage, to take advantage of being in Europe.
    • If I do, I need to reset my strategic objectives, and re-evaluate my operational plan.
    • Otherwise there are similar operational considerations to Strategic objective 1.
c: tactical (assuming one is now undertaking strategic objective 2 as a walking pilgrim using a mix of albergue and other accommodation that hasn't been booked)
  • how far do I want to walk tomorrow, and how long will it take?
  • do I think that I will arrive somewhere by mid-afternoon that might have accommodation, and if it doesn't, there will still be time to walk onto the next village? Is the next village sufficiently close that it will take an hour or so to do that, or is it further away, and would be difficult to get to in a reasonable time?
  • my friend, Sarah, has been walking with blisters, and I want to walk with her and stay at the same place, but she cannot tell me how far she thinks she can go tomorrow. I think it is possible she will have to take a bus or taxi if she wants to get to Santiago in time for her flight home.
  • and on it goes.
So to suggest that someone is not planning their camino carefully just because they don't have accommodation bookings is clearly ridiculous.

More, it is not 'throwing caution to the winds' if one doesn't have an accommodation plan. At the tactical level, in the framework I have outlined, instead of an (operational level) accommodation plan around which one forms each days (tactical level) temporal plan, one can clearly reverse this, and have a plan like this:
  • each day I will leave the albergue by 0730, unless breakfast is provided, when I will leave after breakfast.
  • if I haven't had breakfast, I will stop at the first open bar/cafe for that, otherwise I will walk for a minimum of two hours before stopping for second breakfast.
  • after second breakfast, I will walk for a minimum of another two hours before taking a longer break for lunch.
  • after lunch, after at least two hours walking, I will begin enquiring about the availability of a bed for the night, starting at the first albergue in a town.
  • contingency arrangements:
    • if I arrive at a town after 90 minutes, and the next town is more than an hours walk further on, I will stop where I am.
    • I can add a fourth walking session to the day if it means reaching somewhere I particularly want to stay at, or I haven't found accommodation.
    • if I have walked on after not finding accommodation, and there is still nowhere to stay, I will ring to find accommodation, and take a taxi, returning the next day to recommence where I stopped walking.
Again, it is clear that suggesting that someone hasn't planned carefully because they haven't booked their whole journey seems just a bit silly.

I think that it is clear that in a broader understanding about planning than 'do I have accommodation bookings', the dichotomy presented by this headline
Caution to the wind or planning safely? Which way should we travel?
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clearly is a false one, and does little to help us understand what the advantages or disadvantages inherent in different approaches that might be taken.
 
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I think the idea is, how much does one determine in advance. For example, the idea is that the "winging it" category of people have no idea where they will sleep each night and just take it as it comes, walking as far as they feel like. Meanwhile the "planning" category will have their spreadsheets where they carefully plan precisely how far they will walk each day of the Camino in advance and where they will sleep. Once they have done this, the thinking seems to be, it is a natural extension to book the places they will sleep, to ensure they can follow through on the plan.

As I've described above, neither approach is how I tend to operate. But I can see where the OP is coming from.
 
And therein lies the potential problem, especially for those on their first Camino. Having a plan does not necessarily mean that they will be able to follow through with the walking part of the plan. They usually don't yet know how far they are able to comfortably walk every day. They don't know that they might happen upon a charming little town that invites them to stay, rather than the town where they have booked a bed or room, or where their backpack has been sent. They don't know that they might suffer an injury or catch a cold that keeps them from walking the preplanned distances. They don't yet know what kind of friendships they will form with fellow pilgrims, who they may get out of sync with because of their rigid preplanned schedule.

There is a happy medium for those who have too much anxiety about having a bed every night, and that is to book just a day or two ahead, adjusting your itinerary as you go along.
 
trecile said:
They don't know that they might happen upon a charming little town that invites them to stay, rather than the town where they have booked a bed or room,
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I guess that for a first time walker, there is some value in winging it, but once you have walked a route, know how far you like to walk when well, and how far is possible when injured/unwell, then planning your nights can be good so that you can juggle your stages to be able to stay at that lovely town that you saw around lunch time last time, or that charming accommodation or one with a great reputation.
I still think that it is valuable to plan and book accommodation if you are walking at the out of season times, or on variants, or at peak time. It became obvious to me that accommodation on the Cele Variant, which is scarce at the best time, was impossible before Easter. I would have been in deep trouble trying to wing my accommodation there with no taxi service available, and tiny towns with nothing open (food or accommodation). Without planning, I might have headed merrily down the Cele Valley and found myself cold, wet and exhausted with no where to stay for 3 days, no where to eat or get provisions and no taxi to drive me to an off Camino option.
 
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I like to do a lot of research, including planning possible stages with x kms/day, where I plan to stop, prices of accommodation, available supermarkets/shops/cafés, alternative routes, public transport options just in case, plan b-f), ect. ect. It's a lot of fun during the time until the next Camino. It's also very helpful (and sometimes needed) for the lesser walked paths with little infrastructure.

But then when I start walking I usually ignore most of the "plan" and end up doing something completely different

I love not having to stick to a plan and not having to make reservations days or weeks before. I like to have some options, but I really love to see where the wind will blow me, as long as it is roughly into the right direction. I've never been disappointed with that so far.

I've slept in albergues, gites, pensions, private people's guest rooms and gardens, on a bench in front of an albergue, in the grass next to a chapel in the woods, in a simple shelter without electricity or running water, in my tent often (sometimes in luxurious campsites, often simple ones, a few times wild camping) in hotel rooms very rarely. Walked very long days, very short days, slow days, fast days, took a bus/ taxi / train /hitchhiked sections when needed.

One thing I love about the Francés is that there's no plan needed. There are so many options, such a good infrastructure, it makes it very easy even for a hiking beginner with bad fitness and/or gear to just completely wing it without much risk. It is very forgiving in that regard. I feel very safe there, because I know whatever goes wrong, it will be easy to adapt and improvise, and a solution will be found.

Nothing better for me than waking up in the morning and no idea where I'll be in the evening.

Bad weather, bad day? Short walk or a zero day. Good weather, good day, feeling like having superpowers? A 40km day it is. Walking through a lovely village, thinking I'd love to stay there? Just find a bed/room/campsite ect. and stay. Town I planned to stop in doesn't have good vibes or feels weird? Walk one village further. Feeling tired? Stay a second day. It's hot, and the campsite has a good pool? Maybe I'll stay a second day. And so on. That wouldn't be possible with everything booked before and a spreadsheet with fixed stages.

I do make a difference between research and planning. Research is good for knowing your options, and helps you stay flexible.

Strict planning, like fixed stages and accommodation, means that there's much less flexibility, less room for making decisions based on how you feel, what your body and soul need that day, that moment. For me, personally, that would be a giant loss.
 
David Tallan said:
Meanwhile the "planning" category will have their spreadsheets where they carefully plan precisely how far they will walk each day of the Camino in advance and where they will sleep.
Click to expand...
To suggest that there are two categories, 'planning' and 'winging' is to perpetuate the false dichotomy repeated in the headline. I would go even further, and suggest that those who you suggest are 'planning' are doing most of their so-called accommodation planning half blind. We see it regularly here where members are almost continuously seeking advice about accommodation because the booking engines show no vacancies in some place or other. They do not appear to have the understanding that there are other mechanisms for finding accommodation, including not having a booking at all and walking to an albergue that doesn't take bookings, or doesn't offer all its beds on the booking engines.

More, they may have no idea about how far they want to walk each day. Many factors will influence this, as @trecile has pointed out a little earlier. Walking with convivial companions with whom you want to walk again with on the following days, illness or injury, even just general tiredness. All of these things will be influences that will be difficult to factor into a 'plan' constructed weeks or months ahead.

Indeed, I would suggest that those who are thinking that they are 'planners' are more likely to find themselves 'winging it' because they haven't been able to consider in their planning all the influences that will emerge as they undertake their pilgrimage. They will be the ones that have to compromise, not the ones that we often describe as 'winging it'.
 
I think if you read my original response, and to the end of the response you are quoting from, you will see that I don't think that there are only two categories, and I don't put myself in either of the two categories described in the snippet you extract. But I acknowledge that there are people who like to plan and not leave themselves flexibility by booking everything in advance. And there are also people who like not to plan or research at all and just fly over and see what they find. I've seen people who adopt both of these approaches here on these forums. And they are often posed in discussions as two ends of a spectrum. As I posted in both my responses, neither suits me.

As you point out, and as I said in my first response to the OP, I prefer leaving commitments to the last moment when you have the most information, including what the weather is, what you feel like, and who you are walking with. On the other hand, I do like to do a lot of research so I know what is available and when I need to make commitments, so I don't arrive at popular albergues that accept reservations, which I would like to stay at, surprised to find there is no room for me.
 
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I am an over planner! And an over thinker!

On my recent Camio this year, I read blogs, watched videos, poured over Gronze and other Guides.
I developed a spreadsheet that my maths professor would have been impressed by!
Depending on the distance 'band' being covered that day, it would show up in different colours.
For each of my planned stages I investigated accommodation options and noted how many accommodation options were at each planned stop.

It was a thing of wonder.

A meticulous plan, covering 4 different Camino routes (VdlP, Frances, Invierno, Fisterra) over about 60 days.

Then, as I was starting out just prior to Semana Santa, I booked the first few days accomodation just to be safe. I was starting out with short days anyway, to ease into it. So I knew what towns/villages I would be staying in. There weren't really any options anyway.

And off I went................

And of course as always happens, and what really plan to happen anyway, is that the plan just gets mainly shelved.

Conditions 'on the ground' might vary from expectations.
I met people.
After a while I was able to walk longer distances than planned.
My Camino Amigos at any given time might be staying in a different place, so I'd want to tag along.

Basically the 'Camino' happened.

And it was truly wonderful.

I got to share an apartment a couple of times.
I stayed in all manner of Albergues.
I stayed in towns/villages I hadn't planned to stay in.
I walked route variations I hadn't planned on or even knew about!

This raises TWO Questions.

ONE
So why did I plan? Why do I always plan in such detail?

I treat it as a kind of research.
It's a way of learning about the route and taking notes really.
Particular places I want to see.
It helps me know how many days to allow for the Camino! (main reason)
Then I add a buffer....
It's a way of checking out any long strages to see how I might break them up.
It's how I knew about the private Roman Bath in Aljucen!
Three of us ended up enjoying that.

TWO.
If you have a plan, why not stick to it?

Because for me, the freedom of the road and 'letting go' of the plan, is the real freedom of the Camino.
Letting go of any expectations. Letting go of strict schedules.
Learning to just be in the moment and being comfortable with it.
The stress of everyday life evaporates.......
Because I don't have to BE anywhere, BY a specific day or time.

Being a slow walker, I tend to book just one day ahead, so at least I don't feel rushed.

But on this last Camino I let go of that many times too.
Even on my short 3 day section of the Camino Frances.
I turned up.......and got a bed. No problems.
On the Frances, in May!

My Next Camino is likely to be a short one.
10-14 days from Le Puy with my wife.
She wants to do some non-Camino stuff too this time.

Will I plan? Yes. In fine detail.
So that I feel I know the route, the places to stay, any hard sections and so one.
Will we stick to the plan precisely?
I doubt it very much.
Because the 'Camino' will happen and work its magic........
 
Just a note. Not to cause any anxiety.
But it has been mentioned above and I wouldn't want to make light of it.
The last time we walked the Frances was in 2018.
We started at the end of April. That is a peak time!

So we booked as far as Pamplona.

Being slow walkers my wife feared not getting a bed.
And she doesn't do Albergues sadly.

When we got to Zubiri people 'apparently' were getting buses and taxis to Pamplona, as there were no beds. Certainly the place we stayed in was full. (private rooms)

I would just make two points.

  1. St Jean to Pamplona, in peak season, is a known 'choke point'.
  2. When people say they cannot find a bed, it can often mean, they can't find a bed of the type and at the budget that they prefer....
After Pamplona, I think most would agree, the masses thin out.........

As per my example above from this year.
(I did 3 days on the Frances bridging across to the Invierno)
It was really busy on the Frances in early May.
But in Rabanal and El Acebo I was able to walk into Albergues and get a bed on the spot.
Neither of those filled up. (they were maybe 60-70% full)
 

Well put @dougfitz

A further thought perhaps.

And I think you mentioned this earlier, that planning and booking are two different things.
And there may be a broad spectrum in between.
I 'plan' in detail, but tend to wing it once I start, due to the reasons you outline.

Sorry, the further thought is.......

Is planning, or more specifically booking more than just a day or two ahead, really out of fear?
Fear of the unknown. Quite understandable of course.
As we walk more Caminos, do we plan/book less?

On a first Camino, if we have no idea what to expect, there is potentially a greater level of anxiety.
So I expect there is more of a tendency to book further and further along the route, rather than just a day or two ahead. Once we get there, on our first Camino, are we more relaxed about the whole thing?
 
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@David Tallan, I know you have a much more nuanced and realistic view of this than that presented by the OP. My concern here is that we don't do new pilgrims any great service by presenting this particular matter as if there is some sort of either-or decision to be made about early booking of accommodation, or making decisions about any other aspects of one's pilgrimage, before actually starting walking and better understanding the circumstances one will face. I think the only piece of advice that makes sense to me is that it is worth booking a few days accommodation if starting on the CF from SJPP. Even then, if I had, I would not have had some of the wonderful experiences that I did have on my first camino.
 
But there is a decision to be made as to whether one wants to book everything in advance. I have read some pilgrims who have said that if it weren't an option they would never have summoned up the courage to walk. I just today read another pilgrim who didn't book everything for their 2017 camino and had a terrible time, but did book everything in advance for subsequent caminos and had great times on those.

Early booking of accommodations (except in certain limited circumstances) is not for me. It is not for you. But I think we do a disservice to take it completely off the table and say it is not an available decision for anyone.
 
David Tallan said:
But I think we do a disservice to take it completely off the table and say it is not an available decision for anyone.
Click to expand...
I don't think I have suggested we do that - it would be quixotic to try given how widespread booking has become. But I think new pilgrims deserve to know one can mix and match, advice that is regularly given elsewhere particularly for the first day or so of the CF. More, one mightn't need to book all that far in advance provided one is prepared to be a little flexible about where one stays. I have found stopping a little before or after a more significant village or town works, but that is advice we also regularly give. None of this is new. What is frustrating is that when trying to get these messages across, suddenly headlines appear that present this as an either-or proposition, sometimes it seems to me just for the sake of making a more interesting headline. As we have done here, we then go through the whole process of helping people understand this is a more nuanced matter than the headline would have one believe.
 
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My mistake.

When you wrote:
dougfitz said:
My concern here is that we don't do new pilgrims any great service by presenting this particular matter as if there is some sort of either-or decision to be made about early booking of accommodation....
Click to expand...
It seemed to me that you didn't want to present it as a decision to be made and only wanted to present your preferred approach of just booking the first few days ignoring the existence of other possibilities.
 
I’ve done it both ways. I’d rather have reservations. It’s less to think about when I’m walking and minimizes looking at my phone determining possibilities. To each their own. I don’t judge the choice.
 
David Tallan said:
It seemed to me that you didn't want to present it as a decision to be made and only wanted to present your preferred approach of just booking the first few days ignoring the existence of other possibilities.
Click to expand...
Perhaps I didn't phrase that as well as I might have. I apologize for that.
 
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It is precisely because this is my first camino that I have not booked my accommodation past Orisson and Roncevalles. I will be slow, and I will be listening to the 'angels on my shoulders' - not the one who is always trash-talking me, although I've no doubt she will get a look-in - but the 'practical' one. 'This is as far as you are comfortable walking today"; "this looks like a nice place to stay and there are vacancies"; "you're doing well, keep going!". Throwing caution to the wind or going with the flow? Perhaps neither. While I have done some research, and have a list of places to visit/stay that others have recommended, I remind myself that 'no plan survives contact with the enemy'.
 
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