Estimate of Walking Timeframe

[Saint Mike II]

Hola fellow pilgrims,
I have a few, reasonably up to date guide books but am still having some difficulty planning my Salamanca - Santiago (via Sanabres) Camino. I will be 76 when I start the camino in mid-May 2025. I am in reasonable fitness for my age, but will do a good bit of preparation. So is a departure on May 11 and an arrival in Santiago on June 3 or 4 doable (with a rest day in Ourense.
Thanks in advance for your assistance/suggestions. Happy New Year for a peaceful 2025. Cheers

 

[C clearly]

It would help people if you would say how many days that is, to save them having to figure it out.

 

[OzAnnie]

Hi Mike
Lucky you! being able to plan for May.
I hope you’re feeling all ship shape now and ready to climb those hills on the Sababrés. I know some feel that they are a piece of cake - but I found them a little taxing . You’d know that I’m around your age …however , you have bonus of being tall and able to move further with your larger steps.

I know you could do it … (I think you’ve got about 23 days and roughly 465 klms?? from Salamanca ? So average day of a little over 20ks daily ? Is that your calculation ?
Some of the Gronze stages are very long and some really short. — Nowadays, I prefer to arrive with time to get my personal stuff and required shopping & menu del día around 3pm - so that I can relax and check out the village I’ve decided to stay in. No doubt youll be hoping to find a church too.

So for me., I’d make it easier for myself and add another 4 days.
Take care Mike and buen camino.
Annie

 

[trecile]

The Godesalco planner could be helpful.

Planificador - Godesalco.com

Perfil altitudinal, albergues, etapas, itinerario y archivos GPS para preparar tu Camino.

godesalco.com

 

[Sirage]

I am familiar with the route, about your age, but not familiar with your capabilities and I suspect you aren't either .

Regardless of your fitness it is always advisable to ease into a long walk, at least for the first week (avoid over 20 kms) then up the average kms / day according to how you feel. This is a bit theoretical and needs to be adjusted for places of accommodation of course.

That is, the preparation for the last 2/3 of a camino is the first 1/3 not just the walking around at home.

Using Godesalco planer 24 days, about 20 kms / day [ AVERAGE ], + rest days, is about the mark. Perhaps add a few days if you want to have a bit of flexibility to avoid a few of the longer stages over 25 kms.

Avoid booking too far ahead - it is possible to avoid booking on this route unless you have specific needs.

 

[wisepilgrim]

in addition to the godesalco solution, there is now a planner on the forums.

It is definitely doable, as an average. But the level of services and stopping points on that route may mean that your maximum length days may be exceeded with an equivalent amount of shorter days.

 

[Saint Mike II]

It would help people if you would say how many days that is, to save them having to figure it out.

Hola C - its around 24 or 25 walking days. Cheers

 

[Saint Mike II]

Hi Mike
Lucky you! being able to plan for May.
I hope you’re feeling all ship shape now and ready to climb those hills on the Sababrés. I know some feel that they are a piece of cake - but I found them a little taxing . You’d know that I’m around your age …however , you have bonus of being tall and able to move further with your larger steps.

I know you could do it … (I think you’ve got about 23 days and roughly 465 klms?? from Salamanca ? So average day of a little over 20ks daily ? Is that your calculation ?
Some of the Gronze stages are very long and some really short. — Nowadays, I prefer to arrive with time to get my personal stuff and required shopping & menu del día around 3pm - so that I can relax and check out the village I’ve decided to stay in. No doubt youll be hoping to find a church too.

So for me., I’d make it easier for myself and add another 4 days.
Take care Mike and buen camino.
Annie

Thanks Annie - yes being tall is some advantage, but then you have to carry a 100kg frame. For the most part I have planned 20km stages for the first 5 days and build them up as I go, I have planned two 30+km days in the lead up to Ourence with a rest day to follow. From Santiago I want to walk to Muxia which will complete my camio adventures.

Cheers for now,. Mike

 

[Saint Mike II]

The Godesalco planner could be helpful.

Planificador - Godesalco.com

Perfil altitudinal, albergues, etapas, itinerario y archivos GPS para preparar tu Camino.

godesalco.com

Thanks for this suggestion. They have been a very big help. Cheers

 

[Patrick1970]

I walked the Plata 3 times, but only last year the whole, incl. the Sanabres and the additional part from Cadiz.
These 1200 km took me 46 days.
Be aware there are some stages you would have to walk over 30km per day, eg after Casa de Carceres, or after Fuenterroble and also after Carnaveral, via the Arco de Carpara. Of course there are options to leave the Camino to end those days earler.

 

[trecile]

I walked the Plata 3 times, but only last year the whole, incl. the Sanabres and the additional part from Cadiz.
These 1200 km took me 46 days.
Be aware there are some stages you would have to walk over 30km per day, eg after Casa de Carceres, or after Fuenterroble and also after Carnaveral, via the Arco de Carpara. Of course there are options to leave the Camino to end those days earler.

Aren't all of those stages before Salamanca where @Saint Mike II is planning to start?

 

[Rita Flower]

Hi Mike
You are walking my favourite Camino.
I didn’t find Salamanca to Santiago too strenuous - I started in Sevilla - and walked it in 28 days which included a day in Salamanca and a day in Ourense.
At age 72 I would say I strolled this Camino rather than walked. But you sound like you are fitter than me so an average of 20 km per day sounds doable.
Buen Camino.

 

[Sirage]

@wisepilgrim

there is now a planner on the forums

I gave it a spin - on my computer (using safari on a newish Mac) - and the PDF output format is not ready for prime-time.

Lots of pages with only a small amount of text on each page. I didn't notice or perhaps pay attention to PDF formatting options.

In the interim I will stick with Godescalco although I suspect that the wiseprilgrim planer might (?) have more comprehensive accommodation info which I prefer to have before I start, although often accommodation is occasionally learnt by word of mouth..

However no planner is fully useful for my next walk, and perhaps a few others here, when we choose to concatenate parts of several Caminos.

 

[Bernice M]

Mike,
I was advised by a couple of older guys who were well over 60 years, to walk an average 20km/day, six days a week, ie have a rest day/week. Also to stop for 10 minutes break/hour. At 70, it works for me, although the “hourly” stops are a little more random. The weekly rest days can be timed to coincide with bigger towns.

Also, if some days are prohibitively long, book a taxi so that your, say, 35km day is reduced to a more manageable distance. While walking the Mozárabe-VDLP-Sanabres in 2023 I took two taxi rides. Just ensure that where the taxi drops you off is close to the path. Due to excessive daily distances, sickness, and sometimes feeling just too buggered, I walked 1200km of the 1400km. There is no point in thrashing yourself for not walking every step.

 

[wisepilgrim]

However no planner is fully useful for my next walk, and perhaps a few others here, when we choose to concatenate parts of several Caminos.

Are you able to share the combination with me? The planner was made in such a way that it allows me to do exactly this.