Just a question..:)

[Jan_89]

Hello Peregrinos!

I'm just curious.. Is there anything you would do differently on your next Camino?

Jan

 

[wayfarer]

Not really, just go with the flow. O yeah and try and make it past Orrison.

 

[simply B]

@Jan_89 -

Maybe try a Winter Camino - I'm a sucker for penance.

The only radical choice I could make the next time the Camino calls is to not go. God willing, that is NOT an option!

B

 

[Jan_89]

Not really, just go with the flow. O yeah and try and make it past Orrison.

Why Orrison?

 

[Jan_89]

@Jan_89 -

Maybe try a Winter Camino - I'm a sucker for penance.

The only radical choice I could make the next time the Camino calls is to not go. God willing, that is NOT an option!

B

Sounds good - a Winter Camino.. I would love to. Hope I'll make it one day!

 

[Rambler]

This becomes a very personal question the more you think about it.

• Have more time (I would love to take a year!)
• Stay in the less frequented places (this is hard to do if you make a Camino family that has a set agenda or does not share your same interests)
• Not plan so much (The Camino provides)
• Choose an alternative to the Frances
• Go at a different time of year
• Learn more Spanish and French before arriving
• Find something nice to do for every hospitalero I meet.
• Walk at night at least once
• Cook more meals with other pilgrims
• Find more ways to give and serve others on the Camino

Rambler

 

[rector]

It is an unavoidable consequence of doing it each time it will always be different with new experiences new people etc. Our first camino seemed more challenging, the second more relaxed, and I can hardly wait for next years. I love surprises and new things so perhaps, as we are starting from Porto and walking a much shorter distance it will be another surprising and new experience. So in short I will be more open to surprise, I hope

 

[dougfitz]

• Take a different route, possibly walk in a different season.
• Walk with my wife - not as easy as it might sound - we have quite different views on what a good walking day means
• Lead a group - learn to subsume my needs to those of others
• Take more photos - take more time seeing the countryside and capturing those images

 

[Mark Lee]

Slow down and walk less everyday. I had no set schedule, yet I found myself walking further everyday than I initially planned to, and I'm not even a fast walker.

 

[nidarosa]

• Walk in the spring - all my caminos have been in the autumn so far
• Take my partner and show him what I am constantly going on about
• Walk slower, shorter, smell more (wild) flowers
• Bring less stuff and take more time

 

[Kitsambler]

Lesson from Year #1: take less weight. Really. Two pounds is an enormous weight on my back.
Lesson from Year #2: Stick with Superfeet insoles rather than trying to engineer my own from scratch.
Lesson from Year #3: Learn the emergency phone number (112) in Europe, and carry more than a "blisters-only" first aid kit
Lesson from Year #4: Include lots of hill climbing and leg-strength training in my preparation

 

[Scott Sweeney]

Not fly through Newark!

 

[Btown19]

Hello Peregrinos!

I'm just curious.. Is there anything you would do differently on your next Camino?

Jan

HIKING BOOTS! I made the mistake of walking in a "comfortable pair of gym shoes" as many people suggested. No, I would not recommend gym shoes to anybody that would like to avoid blisters and feeling every single rock under their foot. I plan on buying some hiking boots and breaking them in very well before I go. I did hear, however, that gym shoes work well for the mesta. Just a thought!

 

[Btown19]

HIKING BOOTS! I made the mistake of walking in a "comfortable pair of gym shoes" as many people suggested. No, I would not recommend gym shoes to anybody that would like to avoid blisters and feeling every single rock under their foot. I plan on buying some hiking boots and breaking them in very well before I go. I did hear, however, that gym shoes work well for the mesta. Just a thought!

*meseta

 

[Wanderer64]

If I ever walk the Camino again, I will budget for a higher grade of wine. Too many times along the Way I subjected myself to the cheapest local, bottom-of-the-barrel swill. You fellow wine enthusiasts know the varietals I speak of: the generic bottles with no labels selling at the local store for 2-euro, or less!

The wines I could have had in Rioja alone....

My Camino serves as a cruel reminder that life is too short to drink lousy, cheap wine.

 

[Al the optimist]

Definitely try to plan less and allow myself to just immerse myself in the Camino's hot bath more each visit. Talking of which I must take the time for a good soak along the way this time. Perhaps with a little vino tinto?

 

[Kanga]

Get fit before the Camino, instead of on the Camino. This time I will. Really.

 

[Jan_89]

Get fit before the Camino, instead of on the Camino. This time I will. Really.

Absolutely agree!

 

[Jan_89]

This becomes a very personal question the more you think about it.

• Have more time (I would love to take a year!)
• Stay in the less frequented places (this is hard to do if you make a Camino family that has a set agenda or does not share your same interests)
• Not plan so much (The Camino provides)
• Choose an alternative to the Frances
• Go at a different time of year
• Learn more Spanish and French before arriving
• Find something nice to do for every hospitalero I meet.
• Walk at night at least once
• Cook more meals with other pilgrims
• Find more ways to give and serve others on the Camino

Rambler

Agree with everything! And wow.. Walk at night sounds great - it never occurred me! Thanks for the tip!

 

[Jan_89]

HIKING BOOTS! I made the mistake of walking in a "comfortable pair of gym shoes" as many people suggested. No, I would not recommend gym shoes to anybody that would like to avoid blisters and feeling every single rock under their foot. I plan on buying some hiking boots and breaking them in very well before I go. I did hear, however, that gym shoes work well for the mesta. Just a thought!

Well, in my case.. I had low trekking shoes and it was great. Just one blister.. I can't imagine walk Camino in hiking boots. This kind of boot is good for Pyrenees I think.. But it depends of many things, this is just my opinion..

 

[katief]

• Take a different route, possibly walk in a different season.
• Walk with my wife - not as easy as it might sound - we have quite different views on what a good walking day means
• Lead a group - learn to subsume my needs to those of others
• Take more photos - take more time seeing the countryside and capturing those images

I like the last bit.....photography is my other hobby....so I will definitely be watching for those little things along the way.

 

[katief]

If I ever walk the Camino again, I will budget for a higher grade of wine. Too many times along the Way I subjected myself to the cheapest local, bottom-of-the-barrel swill. You fellow wine enthusiasts know the varietals I speak of: the generic bottles with no labels selling at the local store for 2-euro, or less!

The wines I could have had in Rioja alone....

My Camino serves as a cruel reminder that life is too short to drink lousy, cheap wine.

Agree 100%.Its hard to beat a good robust Spanish red...........

 

[mralisn]

Not to say, "This is my last Camino."

 

[JennyH94]

Great question Jan_89!
Next year I will be taking joy in every step - every moment on the Camino is precious and I want to hold every single one of those moments close to my heart.

 

[david g]

I told myself that on the next one I'd take more "down" days, just to give myself more time to really explore each area. I'm also going to try to choose different routes than I took last time, when given the option. But the biggest thing? I'm going to slow things down and savor every moment, counting my blessings for being given another chance to do this.

 

[mazgirl]

I agree with most of the above

1/ Have at least a year to walk and enjoy more rest days to explore some of the lovely places we passed though
2/ Pack less clothes, just take the essentials did not need half of what I took last time
3/ Definitely wear my boots but do a bit more hill work before I walk
4/ Try and walk a different Camino each time

So looking forward to my walk next year and introducing another friend to the "Way of St James"

 

[Kanga]

We are taking a tent next time.

 

[Carol06]

We are taking a tent next time.

Sounds great but I would worry about the weight.

 

[Milepost99]

Why Orrison?

Orrison was only 8.5 km but I met some good folks that night and the beer was cold.

 

[Helen1]

I was lucky in that I had a second shot at the camino and I changed many things the second time around. My extremely personal list of the top 10 things I changed/would do differently if I went again is as follows:

1: Taken a sleeping bag. My first camino was in May/June and the second in August I needed to buy a sleeping bag on the first trip because I was so cold at night. (I didn’t meet anyone else on who did not have a sleeping bag even in August)

2: Learnt more Spanish. You can get by without the language but the more you know the more you can communicate and the more enjoyable the trip.

3: Worry less about the weight of my rucksack. As a fit, healthy and strong person with no lingering injuries who had trained by walking the 8 miles roundtrip to work with rucksack the extra weight was not bothersome to me. I had to laugh at myself one day. I had been agonising over taking things that weighed a couple of grams before I left but one night I found myself eating a picnic supper I had carried over 25 miles which included a tin of olives, glass bottle of wine, salami, bread, cheese, fruit, etc. I also had a bottle of coke and breakfast items tucked away in my rucksack for the morning.

4: Booked a guided tour to Finisterre and Muxia at the end of my trip. I knew I wouldn’t have time to walk to these places but a day tour on a bus (although expensive) would have suited me well.

5: Have more time (although like many this is not an option I felt I could choose at this point in my life)

6: Eat more local food/avoid the Pilgrim menus. Stop at the wine places, stop at the markets, try things even if it’s not something you would ever normally eat, stop at the Goat’s cheese places, try the octopus and worry less about counting every penny.

7: Understand the value of sleep. Tiredness is hard to deal with. I broke down in Amiens cathedral and cried my heart out. The loneliness of the journey, the quietness/emotional experience of walking the labyrinth alone in the early morning and the overwhelming length of the journey ahead was too much in sleep deprived state. Understand that sleep deprivation does strange things to you, pay for a hotel every so often to get a good night’s sleep.

8: Read Edwin Mullins book before I let rather than afterwards (hard going in places but a decent historical account in my opinion)

9: Be less antisocial! At this point in my life I needed to walk, I needed to walk all day, I needed to walk alone and I needed to get away from the needs of other people. If I went again I would try to be more social.

10. Planned the route through France better. I made some bad choices - the cycle routes on Google Maps are not necessarily good routes!

 

[Kanga]

Sounds great but I would worry about the weight.

. Yes, and I am not suggesting it for others. A tent is completely superfluous on the Camino Frances. But this is my eighth Camino, my husband snores so albergue dorms are stressful, we are walking the El Norte and Primitivo, maybe wandering "off route", and we just want to try something different! So a tent. I also have a wonderful pack and easily take a few extra kilos.

 

[Kanga]

Great advice @Helen1

 

[Icacos]

9: Be less antisocial! At this point in my life I needed to walk, I needed to walk all day, I needed to walk alone and I needed to get away from the needs of other people. If I went again I would try to be more social.

Thank you, Helen, for putting this so succinctly. It was early days on the Frances when I came upon a young couple who clearly could have used some help. I had absolutely nothing to offer them physically and, emotionally, significantly less, as I was already operating on a deficit. I smiled, and kept going .... and have felt bad about it ever since. If I am given the opportunity to return to Camino, I pray that I am able to 'do it better' next time.