SarahTheKiwi
Active Member
- Time of past OR future Camino
- Planning 2024 Camino Frances
Well sorry for the long absence! I dropped offline and into Camino life and can't wait to go back (but unfortunately it won't be soon)! I won't say the Camino was an easy experience for me, or necessarily what I expected, despite my research. I've decided to call it an exercise in resilience. There were many, many things I was pleasantly surprised with, and there were occasional things I hadn't expected or planned for.
I think as New Zealanders we travel the longest distance (19,100km, 26.5 hours in the air) to the Camino (Spain being the antipode of NZ). I was rather tired on arrival in Bayonne, and greeted by a gite manager who only spoke French. But what was I expecting? Culture shock gave me a good shake. It was 17 years since I had travelled beyond NZ/Australia, and even then I was on a tour. This was solo travel where I depended on myself to organise everything. Things got real! My arrival in Bayonne coincided with my cellphone data playing up, so gone was the online interpreter that may have helped with said gite manager. I did eventually figure out the phone data. In fact I learned to use Whatsapp, Google Translate, Booking.com, Gronze and Buen Camino - apps I had never used before. My managed to get my eSIM going (proud moment, the instructions were in Spanish), then at El Acebo I managed to renew my data (another proud moment!)
I really liked the atmosphere in St Jean PDP. There is excitement in the air and multiple languages flying around. The shops and services there are very patient with newbie peregrinos who do not speak French.
I walked to Borda for the first night, then straight to Espinal. This is a plan I would repeat. Roncesvalles was completely full by 12.30pm when I walked past, but I had no intention of staying there. I was already booked through to Pamplona. When I got to Pamplona, and tried to book my next night I got a bit of a shock - it took me a couple of hours! So apparently the Camino was busy! I had wanted to wing it, but decided it wasn't possible for me to enjoy and relax on the Camino if accommodation was going to cause me stress. In fact booking accommodation versus "winging it" became a major talking topic over the next few days. There were seasoned peregrinos saying it was the busiest they had seen it. I met a few people who had to bus/taxi back and forth to where they could find accommodation. I heard of one or two who went home because of the situation. I started booking further ahead than I had intended. It was a trade-off with being able to do things on the spur of the moment. Mostly I stayed off stage. Sometimes it got me one or two hours where I was completely alone in the morning. I would start walking around 6.15am with a handful of cashews/banana, then stop for second breakfast around 8.30am. I'd arrive at my accommodation around 1.00pm. Many places let me check in this early - a real bonus for getting washing dry and being able to relax.
After about Day 10 any muscle aches subsided and my comfortable distance for walking was 22-27km. I averaged 23-24km a day. My longest day was 39km, my shortest days were 2 x 9km. My feet were great - I got a very small blister around Day 14 and it disappeared a few days later. My biggest physical problem was heat rash and hiker's rash - these occurred on the warmer days on my lower legs. I'd never had these before.
I think the biggest benefit of the Camino were the people! I was a fairly independent walker, but I'd walk with someone new on most days - even if just for an hour or two. All nationalities, men, women, all ages and walks of life. Some people I saw on a just about daily basis, others would disappear - only to pop up 10 or 15 days later - how mysterious!
The atmosphere changed after Sarria. Gone were the communal meals (I really loved these!) There were lots of new people sporting even newer trail shoes. I didn't encounter great crowds though, even in this stage. I stuck with staying off stage, and walking early.
I actually walked into Santiago twice. The first day I was staying at Lavacolla, 10km from Santiago, and there were some very decent human beings about to leave next morning. So I ditched my pack at Lavacolla, bridged the gap and was able to farewell my friends. I returned to Lavacolla that evening by taxi and repeated the "official" plan the next day, with my pack.
Loved the atmosphere in Santiago! There were pleasant surprises everywhere - like encountering Camino friends by surprise, attending a free orchestra concert inside the Cathedral, a live talent show being filmed in the square, the tour of the Cathedral roof, and hanging around near the piper to have a good listen. I lost over 8kg but still ate well. My pack was 5.6kg at the beginning. I ditched a selfie-stick. I used every single thing in my pack except a spork. Interestingly the items I kept losing were 2 x shampoo bars and 2 x headphones. Surprised I didn't lose any socks!
There's so much more I could mention. I just can't believe I've walked 800km across Spain! It's so good to remain in touch with Camino friends, and keep the experience alive.
I think as New Zealanders we travel the longest distance (19,100km, 26.5 hours in the air) to the Camino (Spain being the antipode of NZ). I was rather tired on arrival in Bayonne, and greeted by a gite manager who only spoke French. But what was I expecting? Culture shock gave me a good shake. It was 17 years since I had travelled beyond NZ/Australia, and even then I was on a tour. This was solo travel where I depended on myself to organise everything. Things got real! My arrival in Bayonne coincided with my cellphone data playing up, so gone was the online interpreter that may have helped with said gite manager. I did eventually figure out the phone data. In fact I learned to use Whatsapp, Google Translate, Booking.com, Gronze and Buen Camino - apps I had never used before. My managed to get my eSIM going (proud moment, the instructions were in Spanish), then at El Acebo I managed to renew my data (another proud moment!)
I really liked the atmosphere in St Jean PDP. There is excitement in the air and multiple languages flying around. The shops and services there are very patient with newbie peregrinos who do not speak French.
I walked to Borda for the first night, then straight to Espinal. This is a plan I would repeat. Roncesvalles was completely full by 12.30pm when I walked past, but I had no intention of staying there. I was already booked through to Pamplona. When I got to Pamplona, and tried to book my next night I got a bit of a shock - it took me a couple of hours! So apparently the Camino was busy! I had wanted to wing it, but decided it wasn't possible for me to enjoy and relax on the Camino if accommodation was going to cause me stress. In fact booking accommodation versus "winging it" became a major talking topic over the next few days. There were seasoned peregrinos saying it was the busiest they had seen it. I met a few people who had to bus/taxi back and forth to where they could find accommodation. I heard of one or two who went home because of the situation. I started booking further ahead than I had intended. It was a trade-off with being able to do things on the spur of the moment. Mostly I stayed off stage. Sometimes it got me one or two hours where I was completely alone in the morning. I would start walking around 6.15am with a handful of cashews/banana, then stop for second breakfast around 8.30am. I'd arrive at my accommodation around 1.00pm. Many places let me check in this early - a real bonus for getting washing dry and being able to relax.
After about Day 10 any muscle aches subsided and my comfortable distance for walking was 22-27km. I averaged 23-24km a day. My longest day was 39km, my shortest days were 2 x 9km. My feet were great - I got a very small blister around Day 14 and it disappeared a few days later. My biggest physical problem was heat rash and hiker's rash - these occurred on the warmer days on my lower legs. I'd never had these before.
I think the biggest benefit of the Camino were the people! I was a fairly independent walker, but I'd walk with someone new on most days - even if just for an hour or two. All nationalities, men, women, all ages and walks of life. Some people I saw on a just about daily basis, others would disappear - only to pop up 10 or 15 days later - how mysterious!
The atmosphere changed after Sarria. Gone were the communal meals (I really loved these!) There were lots of new people sporting even newer trail shoes. I didn't encounter great crowds though, even in this stage. I stuck with staying off stage, and walking early.
I actually walked into Santiago twice. The first day I was staying at Lavacolla, 10km from Santiago, and there were some very decent human beings about to leave next morning. So I ditched my pack at Lavacolla, bridged the gap and was able to farewell my friends. I returned to Lavacolla that evening by taxi and repeated the "official" plan the next day, with my pack.
Loved the atmosphere in Santiago! There were pleasant surprises everywhere - like encountering Camino friends by surprise, attending a free orchestra concert inside the Cathedral, a live talent show being filmed in the square, the tour of the Cathedral roof, and hanging around near the piper to have a good listen. I lost over 8kg but still ate well. My pack was 5.6kg at the beginning. I ditched a selfie-stick. I used every single thing in my pack except a spork. Interestingly the items I kept losing were 2 x shampoo bars and 2 x headphones. Surprised I didn't lose any socks!
There's so much more I could mention. I just can't believe I've walked 800km across Spain! It's so good to remain in touch with Camino friends, and keep the experience alive.
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