Once more with feeling....

[wingnut]

I shall be walking my second camino starting around the 15th September, i am flexible.
I did my first in january 2012 following some major surgery the previous October and started in SJPP I was still on opiate pain medication and God only knows how I made it over the pyranees. My surgery wound was still healing. I did the complete camino encouraged by friends walking along the way and I used public transport for just over 100km of the journey. I healed quickly on the way.
So now I am not sure if to walk Roncenvalles to Santiago and complete it without the need for 100km of transport or try the Norte/Primitivo. My concerns are as follows ....

Whilst I am pretty sociable a crowded experience on Frances would detract from what I hope will be more spiritually connecting this time and I do not want accommodation to be an issue. I tend to mix Albergues with Hotels. The Frances seemed to me quite magical to me, buoyed by tradition and I am not sure if Norte would be more of a seaside walk by comparison ??
On the other hand I rarely retread old steps... and like new experiences.
I can take as long as I wish, I will smell the roses more and will most likely add the Finisterre piece to either decision.

In any case I shall be starting soon and would appreciate some views from fellow Pilgrims / Hikers

best wishes

Harvey

 

[CaminoDebrita]

I shall be walking my second camino starting around the 15th September, i am flexible.
I did my first in january 2012 following some major surgery the previous October and started in SJPP I was still on opiate pain medication and God only knows how I made it over the pyranees. My surgery wound was still healing. I did the complete camino encouraged by friends walking along the way and I used public transport for just over 100km of the journey. I healed quickly on the way.
So now I am not sure if to walk Roncenvalles to Santiago and complete it without the need for 100km of transport or try the Norte/Primitivo. My concerns are as follows ....

Whilst I am pretty sociable a crowded experience on Frances would detract from what I hope will be more spiritually connecting this time and I do not want accommodation to be an issue. I tend to mix Albergues with Hotels. The Frances seemed to me quite magical to me, buoyed by tradition and I am not sure if Norte would be more of a seaside walk by comparison ??
On the other hand I rarely retread old steps... and like new experiences.
I can take as long as I wish, I will smell the roses more and will most likely add the Finisterre piece to either decision.

In any case I shall be starting soon and would appreciate some views from fellow Pilgrims / Hikers

best wishes

Harvey

Hey, congratulations on making it through that surgery in January, and then taking a Camino!

I will do my first Camino, beginning my actually walk from SJPP 1 October of this year. I can't give you a first-hand account, but I think that you are going to find it less crowded than in summer? The old hands will weigh in. I am also wondering if you may benefit from doing the CF again, so that you can reminisce and work through that time in 2012, surrounded by history and the beauty of the CF architecture. Just a thought.

Best of luck to you in your decision-making, Harvey, and buen camino.

 

[wingnut]

Interesting observation about working through that time in 2012. It did not seem important until you said it out loud.

Thank you and Buen Camino for the 28th

 

[CaminoDebrita]

Interesting observation about working through that time in 2012. It did not seem important until you said it out loud.

Thank you and Buen Camino for the 28th

Thanks very much. Honestly, when I have had very rough times (post-surgery), I find that I like the old, familiar places. I am dropping in another allusion there to match your lovely thread title.

Best wishes to you.

 

[Anniesantiago]

Congratulations!

Personally, I'd do a different route.
Madrid route or VDLP or Aragones...

 

[fraluchi]

I shall be walking my second camino starting around the 15th September,[...]So now I am not sure if to walk Roncenvalles to Santiago and complete it without the need for 100km of transport or try the Norte/Primitivo. [...]...a crowded experience on Frances would detract from what I hope will be more spiritually connecting this time and I do not want accommodation to be an issue. [...] would appreciate some views ...

Harvey, just go for it. The number of people who started from SJPP, Roncesvalles and/or Pamplona during the months from May to October have not really varied much in the past. Nor did many join the paths as one gets on towards Santiago (October). EXCEPT for the last 100 kms from Sarria. If you don't go for a Compostela, visit Lugo and bus to Santiago. Ultreya

 

[Anemone del Camino]

This all depends on what would make it " more spiritailly connecting" and perhaps only comparing will trully tell you what is. The Norte and Primitivo are quieter, and certainly not about vino tinto and Camino family, thought still provinding wondrful encouters. They also do not have the number of churches and pilgrim masses in just about every stop. The views on both are spectacular, but the road walking will be just about ever present, especially on the Norte. But either way, or three way, you cannot go wrong, as long as you follow Fraluchi's advise and stay well clear of the las 100km on the Frances

 

[Rebekah Scott]

Don't let what you think are your likes and dislikes determine your future experiences.
Just do it, without any previous judgment. Let each day be its own experience, and keep yourself open to spiritual experience.
Empty your mind of all those thoughts, and let the camino fill it with something new.

 

[wingnut]

Thanks for the views and help expressed ... my takeaway from this is to follow my nose and avoid the last 100km if the Frances is taken. One option which is becoming attractive is to hang a left at Ponferrada on the Frances and walk the "winter way" and connect to the camino Sanabres to Santiago. Does anyone know if this is doable or advisable ?
also just noted that it is possible to connect to Burgos from Bayonne ... that has to be a fabulously scenic route? facilities a bit elusive I imagine....

 

[Robo]

If I was to walk the CF again, which is most likely, I have mixed feelings about the final 100 kms.

I may walk just that section next year as my wife wants to walk and get a Compotella, but is not physically up to walking further. And I think the CF from Sarria will suit her in terms of accommodation etc. And she doesn't mind crowds. She is Thai. Bit like 'Asian Italians' They seem happier in big groups!

Personally I like more solitude, but with the 'option' of company. The CF (in May/June) was perfect in that regard. Most days I walked alone, a few days, maybe 5 or 6 with others. But 90% of the time joining others for coffee, lunch, dinner, which was nice after the solitude of the walking. A nice balance.

But the last 100? Hmm. that was different. Not bad.....just different. It's a totally different experience.

If I was walking the CF again on my own, on reaching Sarria, I might skip to another route for the final 100. But that would somehow feel incomplete, or a cop out.... Who knows.

I actually spent 7 days on the final 100, due to injury. I was down to 15 km days. That dragged it out a bit. But I did enjoy parts of every day. And there were times when I had a degree of solitude. Just broken occasionally by the babbling hordes of Spanish 'pilgrims' whom you could hear from 1km away and the whooping Italian peletons as they whizzed past.....

Headphones. And some good rock music. That might do the trick

If I had let it.......the final 100 would have made me quite sad. Longing for the Camino experience I had enjoyed up to that point. But following the great advice of the old hands on this Forum I was prepared for it and made the best of each day..... It was quite funny in a way. All the 'long walkers' that I had met on and off along the way, just put their heads down and walked the final 100 as fast as they could I just couldn't. And so made the best of it. Which worked out OK.

 

[fraluchi]

Two years ago I walked back from Santiago to Sarria. The only time I really enjoyed the path was when I got lost and well off track. It's amazing the variety of people one crosses, something one doesn't realize when going with the flow.

 

[wingnut]

Two years ago I walked back from Santiago to Sarria. The only time I really enjoyed the path was when I got lost and well off track. It's amazing the variety of people one crosses, something one doesn't realize when going with the flow.

I met a Swiss guy in January 2012 walking back to switzerland having just walked to Santiago from Geneva.
Ironically, having been sick prior my own 2012 camino I had left my previous job to fight cancer (successfully) by the time i was getting towards Santiago I was feeling fit and ready for work and was offered a Job by a former CEO for a global company they day before I arrived. A quick trip to NYC sealed the deal. I found out later from HR that I needed to relocate to Switzerland and they found me an apartment which I arrived at a month later. It was in Fribourg (CH) Rue de Grand pre which is the Jacobsweg (camino) road through the town!!! It was way marked on the lampost outside my kitchen window. The first time I saw it the hairs on my neck stood up.

 

[wingnut]

I have gone for the Camino Frances to Finisterre and will make a decision on how to circumvent the last 100km when I get there, maybe diverting at Ponferrada to a lesser walked camino. I will leave SJPdP on Saturday 12 th sept and have an apartment in Valcarlos for the night (if anyone is stuck) . Looking forward to Pilgrims mass in Roncenvalles on Sunday something I avoided on my last Camino..... plan to take it easy and use up most of October looking forward to re-acquainting myself with myself and making new friends along the way .. Ultrea!