I just finished the Camino del Norte (June 30-July 26) and wanted to share some of my experience in case it helps anyone.
Guidebooks: obviously the German guidebooks are the best and you will have ample opportunity to make friends with Germans and yes they all have them. My walking partner had the yellow one with some great tips on albergues but the red one had life saving maps. Even if you don't know German it might be good to get one of them. We never had to stay in a hotel (did by choice once) because we had great resources on accommodations. I had the PDFs of the guidebooks that have been posted here in English. One albergue had free book versions of them and they were small but I eventually threw them out because when walking consulting the PDF was easier. We did use that guidebook for additional accommo advice as well as for maps. We lost the camino plenty but after a few days you get the hang of which direction Santiago is in so we didn't waste time backtracking and never had problems.
Terrain: I didn't realize this ahead of time for some reason but the Norte is super hilly, especially at the beginning. Some people got sidelined by knee problems; my walking partner and I powered through with wraps and ibuprofen for the first week and then the problems went away. Stretching is good. And doing no more than 25 km a day until you have your kinks mostly worked out. I think if I had been alone I would have babyed myself more but I managed to recover from all of my aches and pains while still going 25-35 km a day. Having said that most people I met were quite fit, and overweight people had the most problems so losing weight pre camino can help a lot of things.
Sleeping bag: yes! I brought only a silk liner and so did one of my camino friends and we regretted it. It was cold and wet and a sleeping bag wouldn't have added much weight.
Shoes: I wore med cut hiking boots and brought along fit flops because they are what I love to wear at home. I probably did half of the camino in fit flops. My feet got easily tired of the boots and changing shoes during the walk helped me walk further. If you are in good shape your problems will be more related to your feet than fitness and 2 pairs of walking shoes can help.
Albergues: with the proper resources (not relying solely on the camino markers) we never had problems finding albergues. Most were 5 euro or donativo, if we paid over 10 euro we usually got our own room or some more comfortable set up. I easily spent less than 200 euro per week and I went out to eat fit almost everything. I think this way is quite budget friendly despite what people say.
People: lastly I have to give a shout out to the wonderful people I met on my camino. I had wanted to do it alone but met someone with the same pace early on and we did, all in all, 810 km together. Like most things it was better having someone to share this with. We also met numerous awesome people along the way and spent a lot of time walking and eating with groups (I was much less into the idea of a camino family than my walking partner but compromise is a good skill to work on and he loved the group thing by the end). The experience is so multifaceted by the people are an important part so I encourage you guys to branch out and talk to people at the albergues and while walking. I am a super introvert but I did this and it only led to good things.
Guidebooks: obviously the German guidebooks are the best and you will have ample opportunity to make friends with Germans and yes they all have them. My walking partner had the yellow one with some great tips on albergues but the red one had life saving maps. Even if you don't know German it might be good to get one of them. We never had to stay in a hotel (did by choice once) because we had great resources on accommodations. I had the PDFs of the guidebooks that have been posted here in English. One albergue had free book versions of them and they were small but I eventually threw them out because when walking consulting the PDF was easier. We did use that guidebook for additional accommo advice as well as for maps. We lost the camino plenty but after a few days you get the hang of which direction Santiago is in so we didn't waste time backtracking and never had problems.
Terrain: I didn't realize this ahead of time for some reason but the Norte is super hilly, especially at the beginning. Some people got sidelined by knee problems; my walking partner and I powered through with wraps and ibuprofen for the first week and then the problems went away. Stretching is good. And doing no more than 25 km a day until you have your kinks mostly worked out. I think if I had been alone I would have babyed myself more but I managed to recover from all of my aches and pains while still going 25-35 km a day. Having said that most people I met were quite fit, and overweight people had the most problems so losing weight pre camino can help a lot of things.
Sleeping bag: yes! I brought only a silk liner and so did one of my camino friends and we regretted it. It was cold and wet and a sleeping bag wouldn't have added much weight.
Shoes: I wore med cut hiking boots and brought along fit flops because they are what I love to wear at home. I probably did half of the camino in fit flops. My feet got easily tired of the boots and changing shoes during the walk helped me walk further. If you are in good shape your problems will be more related to your feet than fitness and 2 pairs of walking shoes can help.
Albergues: with the proper resources (not relying solely on the camino markers) we never had problems finding albergues. Most were 5 euro or donativo, if we paid over 10 euro we usually got our own room or some more comfortable set up. I easily spent less than 200 euro per week and I went out to eat fit almost everything. I think this way is quite budget friendly despite what people say.
People: lastly I have to give a shout out to the wonderful people I met on my camino. I had wanted to do it alone but met someone with the same pace early on and we did, all in all, 810 km together. Like most things it was better having someone to share this with. We also met numerous awesome people along the way and spent a lot of time walking and eating with groups (I was much less into the idea of a camino family than my walking partner but compromise is a good skill to work on and he loved the group thing by the end). The experience is so multifaceted by the people are an important part so I encourage you guys to branch out and talk to people at the albergues and while walking. I am a super introvert but I did this and it only led to good things.
