Who would like to join us on our Camino del Salvador in Sept 2018?

[Mgardener]

Hi. My 11 year old son and i are planning our second Camino. We walked from Astorga to Finisterre last year. It was a great walk and very manageable and we're interested in a more adventurous Camino this time. We are very much interested in doing the Camino del Salvador and el Primitivo in September of this year. But we thought it would be nice to walk together with other like minded people and ideally another child. We are fit and love walking (obviously!) and although we appreciate our own space, we also enjoy having a travel companion. My son did not meet any children on our last Camino, which was totally fine but i can imagine having another child to chat with would be fun for him. He loves nature, adventure, is a climber and loves surfing too. He loves drawing and animals and really does not like technology like phones or gaming or anything. He always finds something to do and is never bored.. I'm an organic horticulturist and love walking and nature. I'm a little daunted by the idea of walking these particular Caminos on my own and thought it be great to find another mother and son or daughter who would like to join us on our adventure. We both speak Dutch and English. My son is born in Ireland where we still live..I would love to hear from other adventurous families who might be interested in joining us. The dates are flexible so far but i'm planning to go between mid September and mid October. Thanks!

 

[Deleted member 67185]

Hi. My 11 year old son and i are planning our second Camino. We walked from Astorga to Finisterre last year. It was a great walk and very manageable and we're interested in a more adventurous Camino this time. We are very much interested in doing the Camino del Salvador and el Primitivo in September of this year. But we thought it would be nice to walk together with other like minded people and ideally another child. We are fit and love walking (obviously!) and although we appreciate our own space, we also enjoy having a travel companion. My son did not meet any children on our last Camino, which was totally fine but i can imagine having another child to chat with would be fun for him. He loves nature, adventure, is a climber and loves surfing too. He loves drawing and animals and really does not like technology like phones or gaming or anything. He always finds something to do and is never bored.. I'm an organic horticulturist and love walking and nature. I'm a little daunted by the idea of walking these particular Caminos on my own and thought it be great to find another mother and son or daughter who would like to join us on our adventure. We both speak Dutch and English. My son is born in Ireland where we still live..I would love to hear from other adventurous families who might be interested in joining us. The dates are flexible so far but i'm planning to go between mid September and mid October. Thanks!

That might be tough for wanting other school aged children and their parents to join you, as that is when most schools are in session.

 

[Mgardener]

That might be tough for wanting other school aged children and their parents to join you, as that is when most schools are in session.

Thanks Davebugg i appreciate your reply. I know it might be tricky but there are families out there who home school their children and i can take my son out of school for a couple of weeks without problems..So i hope to reach out to those in similar situations. Worth a try i thought!

 

[Robo]

Ok, the elephant in the room

Do you really want to walk a Camino with a couple of people you met online!

 

[Mgardener]

Ok, the elephant in the room

Do you really want to walk a Camino with a couple of people you met online!

Hi Robo. Good point. I guess it's just teasing out options and maybe i'm being a bit impulsive.. I would only commit to the idea with someone as long as we would agree to part ways were it not to work out.. I think there are pro's and con's to meeting people this way. The forum is different from other social media channels. Here the interest is already there and i've found more like minded people on the forum than around where i live.. I just thought i put it out there, you never know. I trust it will work if it's meant to be. Otherwise we will walk by ourselves like our initial plan.

 

[Mgardener]

And i wonder how different it would be from hooking up with people you meet on the way.. If you keep an open mind and are honest about your expectations, if any, i think it be fine. I would envision walking with others but doing our own thing as well. We don't have to be glued together

 

[Kiwi-family]

I have already walked that route with my four youngest kids (they were aged 8-13 at the time). My husband did not walk with us and is keen to do this route. I am walking the Camino de Madrid at the end of September and my hubby and three youngest (now 12-16 years) will be meeting me in Leon in early October to do the Salvador/Primitivo.
I hesitate to share this because I do NOT want to commit to walk with someone even with the agreement to part ways if it doesn’t work out. Too much pressure for everyone. If we meet you, we’ll walk with you for a while or the kids will invite your son to play cards or go exploring in the evening. I don’t know if we’d make plans to stay at the same places - we have walked with people that we connected so well with that we changed our plans every day just so we could stay together. We’ve met others who we didn’t miss when our paths diverged. We have only walked with other kids once for a couple of days - they just about died! It was their first day of walking and we had been going for ten weeks. We told them our destination for the next day (30+km) and didn’t expect to see them again. We arrived early afternoon (after walking some of the day with @Devon Mike incidentally). They hobbled in at 8pm, absolutely shattered and crying.
If we see you, we’ll be friendly, but I am very reluctant to make pre-Camino plans to meet. Don’t be scared of not meeting other children. If you meet @Devon Mike he might whistle tunes on grass with your son for hours! If you meet Alberto, as we did, sometimes he’ll walk with you and give you Spanish lessons - and he’s such a big kid himself that you’ll think you’re walking with two children! If you meet any number of lovely pilgrims they’ll buy your son ice creams!
I would suggest you walk when best suits your family and look forward to the adventure of seeing who you might meet each day. (Of course, you just might find someone online who responds more enthusiastically to your proposal!) Buen camino!

 

[Mgardener]

I have already walked that route with my four youngest kids (they were aged 8-13 at the time). My husband did not walk with us and is keen to do this route. I am walking the Camino de Madrid at the end of September and my hubby and three youngest (now 12-16 years) will be meeting me in Leon in early October to do the Salvador/Primitivo.
I hesitate to share this because I do NOT want to commit to walk with someone even with the agreement to part ways if it doesn’t work out. Too much pressure for everyone. If we meet you, we’ll walk with you for a while or the kids will invite your son to play cards or go exploring in the evening. I don’t know if we’d make plans to stay at the same places - we have walked with people that we connected so well with that we changed our plans every day just so we could stay together. We’ve met others who we didn’t miss when our paths diverged. We have only walked with other kids once for a couple of days - they just about died! It was their first day of walking and we had been going for ten weeks. We told them our destination for the next day (30+km) and didn’t expect to see them again. We arrived early afternoon (after walking some of the day with @Devon Mike incidentally). They hobbled in at 8pm, absolutely shattered and crying.
If we see you, we’ll be friendly, but I am very reluctant to make pre-Camino plans to meet. Don’t be scared of not meeting other children. If you meet @Devon Mike he might whistle tunes on grass with your son for hours! If you meet Alberto, as we did, sometimes he’ll walk with you and give you Spanish lessons - and he’s such a big kid himself that you’ll think you’re walking with two children! If you meet any number of lovely pilgrims they’ll buy your son ice creams!
I would suggest you walk when best suits your family and look forward to the adventure of seeing who you might meet each day. (Of course, you just might find someone online who responds more enthusiastically to your proposal!) Buen camino!

Hi Rachael, thank you very much for your honest response. I can actually relate to what you say and would agree that it be a lot of pressure to commit to walk with someone the whole way, especially since it's hard to meet people who walk at your pace and who you connect with etc. I do like my own peace and space and would find it exhausting to feel you have to stick together and talk etc. But still, with the right people, it could be great.
My first camino with my son was a joy and he did not miss meeting other children at all. He gets along just as well with adults so i know he would be completely fine and happy either way. We both enjoyed meeting people on the way but were often also happy (and at times relieved) to part ways..But it's just that i'm alone with him and maybe a little apprehensive about doing these caminos alone. Maybe it's just the initial nerves about not knowing what to expect. We're both seasoned walkers but i wonder is it responsible with no other adult considering there's no phone reception in most places, and it's more remote etc. I found though that reading about the camino was different from actually doing it. Nothing i feared first time around in terms of distance, climbs etc was actually remotely scary. But i feel the del Salvador is maybe a bit different and just thought joining forces might be a good idea if people are in same position as me..and of course it would make sense to look for other children in that case.

 

[Mgardener]

Rachael, i would be very much interested in hearing more about your first experience walking the Camino del Salvador with your family. Other tips from people who walked this route with children would be welcome too of course.. thanks

 

[Kiwi-family]

https://charitywalking.wordpress.com/2014/06/08/7-june-leon-to-la-robla/
Here’s the first post of our Salvador walk. It was written for family at home so is fairly personal rather than useful! The reference to aniseed balls was an incentive (bribe - whatever works!) for the 8yo. No grizzling and she would get an aniseed ball.
We posted every day so feel free to read on. I’ll happily answer any questions too.
By the way, there are shorter options too - no need to walk so far each day.
Final note - we were a bit fixated on distances as we were doing a fundraising walk and had the goal of 1,000km (as it turned out, we did much more!(

 

[nycwalking]

How about taking along one of your son's friends or classmates. They can turn the walk into a class project.

Buen camino.

 

[Breewaters]

How about taking along one of your son's friends or classmates. They can turn the walk into a class project.

Buen camino.

I might be interested. Planning my first pilgrimage and would like to at least start with experienced pilgrims.

 

[Mgardener]

https://charitywalking.wordpress.com/2014/06/08/7-june-leon-to-la-robla/
Here’s the first post of our Salvador walk. It was written for family at home so is fairly personal rather than useful! The reference to aniseed balls was an incentive (bribe - whatever works!) for the 8yo. No grizzling and she would get an aniseed ball.
We posted every day so feel free to read on. I’ll happily answer any questions too.
By the way, there are shorter options too - no need to walk so far each day.
Final note - we were a bit fixated on distances as we were doing a fundraising walk and had the goal of 1,000km (as it turned out, we did much more!(

Hi Rachael thanks so much that is very helpful. I will have time to have a proper read tonight but by what i can see it's a stunning walk so far your kids loved it.

 

[Mgardener]

I might be interested. Planning my first pilgrimage and would like to at least start with experienced pilgrims.

Hi great you're planning your first camino. Is it the Frances you're planning to do first? We did part of it last year and thought it was great to get an sense of what it's like. Del Salvador is much more quiet, strenuous and not as many stops etc. Is that what you're looking for? Are you planning to walk with children? You're welcome to send me a private message thanks.

 

[Breewaters]

Hi great you're planning your first camino. Is it the Frances you're planning to do first? We did part of it last year and thought it was great to get an sense of what it's like. Del Salvador is much more quiet, strenuous and not as many stops etc. Is that what you're looking for? Are you planning to walk with children? You're welcome to send me a private message thanks.

Probably the wrong group and route for me. But thank you very much for your response. Buen Camino!

 

[dawnie]

Hi. My 11 year old son and i are planning our second Camino. We walked from Astorga to Finisterre last year. It was a great walk and very manageable and we're interested in a more adventurous Camino this time. We are very much interested in doing the Camino del Salvador and el Primitivo in September of this year. But we thought it would be nice to walk together with other like minded people and ideally another child. We are fit and love walking (obviously!) and although we appreciate our own space, we also enjoy having a travel companion. My son did not meet any children on our last Camino, which was totally fine but i can imagine having another child to chat with would be fun for him. He loves nature, adventure, is a climber and loves surfing too. He loves drawing and animals and really does not like technology like phones or gaming or anything. He always finds something to do and is never bored.. I'm an organic horticulturist and love walking and nature. I'm a little daunted by the idea of walking these particular Caminos on my own and thought it be great to find another mother and son or daughter who would like to join us on our adventure. We both speak Dutch and English. My son is born in Ireland where we still live..I would love to hear from other adventurous families who might be interested in joining us. The dates are flexible so far but i'm planning to go between mid September and mid October. Thanks!

Hello, I hope your CAMINO with your son went well I am now in Poladura de la Tercia and am wondering how far you walked the next day, did you walk to Pajarrs or on to Camponanes? Grateful for advice please. Thanks

 

[peregrina2000]

Hello, I hope your CAMINO with your son went well I am now in Poladura de la Tercia and am wondering how far you walked the next day, did you walk to Pajarrs or on to Camponanes? Grateful for advice please. Thanks

There is also the option of going to the fabulous albergue in Bendueños. It is about a km or two off the camino and up on a fairly steep road. There are signs in the little village of Herrería. I think it’s about 6 km before Campomanes but that may be off. It is a really special place, with an old little church that Sandra opens up if you ask her.

 

[KinkyOne]

There is also the option of going to the fabulous albergue in Bendueños. It is about a km or two off the camino and up on a fairly steep road. There are signs in the little village of Herrería. I think it’s about 6 km before Campomanes but that may be off. It is a really special place, with an old little church that Sandra opens up if you ask her.

The village name isn't Herreria, it's Herias
Sorry, Laurie, you know me...
But @dawnie would find it anyway. Just turn sharp left uphill on narrow tarmac road when coming to lavadora in small open plaza. OR call Sandra and arrange a pick up if she will have the time.

 

[Mgardener]

Hello, I hope your CAMINO with your son went well I am now in Poladura de la Tercia and am wondering how far you walked the next day, did you walk to Pajarrs or on to Camponanes? Grateful for advice please. Thanks

Hi Dawnie. We walked from Poladura to Pajares and from there to the albergue in Buenduenos which was wonderful. Some people walked to Campomanes (from Pajares) but I would recommend Buenduenos as it's different and special and a long enough distance from Pajares, we found. It was a beautiful stretch and nice to take your time. On another note please be careful in Campomanes when passing through or leaving the town for Mieres. We got lost and took the wrong road along the left side of the highway, and so did 3 others on the same day, we heard later that evening. It wasn't very clearly marked and somehow we saw arrows on the stretch we were on, when it was actually wrong. We back tracked to the town after about 30 minutes when we realised it may not be the actual camino path and crossed a bridge in the town which takes you along the right side of the river. Hope you have a great camino

 

[Mgardener]

The village name isn't Herreria, it's Herias
Sorry, Laurie, you know me...
But @dawnie would find it anyway. Just turn sharp left uphill on narrow tarmac road when coming to lavadora in small open plaza. OR call Sandra and arrange a pick up if she will have the time.

Sandra is lovely and very helpful. But her car is not very good at the moment so she said she rather not pick up if not necessary and only offers if you come from Poladura. Maybe her situation has changed in the meantime but best to ask. If you decide to walk to her albergue it's a couple of km uphill from Herias but worth it