Last year in April, my husband turned 70. I asked him what he would like to do for his birthday. He said “something memorable, an achievement”…..
We had often wondered what it would be like to do a long distance walk so suggested that maybe we should try the Camino de Santiago. We had travelled through Santiago on a Harley trip of Portugal and Spain, and had seen all these walkers with backpacks and walking poles in town and along the way. At the time we thought they must be mad, walk all that way from France across to the west of Spain, just a shade under 500 miles!! Little did we know that we would end up being two of those crazy walkers years later.
Once the seed was sown we soon found ourselves scouring websites and travel vlogs and before we could change our minds we booked the trip.
Rather than rough it my one stipulation was that we stayed in hotels or hostels rather than the traditional albergue (shared bunk rooms)I am too old and value my privacy to share with strangers. Along with this we added baggage transfer meaning we only needed to walk with a day pack. We used a company Walking the Camino to book everything once we had given them an idea of roughly how far we wanted to walk each day and how many days we wanted to walk over, allowing some rest days too.
Our trip started with a flight out on 23 August, with our return flight on 11 October. Seven weeks.
I have linked to my Instagram account of the walk, which gives a potted review of each day and lots of pictures.
24 August - St Jean Pied de Port to Roncesvallas, we left just before light, picking up some breakfast as we passed a bakery.
Excited and nervous in equal measures for the day ahead. A day which is deemed the hardest of the whole trip.
We were lucky and the day was fair, no rain in the forecast. It was a chilly start which actually did us a favour as you literally start climbing the minute you leave St John. It’s just up and up for at least 7 hours.
The terrain varies, first tarmac, then grass paths, rock strewn pathways, back to tarmac until you finally go off road, wending your way over boulders and scree.
I truly didn’t know that a body could produce so much sweat or a heart thump so hard without stopping altogether. I can tell you I have never been so glad to reach a downhill in all my life. Well that is until you realise just how much pain that causes. Knees, shins but at least heart rate is back to normal.
We finally spy the roof tops of the old monastery where we were staying the night and quicken our pace.
I’ve never been so pleased to reach flat ground. 9.5 hours 16.3 miles.
To add insult to injury though our room in the monastery was on the third floor and there is no lift (elevator) in this part of the building so it’s a case of lugging our backpacks, bags, sticks and us up goodness knows how many stairs before we can lay down. And of course to go to dinner we have to go down and then back up again!
25 August Roncesvallas to Zubiri
A cool dull start. It was hard putting our feet to the floor today. Leg muscles very tight, but once warmed up and a relatively flat terrain to start things soon loosened up. The post below explains the day, though you soon get into your stride and decide not to be pressured by other walkers. Everyone has their pace and for some getting to their next stop quickly means the difference between a bed for the night or walking on, especially at busy times. For us, we knew our bed was booked and we could just take our time and enjoy the scenery.
26 August - Zubiri to Pamplona
The walk into Pamplona was enjoyable mostly along a river and we knew that once there we would be having a two night stay, our first rest day, which is actually a joke as with so much to see you just can’t sit around and do nothing. We really liked Pamplona and would seriously consider it for a weekend break. Our hotel was centrally situated and would be a perfect location for the annual bull run as it passes the hotel.
27 August Pamplona
We visited the Cafe Iruna made famous by Ernest Hemingway. We paid a visit to the Cathedral, sampled tapas over the two days, took a look around the bullring, which actually was really interesting. Not sure I would want to attend a bull fight though. And just generally wandered around taking in the local culture
28 August Pamplona to Puente la Reina
A high elevation day today, lots of ups and downs. Things are definitely getting easier though and we seem to recover from the ups much quicker than we did 5 days ago. A very hot day in the mid 30’sC. We came across an outdoor Sunday service at Alto del Perdon which was interesting, we had toiled up hill (790m) on rough ground to find that the elderly congregation had arrived by road in their cars!! The scenery is changing almond trees and grapevines. Small villages.
29 August Puente to Estella
A really hot and humid day, sweaty doesn’t describe how it feels. More villages and countryside walks, vineyards, churches. Stops for chats with other “pilgrims” but generally we walk alone.
30 August Estella to Los Arcos
First stop today a bodega which offers free wine to walkers. Too early in the day for me but Peter gives it a go! Next stop an amazing forge with so many interesting things to buy but no capacity for extra luggage. It was a lovely day just rolling countryside.
Los Arcos was the end of day 7, our first week over. We had really started to feel fitter, our bodies accepting of getting out of bed each morning and just walking. No blisters, no injuries. You get into a routine, up, pack, drop bag, breakfast, out the door, usually 7:30-8am depending on what time we could get breakfast. Our average day was around 12 miles, some days more, some less. Our longest turned out to be 20 miles but that actually was our choice.
I hope you enjoy our first week, there are six more weeks to go before we arrive in Santiago so pop back and catch the next instalment
Quite the accomplishment! Congratulations
Well done , I admire your stamina to get up and go each day!