Some Administrivia

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Background

A couple of people have asked about this trip on different forums, and as is the nature of things, I haven´t had good access to the internet or when I have, certain sites don´t work quite the same way in a public internet booth as one might expect.

Is this an organized trip?

Like any simple question, there are at least two different correct answers.

Wal Wolzak and I have been planning this trip for about a year, but we are not participating in any group tour or the like.

Wal had invited a German friend from his first Camino in 2006, Martin, and the plan was for the three of us to walk from St Jean Pied de Port in France to Santiago.

So yes, it is organized, but by Wal and me, not by a tour company.

Where do you plan to stay each night?

Each person walks their own Camino, so while we have a broad schedule, when we are walking together we decide each day where we want to stop for the evening, and which albergue we plan to stop at if there is more than one in a particular town or village.

The municipal and parochial albergues cannot be booked. They operate on a first come, first served basis for people walking the Camino. Some will give preference to walkers over cyclists, and some do not limit themselves to pilgrims, but many do. Some private albergues, hostels and casa rural take bookings.

Sometimes events take over, and our plans go astray. On the second night, I stayed at Zubiri, rather than walking on to Larrasoana, and later when I had planned to go to Hontanas, the weather was so bad that I stopped at San Bol to see if it was open and stayed there.

What if the albergues are full?

That is not a circumstance that I have faced. I am walking early in the season, and other than around Easter when there were quite a lot of Spaniards walking, none of the albergues we have used has been full.

Even if there were a problem, most of them have some overflow. At Zubiri, they had two small dormitories with bunk beds, and I was the first into the old gym where they put mattresses on the floor. Eventually about 30 people slept in the gym. In many cases, each town has several other accommodation options, or one could walk to the next village if it were close enough.

What happens if you get sick or injure yourself?

I guess that depends. So far Wal and I have been lucky, but others have had everything from a runny tummy where they can still walk through to being admitted to hospital for re-hydration.

My aim is to walk to Santiago and get the compestala, the certificate of completion. If I were so ill that I could not walk a day, I would probably take a bus for that section, and take a rest day. This will work up until the last five days, where the last 100km into Santiago has to be walked if one is to be issued the compestala. It will be very tough indeed if I get so ill then that I could not walk.

How far do you have to walk?

To gain the compestela, one has to walk at least the last 100km to Santiago. Starting from St Jean Pied a Port, the total distance is about 800km. This varies a bit from source to source because there is no one definitive route. When there are options, your choice could make a difference of several kilometres on a particular day or over a couple of days. So far, I have generally following the guidebook authored by John Brierley, an Irishman, and using his ´traditional´routes where possible.

It would be no surprize that the traditional routes seem to visit as many churches and other religous monuments as possible, whereas the less traditional routes often miss smaller towns and their churches.

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Comments

[Noel CS]

Thanks Doug
I finally found your travel blog, great explanation and work Doug. I have appreciated your intermediate updates. Have bumped into a Spaniard or two, who have also explained the significance of this pilgrimage. They have just commenced advertising the 2010 season for this pilgrimage here in NZ.