Camino de Santiago

[KypNydan]

Hey everyone,

My sister and I are planning on walking from Paris to the Santiago De Compostela in 2013. We want to start in march and get back before June. Any advice or feedback would be awesome and amazing. We already have most of our finances worked out and our schedule... kinda, but any advice on places to hit or avoid would help.

[Raincloak]

I have heard great things about the Camino de Santiago (in spite of this negative review: http://francistapon.com/Travels/Spain-Trails/10-Reasons-Why-El-Camino-Santiago-Sucks), but I think starting your walk all the way back in Paris is a bad idea.

From Paris to Santiago is nearly a thousand miles, and for at least the first half of the trip, you won't be walking traditional pilgrim routes. (Also, according to this website, a lot of the road from Paris is now paved over and not too scenic... and it's expensive. http://www.csj.org.uk/route-paris.htm ) Unless you have a big budget and you're fluent in French (or have hired a guide who is), you will have a lot more difficulty finding accomodations than you would have on one of the more popular Compostela routes. To get all the way across most of France and Spain in just three months, you'd have to walk more than ten miles a day, without regard to injuries or other delays, and you wouldn't even get the chance to stop and see Paris first. And you might get rained on ... a lot. By the time you get to Spain and hit the main pilgrimage routes, it'll be close to summer and things may get crowded.

I suggest instead that you fly to Paris, spend a week or two sightseeing, then mail most of your stuff home (or ahead to Santiago) and take a bus or train to St. Jean Pied de Port and walk from there. That's a traditional starting point for the pilgrimage, with plenty of support and other pilgrims on the route, so finding accomodations should be a lot easier, and you might even run into some folks who speak English. The distance to Santiago is less than 500 miles, a much more manageable distance for the time you've allotted. You'll have time to stop and chat with people, rest for a day or two sometimes, chase a few sidequests. Why walk a pilgrimage if you're not going to take your time? You're paying for a trip to Europe, so you might as well slow down and enjoy it.

[KypNydan]

Thanks for the advice. We've actually been really on the fence about whether or not to actually start in Paris. I've heard the city is nice, but leaving it is apparently the definition of drudgery. That doesn't sound like too much fun. We were thinking of kinda doing what you were saying only instead of going all the way to St. Jean Pied de Port we would go to either Orleans or Bordeaux.

I don't think the distance will be as much of a problem. We have both done long distance walks before, upwards of 100+ miles, and are pretty good at pacing ourselves. I know I'm capable of getting up to 45 miles a day without feeling rushed or tiring myself out. We'd like to plan for about 15-20 miles a day.

As for language, my sister speaks conversational French, and is continuing lessons with native speakers. I'm learning Spanish and work with some people who have been helping me out with my understanding and fluency. Hopefully that will help a bit.

Once again thanks for the advice. I took a look at those sites and they were both helpful.