Roncesvalles

[Covey]

For many, the Monastery at Roncesvalles is the Pilgrims first introduction to albergue living. Those who stayed the night before in SJPDP were in French Bed & Breakfast land!!

The main accommodation at Roncesvalles is a large converted barn which contains around 150 bunk beds, all in VERY close proximity to each other. Enquiries as to where the Ladies Dormitory is situated will bring forth gales of laughter. Virtually all albergue accommodation is unisex with the exception of a couple of albergues run by Nuns along the Way. First come, first served!!

The showers and toilets are in the basement and can get very busy when everyone is checking in. Experienced Pilgrims grab a bunk, dump the pack, undress as fast as possible and are standing in the shower queue in 30 seconds flat. Those who wish to hang around chatting about the wonderful scenery they passed today, will be rewarded with a cold shower.

Food in Roncesvalles comes from the two restaurants / bars where you need to book a seat for dinner. No booking = no dinner!! If, when you arrive at Roncesvalles the Pilgrim Office is closed for siesta, drop your pack in the line of packs outside the office, and wander off and book yourself in for dinner, whilst having a cold beer and congratulating yourself on surviving your first day. The Pilgrim office is where you get your Pilgrim Passport stamped, or if you are starting from Roncesvalles, they will issue you with your new Pilgrim Passport. It is a bit of a long winded procedure and the queues seem to be very slow moving at times, but eventually you will get your stamp and a ticket for a bed in the dormitory. As soon as you have the bed ticket, hot foot it down to the barn, grab a bunk and get in the shower queue.

They have internet connected PC's in the basement so you can tell your loved ones that you survived Day 1. They also usually have a large pile of surplus kit carried by new Pilgrims who ignored the advice proffered about only carrying 10kgs on your back. 28Kms of excess weight on your back causes you to re-examine every piece of kit you are carrying. Some will wait until Pamplona before posting home the unwanted weight, but most dump it at Roncesvalles "for those in need" Conscience solved, they can go off and have a beer feeling much happier!!!

There are no shops or pharmacy at Roncesvalles and the next stop is a place called Zubiri which is also an ideal antidote for those with a passion for anything to do with shopping..

A Pilgrim will spend some time waiting in queues for albergues to open in the afternoons, and the standard way to stake your place is to place your pack in the queue and then wander off to grab a bite to eat or drink. Make sure you do not leave your passports, money or cameras in your pack. The Spanish assume that all Pilgrims are poor and your pack will come to no harm.

The Golden Rule on the Camino is to eat. drink and sleep wherever you have the opportunity. If you are hungry or thirsty and you see a bar open, stop and consume. Ignore those who tell you that there is a fantastic bar just over the hill. The owner might have died since the guide book was written or taken the day off. If you are getting tired and see an albergue with an empty bed, grab it. The next albergue might be full when you have walked the 5kms to find it, and you either have to walk another hour or so in either direction to try and find an empty bed.

You cannot pre-book beds in the "official" state albergues, but you often can in the private ones, PROVIDING you know the telephone numbers!! Calling a Spanish local phone from a non Spanish mobile phone is an international call and very expensive.

[karenleeg]

Hi Covey
I have an unlocked celll phone I have used all over the world and will bring it with me on my walk. When in the UK last fall, there were articles in the papers about roaming charges in Europe no longer being dropped in November 2009. Has this happened? I usually use an O2 pay as you go when in the UK. Any suggestions or comments on the most economical cell plan to use for calls to Canada, UK and texting my whereabouts to my loved ones?
Karen-Lee

[Covey]

Spain SIM card for

I found the above SIM Card for use in Spain some months ago. It has the advantage in that you can purchase one before you go, and they will give you your Spanish phone number before you go. The purchase cost is a bit high but at least you have a card before you go, and avoid the high cost of calls within Spain for those using other non Spanish mobiles.

[robin]

Surely the extremely simple answer to all this refugee class stuff is to merely avoid the peak months?
By doing so you also avoid the heat and the damned tourists.
As far as I can see,most people in Europe these days can choose their own holiday dates,so why on earth do they volunteer to pay hich prices and be treated like cattle?
I'll be trhough Roncessvalles by very early june next year,although booking dinnner early might be good advice, if its crowded I'll be almost anywhere else.
robin

[geraldkelly]

Hi

Regarding Spanish SIM cards, I investigated this last year and found International Calls - Lebara Mobile which seems to be the cheapest pre-paid SIM card for calling outside Spain. Calls to fixed lines in most countries are less than 10c per min.

There is a legal obligation to register SIM cards in Spain so when you go to buy one you'll need some form of identification. For that reason I don't think you'll be able to buy one in advance from their web-site.

Ger

[Covey]

As you point out, you have to register the SIM card in Spain, but for all practical purposes, if you start from St Jean, you are not going to find a mobile phone shop until Pamplona, and then you have to email/text your family with the number and instructions for using any "low call" facility to call up your Spanish mobile.

The company I referenced above at least gives a UK resident the ability to pick up a Spanish PAYG SIM before you arrive in Spain. I presume that if you arrive at an international airport in Spain, there is a reasonable chance you can buy a SIM at an airport kiosk, and certainly at Madrid, there are proper mobile shops where you can buy SIM's or phones.

The other problem is that the main phone companies often do not give very good deals on SIM cards. Certainly in my part of London, the firm Lebara you mention has some of the best deals for SIM's and low cost calls, especially to Africa!!

I use T-Mobile in the UK and get a very good deal on calls, texts and internet/3G, but the moment I set foot outside the UK, they are pretty awful. My 3G in UK costs £8pm for unlimited (sic!) use but £12 per megabyte if I go to Switzerland. I have a Nokia E72 with all the fancy push email etc, but when I walk the Camino, I leave the fancy phones behind and take my trusty Nokia 6310i. If your phone does not have 3G then there ain't much chance of running up horrendous bills by mistake.

I met a lady from UK last year who was very pleased with the efficiency of her email system on her phone along the Way. When she showed me the phone, it was locked on to Movistar 3G which would have been pulling down her emails at a cost of about £6 per megabyte! No one had warned her to turn off her email service when she got on the plane so her phone which worked on 3G in the UK just locked on to the strongest 3G signal when she got off the plane in Bairritz.

[geraldkelly]

Hi Covey

It's true, the first dealer for Lebara SIM cards is in Pamplona.

The EU implemented maximum roaming charges within the EU a few years ago (EU Destinations - callcosts.ie) which has reduced the costs of calls and texts from breath-takingly expensive to just mega rip-off. However, the situation with data roaming is still appallingly bad. I brought my Blackberry with me to Spain a few years ago and used it to check my email a couple of times a day. Their roaming rate looked fairly good, can't remember the exact figures but as an examples: €1 per MB. So, I calculated checking my email might take 15KB, so €1 / 1000 * 15 = 1.5c. Sounds good. What I discovered in reality was every time I downloaded anything they charged me for 1MB. So if I checked my email four times a day totaling 60KB I was charged for 4MB = €4.

After that Mr Blackberry stayed at home.

By the way, since this thread is supposed to be about Roncesvalles, has anybody heard anything about the Benedictine monks of St Ottiliens in Bavaria (those of Rabanal fame) being invited to take over the running of the monastery in Roncesvalles?

El arzobispo gestiona sustituir a los can

http://translate.google.com/translat...&prev=_m&twu=1


Ger

[karenleeg]

Thanks for this info! I will check it out!
Karen-Lee

[Covey]

I spoke to an Irish nun a couple of years ago who was walking the Camino, and she told me that she stayed with the local nun's along the Way. She imparted the information that in many nunneries in Spain, the majority of nuns were non-Spanish, mainly from South America and Africa, because fewer and fewer Spanish women wanted to become nuns, and that also applied to the Priesthood..

Given the number of Churches we pass along the Way, I can understand the problems to finding enough Priests to take up their pastoral duties in the smaller towns and villages.

The same problem applied in the UK where many Church of England Vicars actually look after 3 or 4 different parishes. The CoE solved part of their problem by ordaining women , but I cannot see the Catholic Church going down that route!!

[BHinSanDiego]

Hi, I just want to pass along to covey the advise about getting to the shower ASAP is right on, my pack (and me) were 8th in the queue, I got my pillow, was lucky enough to get the first bottom bunk on the right aisle, I laid out my sleep sack and headed to the shower, I was first for the only 2 showers, when I came out 5 minutes later the line was already 10 deep, some friends that were opting for the local hotel handled the dinner reservation for me. So with only 2 showers available it can be a long long wait and possibly no hot water, which I incured once a day past Longono.

[Covey]

10 pilgrims in a queue for 2 showers.................. According to my addled maths that is still 25 minutes standing in the queue for each shower for the last person in, which is kind of boring, and a waste of cold beer time!! I have seen folks get very irritated when standing in the shower queue and the person in the shower is hogging all the warm water with a leisurely shower. There are occasions where Pilgrim Charity gets a bit thin!!!

Anyway, welcome back and Buen Camino

[geraldkelly]

Hi Everybody!

I know this thread is a bit old but I wanted to add an update from my recent Camino regarding Lebara Mobile SIM cards.

I needed to call home fairly frequently during my Camino (June 2010) so to avoid roaming charges I investigated what Spanish SIM I could buy to use in my mobile. I settle on Lebara because they have calls for 8c a minute to land-lines in the EU (and many other countries). See here: International Calls - Lebara Mobile

Anyway, when I got to Pamplona I located a Locutorio (call shop), the first place on Plaza Castillo couldn't help me because their internet was down, but I found another place in the back of an African grocery shop (can't remember the name) on Calle de Javier, just off the plaza, and they took a copy of my passport and registered me online. The SIM started working straight away. Total cost €10 with €10 initial credit. I used €20 of credit while I was there and I worked out that it saved me about €100 in roaming charges. So, well worth the hour or so it took me to organise it.

Ger

[Covey]

I double checked with Lebara in the UK if we could buy the Lebara Spanish Sim here, but the answer was no. I shall pick up a Lebara Sim in Pamplona and hang on to it because I visit Spain a lot and T-Mobile are shockers in what they charge me to use my UK mobile in Spain. Last year I had to do a conference call back to the UK for a client which went on for 2.5 hours. My bill for that month looked like the National Debt though I recharged it to the Bank!!!

If I transfer all my phone numbers from my existing Sim to the phone memory (the numbers are all in international format) then just adding the Lebara Sim should solve my problems.

[karenleeg]

Regarding SIM cards. I have had a "road warrior" friend who has to travel extensively for business, recommend OneSimCard - International SIM Card | International Cell Phones to me. This card allows him to fly into any European country (although is used almost anywhere in the world) and instantly make calls within that country or to anywhere else at reasonable rates without the extra fees he would be paying using his North American SIM! Having read its blog and checked it our on the reviews, I have bought it and loaded. The SIM is free. You load it with money according to your needs. It requires an international unlocked cell/mobile to use this SIM. There are no roaming fees, free incoming calls, free incoming texts. You can go to their website and explore the rates according to the country you are calling from - to the country you are calling. One of the fantastic features is that you get your SIM and therefore your number before you leave home. Your number does not expire ever although your money does expire after 10 months - you can top it up along the way at any internet cafe.
I recommend comparing this one to the others that have been blogged about and see what works best for you and your needs. Since I travel quite a bit each year to different continents, this one fits my bill!

[Covey]

I am a bit confused about some of the comparison charges shown on the OneSimCard site. The costs shown for a T-Mobile phone using calls from Spain to the UK are $1.49/minute to receive calls and $1.49 to make a call to the UK.

In fact, T-Mobile (who I use in the UK) charge me 0.20c/minute to receive calls from the UK and 0.55c/minute to make calls to the UK from Spain using my UK T-Mobile Monthly Contract mobile and $1.85 per MB for data use, which does not tally with the $1.49 each way.

The advantage with the Lebara Sim quoted by Gerald is that it also allows calls to local Spanish numbers, whereas my T-Mobile UK phone treats a local Spanish number as an International call and routes to the UK and back to Spain!! I cannot find what Lebara charge for data usage on their site.

Certainly, the Lebara charge for a Spain-UK call to a UK landline at €0.08 per minute plus a 29c connection charge seems very reasonable.

[karenleeg]

Hi Covey,
Yes, it can be very confusing. This SIM is a non contract card and the pricing is based on per minute calling if you have a US or Canadian T-Mobile, ATT, etc. plan. The EU, Asia and particularly Australia have the most amazing mobile plans, far more reasonably priced than any North American plan! When travelling up to now, I have always just purchased a prepaid SIM in most countries since my mobile is unlocked, specifically for this reason. However, having an International SIM really appealled to me! One number, for any country I am travelling to, with free incoming calls and messaging allows my friends and family to be able to be in touch for the specified hours I am going to have the phone on during my walk. Its a win/win for me. But, as I said it really only makes sense to those of us who have North American based mobile plans.
I hope that this explanation clarifies this for anyone else who has read my earlier note.
Karen-Lee

[grayland]

Hi

Regarding Spanish SIM cards, I investigated this last year and found International Calls - Lebara Mobile which seems to be the cheapest pre-paid SIM card for calling outside Spain. Calls to fixed lines in most countries are less than 10c per min.

There is a legal obligation to register SIM cards in Spain so when you go to buy one you'll need some form of identification. For that reason I don't think you'll be able to buy one in advance from their web-site.

Ger

I agree that the Lebarra card is the best deal.
You CAN order the sim on line and receive it in the mail. You simply call them to activate it for you just before you go. They come from the East Coast if you are ordering them from the U.S.
It is a bit tricky to keep them topped off. You must find the shops that handle them and then the process is very simple.

[grayland]

I need to add that the Labara dealers are usually an internet cafe type store called "locu Torrios". They are in most decent size towns and it is a good idea to top up when you can if you are using the phone or texting back home.

[nunomoreiras]

If you arrive early in the winter months, you'll be installed in a small room close to the office were you're given the credential and not in the refuge... just a note =)

buen camino!

[joe]

I just bought a Vodafone Spanish sim card that works in my unlocked phone. It has €30 already on it and it can be activated at anytime. It's on ebay for £28, just search "Spanish sim card"

The calls are 10c/min to UK landlines and little more for UK mobiles. I think the connection fee is 15c (but not entirely sure).

Oh... and anybody who has family in the UK, tell them to purchase a Tesco International Calling Card... it works for any mobile on any network and it allows them to call you while you're abroad from only 1p per minute (10p for calling Spanish mobile numbers - and with our Spanish sims our phones will Spanish). So it works out cheap for both ends. Texts are free to recieve on both ends, and they are only 10c each. So if you are running low on credit you can text your family and friends to give them a time to call you back.

As for the showers... I hope the cold water isn't freezing cold! If it's room temperature water I can handle it, but I don't really want to be coming out of a shower shivering... I'll catch a cold with my immune system lol.