Camino Frances for an Appalachian Trail hiker

[doctor_robert]

I have hiked the everthing south of Damascus and north of Killington on the Appalchian Trail as well as scattered bits in the middle. It is what I know and my baseline for trying to understand what all goes into doing the Camino Frances. I have done two AT trips roughly the same length as the Camino Frances so I am familiar with the issues that all long distance hikers face (foot issues, equipment selection, ect). So I have a few questions that someone out there can hopefully answer.

I understand the first section is mountainous. Is any of it comparable to any of the mountains on the AT?

It seems like pilgrims sleep in hostels every night. Is that true or is there any sections that have to be done with a tent. If I wanted to camp how hard is it to find a spot to pitch a tent?

How about food? How much do pilgrims generally carry and what is a typical distance for resupply?

And water? Do I need a filter or are there clean water sources at reasonable intervals?

So food, water, and shelter: the basics. Is there anything an AT hiker would find helpful in taking on this type of trip?

[Sil]

What you should know is that the AT and the Camino are completely different trails and if you are expecting a similar thing you will be disappointed.
The AT was planned to avoid towns and villages. The Camino, being a pilgrimage trail for foot travellers, was established seeking them out, walking 5 leagues or so each day, from one safe village or monastery to the next.
The AT avoids tarred roads. About 12% of the Camino path is on roads, mostly leading into or out of towns and villages.
The AT is 80% wilderness trail, the Camino is rarely far from civilisation be it a hermitage, hamlet or isolated church.
You don't have to carry food with you except perhaps for a bar of chocolate or a piece of fruit. There are cafe-bars, restaurants, small vegetable shops each day and in many traditional albergues you share communal meals with the other pilgrims.
There are fresh, drinkable water fountains or taps almost along the entire route abnd most shops sell bottled water.
If you start in France at St Jean Pied de Port, you have one day crossing the lower foothills of the Western Pyrenees - no real mountain climbing. The highest point on the camino is in the Irago Mountains at 1500m but here too, you are taken up to that point over a few days so it isn't as severe a climb as the first day.
There are over 280 pilgrim shelters (refugios, albergues, hostels) on the Camino Frances so there is no need for a tent.
If you decide to take a tent, there are opportunities for wild camping but the same rules apply - try to get permission, no fires, leave no evidence.
Next year is going to be a busy year - many foreigners postponed a walk on the camino this year due to it being a Holy Year with predictions of overcrowding.
Take a minimum of clothing, take the lightest backpack you can afford (you'll only have to carry clothing and toiletries), you don't need heavy mountain boots, many pilgrims wear hiking shoes or even trainers.
Go with an open mind - and whatever you do, don't compare it with the AT!!

[doctor_robert]

sounds good. i am not expecting the camino to be anything like the AT, but like i said the AT is all i know of long distance foot travel and all i have to compare with. for someone that is used to backcountry travel, it just sounds very easy and i keep looking for a catch.

[Sil]

:-) No catch! Its a long, hard slog, about 780km over two mountain ranges, 70 rivers and bridges, passing through over 250 villages and towns (and three largish cities) vineyards, wheat fields, sheep country and then the undulating hills of Galicia.
About 6 months ago a hiker wrote disparagingly of his walk on the camino, comparing it with the AT at every turn. He was really disappointed that there were villages, towns, cities, lots of people, yellow arrows pointing the way, cafe-bars and no real wildnerness areas to bush-wack through.
Take it as it comes and you'll have a wonderful long-distance hike!

[doctor_robert]

I know the kind of person you are talking about and that is not the mindset I am bringing to the table. I love the woods, but I love the small towns as well.

Thanks for the information.

[mtnjugs]

My wife and I walked the camino from Astorga to Santiago this summer. We have also walked the AT from GA to VA. We enjoyed the Camino for its beauty, its challenge, its people. Everyday was filled with beautiful scenery, wonderful people, great food and drink, and plenty of memories. You will enjoy the experience.
We live in GA. on the Benton McKay trail, an approach trail to the AT. Even though I could walk down my driveway and be on the AT in hours, I will take driving to Atlanta and flying to Madrid just to get back on the Camino. The planning, the cost, the time is worth every moment. I would encourage you to practice your Spanish and make the trip. We plan on going back next year and start in St. Jean. Have fun!

[InOrlando]

Before I walked the Camino, I decided to do a "test run" and walk a part of the AT in October. We drove to Atlanta, then drove some more to a trail head and hiked from Neel's Gap to Blood Mountain. The day-long walk up the steep, colorful forest trail to the mountain's top was breathtaking--it was a test of my endurance and ability to read the blazes (and avoid the many thru-hikers scrambling on their way down).
It was difficult, but we made it. We thought we were ready when we walked the Camino de Santiago in late June, from St. Jean to Compostela. But immediately we realized the differences are multitudinous and astounding. All the information given to you by Forum members above is valuable--even vital--to understand what the long walk through Spain means. But there are other differences as well, and the fundamental differences are in *culture,* *history,* and *purpose.* To a person from the US, the Camino is ancient--far older than the AT--and the Camino's Spanish culture, language, and history are a large part of the experience. There is no American cultural or religious tradition that still survives, which is as old as Spain's Camino de Santiago. Even the indigenous people's cultural traditions have difficulty traces their history as far back. Think of it this way: Before the Puritans arrived at Plymouth, Mass., thousands had already walked the very path you will undertake in Spain.
The Camino is also a walk whose ancient purpose is distinct from the wilderness nature experience and survivalist hardships of the AT. Many fellow Americans I met on The Way were struck with the sheer age of the trail itself: its medieval castles and walls, symbolic shells and trail markers. And each pilgrim walks with a spiritual sense of purpose that is quite different from the love of nature and survival skills demanded of the AT. There will be food and water; sometimes you will carry a bit to snack on, but a lovely cafe is just around the corner somewhere. There will be symbols everywhere, and signs all around you, that tell you this is someplace extraordinary, spiritual, human, and very, very old. The Camino is swirling with the spirits of a thousand years' walking by so many who have come this Way before you.
May I suggest that you resist the belief that you have ever done this before: Unlike the AT, you will need almost nothing but the bare basics. You will walk into dormitories where they have been waiting for you; they will let you sleep in beds, and someone will look after you at night. For we Americans, this is perhaps the hardest to believe, but it is true: No one will try to harm or harass you anywhere you go. Even the Camino Frances dogs will understand that you are walking a spiritual journey, and they will not disturb you. So bring your lightest backpack--again: you will need very, very little--and prepare to be cared for and healed in ways you cannot yet imagine.

[vanleest]

We are starting in Leon next Sept. and am wondering how many days it took you and your wife to get from Astorga to Santiago. Also, did you stay in the hostels or private hotels. We would like to have our own room and it seems all the hostels have only dorms. I would appreciate any info you have one this subject.
Thanks

[vanleest]

We are starting in Leon next Sept. and am wondering how many days it took you and your wife to get from Astorga to Santiago. Also, did you stay in the hostels or private hotels. We would like to have our own room and it seems all the hostels have only dorms. I would appreciate any info you have one this subject.
Thanks

[Sil]

There are a number of private albergues that offer one or two private rooms. Some have websites that show what accommodation they offer. Have a look at the list on this website:
www.redalberguessantiago.com/documents/211.html You would have to book ahead so you should know your daily stages beforehand. You can work this out by using the www.godesalco.com/plan calculator. Click on the circle next to the place you want to start - Leon or Astorga - and then scroll down to the bottom and click on Santiago. Type in your starting date and on the next page you will see each village and the mileage between them. Click on each place you'd like to stay making sure that there is a refuge, private hostel or hotel. Check on the Red Albergues list for places to stay and email them for a booking.
Good luck!

[Covey]

You can arrive on the Camino with every day planned out in detail with where you will stay and what to see and do, but there is another way...............

You book your flight to Bairritz and a bed in St Jean for your first night and book your flight home in say 6 weeks time, and that is the only advance planning that you do. The rest of the time, you just go with the flow.

When I leave the albergue at dawn, I rarely know where I am going to sleep that night. When I stick my nose outside the albergue door in the morning what I do is dictated by the weather, how I am feeling, what my companions are thinking of doing etc etc. In other words, at dawn my day is a completely blank sheet of paper and I don't have to fill it in, and nobody else is going to fill it in. It is probably the nearest thing to true freedom you will experience in a very long time. Other than having to leave the albergue by 8am (so they can clean up ready for the next load of pilgrims!) there is nothing pre-ordained in your day except the little yellow arrows which mark the trail.

You can walk as long as you like, with whom you like or alone if you like, eat where and when you like, and stop for the night where you like. Other than the yellow arrows, there is ZERO input into your day from anyone else. Most even switch off their mobile phones and just call home every couple of days (or text) to say that you are still alive and kicking. Nobody watches TV or reads a newspaper for the 6 weeks you will probably spend on the trail. If you walk in to a nice village or town you might decide to stay the night, but you don't have to ask anyone if it is OK. You just do it.

You will frequently read on the Forum "It is your Camino". It really is, and you walk it whichever way you want. The yellow arrows will point the way, but everything else is solely down to what you want to do.

[Sil]

Covey, that is fine for 90% of the camino walkers. The other 10% don't want to stay in pilgrim dorms and they will have to plan ahead if they want to stay in private albergues that have double rooms or in small hotels. Either way, they will walk the same paths, visit the same villages, see the same monuments and places of interest. The only difference is that they don't have to rush to get a bed at night so that they can take their time, sight see as much as they like, have a siesta under a tree if they want to. Their bed will be waiting for them at the end of the day.

[Covey]

Sil, as ever, you are of course right in that if you want the comfort of knowing that you have a guaranteed bed waiting for you, then advance booking is essential.

The point I am trying to make, is that all this advanced detailed planning is only a matter of conditioning by our "normal life". When my kids were little, there was no way my wife and I would have set off on holiday without knowing where we would be sleeping that night. The holiday would be planned in detail. Our daily life is planned. We have to go to the office by a certain time, have meetings at certain times, leave the office and cook meals at certain times to fit in with what others need. On the Camino there does not have to be a plan (other than locking up time and leaving the albergue by 8am!)

[vanleest]

Thanks for the info. Will check it out.

[geraldkelly]

Hi ya Dr Robert

I haven't walked the Appalachian Trail but I have read that book by Bill Bryson so I feel qualified to comment.

The Camino is very different from the AT and a lot easier. However, I wouldn't like you to be lulled into a false sense of security so I've put together this short list of "Camino Dangers" which I hope you and all new pilgrims will study with care.

There are no bears on the Camino however you have to be constantly on the watch out for impromptu bear hugs! (especially from Lederhosen-clad Bavarians)

You don't need to carry much food on the Camino, in fact you can spend your whole time stuffing your face with delicious pinchos/tapas and all the other regional delicacies you find along the way, to such an extent that putting on weight is a real danger. Think of the embarrassment if you went home with the dreaded "Camino paunch". (Quite apart from the fact that your family, friends, workmates will find it hard to believe that you walked 700km and PUT ON 10kg!)

You don't need to carry much water since "liquid refreshment" is readily available in every Camino village. In face dying of thirst is not something you need to worry about at all. Dying of alcohol poisoning is another kettle of fish. If you're not careful and don't set reasonable limits (for reference mine are: no beer before 10am, no more than one bottle of wine with dinner) you could end up with your Camino turning into a drunken fiasco with village blurring into village and one sacred relic indistinguishable from another. I've seen these sorry creatures with my own eyes staggering into Santiago disorientated and bedraggled, parched lips mouthing the words "A que hora abren los bares?" Or sneaking out of mass half way through because the smell of the alter wine is driving them demented.

Finally. If you are a single gentleman (and I'm assuming here that you are indeed a gentleman) you may skip this paragraph. Otherwise it's best that you be warned: the Camino Francés (especially in summer) is crawling with beautiful women. Literally crawling with them. At every turn of the road, behind every bush, in every confessional - there will be times when your head will be spinning and all thoughts of the sacred and profane will be far away. And as if that wasn't enough, let me conclude by saying that the scorching heat of the Spanish plains isn't a climate conducive to "modest attire". You must resist with all your forbearing because as my maths teacher from school used to say as he flicked his leather strap above our cowering heads "the flesh is weak, the flesh is weak!"

So, you have been warned! The Camino may not have grizzlies or vipers or hornets nests but its dangers are many and varied and manys the pilgrim has fallen foul to them down the centuries!

Buen Camino!
Ger

[Anna-Marie]

Ger,

I love it. Your comedic talents are wasted writing a guidebook.

Anna-Marie