Any one travelling with kid all the Camino Frances 780 km

[Pari]

Has any one done the camino Frances from St Jean Pied de Port all the way to Santiago de Compostela with a child? How many kilometers do one have to walk every day to make the whole route during 4 weeks?
Is one a little overzealous if one plans to implement this route with a 9 year old?
thanks for all the responds.

[Covey]

You are looking at walking an average of 20-25kms PER DAY for 30+ days, and I would respectfully suggest this is a lot to expect a 9 year old to manage.

About 50% of the adults who start from St Jean never make it to Santiago for one reason or another. To do the route in 30 days means walking every day, in rain and sun, in pain and in good times.

Also, you have to consider the child's mental state. An adult will summon up all their courage and push themselves through the pain barrier and walk on days when they would rather just stay in bed and rest. Motivating a child to push themselves to the limits and beyond is asking a lot, and is only a judgement you as the parent can make.

My judgement as someone who has walked the Camino Frances four times and as a former army officer who was used to motivating people to do the near impossible, is you are asking too much of your child. Are you doing this for him or yourself? My answer to both questions would be not to try.

If you had 6 - 8 weeks to do the trip, then it is a possibility, but 4 weeks is not.

[Pari]

Thanks for your rapid response. Do you have any suggestion where to start to take it a bit easy(since you have wakled the route four times), if he is tired and will not walk for some days. and still make it to compostela to Santiago? He is in really good shape though. We have 4 weeks vacation, and was thinking to do the route. But of course not if you have done it four times, and say that the whole route will be to much . Then we have to start somewhere closer, and i listen to all suggestion and consider them. And by the way how is the weather by the end of july and august?

thank you in advance

[Covey]

To receive your Compostella, you have to have walked the last 100kms to Santiago. On the Camino Frances that means walking from Sarria to Santiago which is about 110kms and which most pilgrims cover in 4-5 days. All the Pilgrim Office in Santiago are looking for on your Pilgrim Passport are the albergue stamps plus one other stamp per day from Sarria. If you walked from Pamplona to Leon it would not matter, because it MUST be the LAST 100kms to Santiago.

For you to receive your Compostella in Santiago you need to allow for 7 days to cover Sarria to Santiago and that means you have up to 21 days to walk another part of the Camino at a slow pace and get you and your son in to good shape for the last stage.

You should avoid the Burgos to Leon stage across the Meseta because it is very hot, dry and dusty in summer and although it is my favourite stage of the Camino, I am not sure a 9 year old would appreciate its solitude.

You should avoid the St Jean to Pamplona stage as the first day out of St Jean is the hardest day of the Camino Frances going up over the Pyrenees.

The weather on the Camino Frances in July/Aug is usually hot and dry until you get to Ponferada and then much more rain once you are in Galecia!!

I would suggest you start at Pamplona and gently walk to Burgos. It is quite interesting countryside and not too many steep climbs. When you reach Burgos you can decide how fit you and your son are. If you are both fine, then catch an ALSA bus to Ponferrada and set off from there to Sarria and Santiago. If walking is beginning to wear your son out, then take the bus to Lugo and Sarria and just walk the last 110kms in to Santiago.

[caminowalker]

If you look for hostal accommodation in Burgos you will be asked if you walked or came by bus. Walkers get accommodation.

[Covey]

In a lot of the official albergues the staff on the desk look at pilgrims footwear to see if the boots had ridden or walked there! In theory, the walkers get priority over the cyclists et all in all albergues, but in reality the private albergues take whoever turns up waving a pilgrim passport as they have an economic interest in filling all their bed spaces.

[andrewd]

In June 2010 we (me, my wife, 12yr & 8yr old daughters) hiked for a week on the Camino Francais. We were travelling through Europe for 3 months and we all agree that the camino hike was the highlight of our trip. Now for the details...

Please note that these comments relate to the stretch we walked and I can't comment on other sections.

1. We planned to only walk 12-15km's per day. We ended up walking 18kms after the first day. We did however have a shorter day (12km's) in the middle and at the end.
2. I carried 12kgs, my wife 6kgs, 12yr old daughter 3kgs and 8yr old nothing. 12yr old daughter carried camel pack with water for us all. My wife's and my pack had clothes for all of us (2 shorts (one with zip legs)/2 t-shirt (one thermal)/1 light jumper), 3 sets underwear and socks, wind proof raincoat each. Four thermal sleeping liners (see my other post on these). Basic toilettries each and toilet paper - you will need this. Snacks (nut,dried fruit,choclate mix) for eating during day carried by eldest daughter.
3. We started by 7am each day and walked until 1-2pm. We had one to two short stops during the day of approx. 15mins.
4. We always planned to stop at a town/ village where there was more than one hostel and only stayed in private hostels
5. We did not eat breakfast but bought and eat whilst walking. We lunched after reaching destination (2-3pm) and ate pilgrims meal at 8pm. Were in bed by 9-9.30pm
6. We started at Pamplona and finished at Legrono. We bussed back to Pamplona from Logrono - 2.5 hours.

That's the details now the hindsight. Actually what we planned for worked. There were a couple of little things that we would not take next time to lighten the load but that would be about it.

The things you should consider in my opinion are:

1. Do some walking with your child before you go. You should be able to happily walk the minimum amount easily at least two days in a row. If your child takes that easily (without whining/ crying/ etc) then you are probably in a position to reasonably judge their ability to do it day after day.
2. I would be very surprised if your 9yr old will be able to walk 20km's per day, day after day. Not only that, there is not a lot of point in planning too. The thing to realise is the distance you walk is based on the places to stay. You will find that you can walk 16-18kms and end at a town with reasonable hostel options or you will need to walk 22-26kms to get the main stop for the day. There are fewer options under 16kms.
3. Camino Guides available do not always highlight that a rise of 100 meters in the day is made up of many up and down climbs. The trail is rarely flat and usually it is an up hill hike at the end of the day beacuse the towns are mostly hill top. It was the up and down which was trying for the children.
4. You will need to plan to have rest days and half days. Not only for your child but probably for yourself as well. Don't forget you will be carrying more than your alotted weight. W met many people in our short time who had burned themselves out physically in the first 2 weeks - particularly in crossing the Pyrenees.
5. Make sure you are physically fit - not saying you are not :-) but it will help with you attitude when your child maybe having a tantrum!

Happy to answer any other questions...

Andrew

[Covey]

Thanks for that Andrew.

We often get questions regarding taking children along one of the Camino routes, and it is good to get the perspective of someone who has actually done it with children, rather than speculating on what might be if we tried! My own kids when they were that age would last 10 minutes in a car before the voice from the back seat intoned the best known words to a parent "how much further is it?"

[andrewd]

It was a truely fantastic experience for us all and one we are all anxious to repeat in the future although this time we want to do the whole thing.

I think the main two attractions we all appreciated were the simplicity of life (which we destilled down to four things - waking, eating, walking, sleeping) and the communality of the people we met and shared are stories with. It is a great testament to mankind that such friendships can be discovered in such a short time when sharing a common trial.

I believe it was a founding moment for our children, particularly our eldest daughter who truelly blossomed during the walk.

Andrew