planning my trip

[beehive]

Hi everyone,

It is really encouraging to read all your posts - at least I feel that I am not the only one having lots of questions and doubts about the whole thing. I am planning on embarking on my camino in July from France and am planning to spend in the region of 4-5 weeks for my trip depending on how much leave from work I'll manage to get. I have the following questions pls:

- I don't like the idea of sleeping in a dormitory. Do hostels on the way offer the possibility of a single private room ensuite? If yes, do you recommend booking beforehand? If I stay in a hotel, will they still be able to stamp my camino passport?
- I will in all probability be doing the trip on my own. How safe is it along the way?
- Any good guide books around??

That's all for the time being. I appreciate and look forward to any good advice you can give me.

[Covey]

The albergues (hostels) come in two versions.

The "official" albergues are run by the Provincial or Local Governments and have been there for a long time. You cannot pre-book a bed space in any official albergue and I do not know of any official albergue that has single rooms, let alone en-suite!! The albergue at Azofra is all 2 bed rooms (no bunks) but no en-suite.

The "private" albergues have come into being over the last 7 years as the numbers walking the Camino have increased rapidly and the official albergues could not cope with the numbers. Some are very good, some not so, but they are privately owned and run. Only the occasional private albergue will have a single room. Often they have two person rooms and you make them single occupancy by paying for both beds!! You can usually pre-book a private albergue if you know the address or email address and speak good Spanish. Despite English being a compulsory subject in all Spanish schools for the past 35 years, very very few Spanish will speak English to you!

All hotels, Casa Rural etc will have a stamp and will stamp your pilgrim passport.

If you walk the Camino Frances, you are never really alone unless you want to be. There are the occasional un-verifiable stories regarding thieves preying on Pilgrims, but when you try and track down actual hard stories, there ain't any. You will be safe.

[HuskyNerd]

Hi Beehive ~
Congrats on your upcoming Camino. Covey's reply, as always, is completely accurate. I'd only add that there are many pilgrims out there who stay at hotels rather than albergues (hostels) along the way. In 2008 my wife joined me from Villafrance del Bierzo to Santiago (about 10 days) and she would have nothing to do with albergue life. We stayed in 1-3 star hotels along the way and never found the need to make a reservation. The great Hape Kerkeling (of famous German comedy fame) tried albergue life as you can read in his book, but he gave up on it immediately and stayed in hotels the rest of the way.

If you do the hotel route, be prepared to pay 30-50E per night. The other cost of the hotel/camino route is that you'll miss the camaraderie that comes from long pilgrim conversations over laundry and cooking and other chores which are part of albergue life.

Covey's not a fan of guidebooks (he's done the Camino Frances often enough that they're unnecessary for him), but I personally found comfort on my first Camino Frances in having Amazon.com: A Pilgrim's Guide to the Camino de Santiago: St. Jean - Roncesvalles - Santiago (Camino Guides) (9781844091928): John Brierley: Books along with me. It was worth the extra weight as reference and I never regretted having it with me. When I return to the Camino Frances next May, though, I'll likely use only the Spanish iPhone app by Consumer Eroski Camino for iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad on the iTunes App Store .

You have a wonderful adventure ahead of you. Buen camino!
--Sandy

[beehive]

Hi,

Thanks both of you for your advice. It is comforting and encouraging to know that I can stay in hotels along the way if I want to. I might try out a couple of albergues just to get the fell though. I am worried though about getting the stamps on my pilgrim passport. Will I still be able to get them from hotels?

I still have a year to plan my camino. I hope you won't mind if I have more questions later on.

Thanks.

Vanessa (though signed in as beehive just because it is the first word that came to mind)

[HuskyNerd]

Hi Vanessa ~
Yep, you'll be able to get your credentiale stamped at hotels along the way, no problem. You'll discover you can also get it stamped at bar/cafes, too, as well as churches. A good practice is to get it stamped twice a day -- once at night when you check in at the albergue or hotel and once along the way -- at a church or restaurant or bar/cafe.
Sandy

[Covey]

If you are staying in the small hotels you can still attract the unwelcome attentions of bedbugs, so a bug treated sleeping bag liner is still a good idea to sleep in irrespective of what sort of establishment you are in.

Dormitory living in albergues is an acquired taste for many and even if you intended to use albergues all the time, the occasional night in your own room away from the snorers and grunters is bliss, especially having your own bathroom!! The other benefit is that you are not subject to the nightly lockup in an albergue so you can enjoy the evenings without having to be back in the albergue by 10pm.

[beehive]

ok - that's a good tip to carry sleeping bag liners - it didn't cross my mind.
I will get back to you when I start with the practical preparations - as you can see I am not an experienced backpacker and these things do not come to me naturally. For the time being I am going to devote my time to reading about the camino and planning my walk and where to stop, etc.
thanks for all your help.

[Covey]

Don't overdo the planning!

You need a start date and a finish date so you can book flights. If you can book flights around 6 months before your start date that is usually the optimum time to book flights and still get the cheap deals for flying into Bairritz if you are starting at St Jean and walking the Camino Frances. Pre-booking a night in St Jean at one of the better places is a smart move so you start off the following morning fresh and rested.

As for the rest, I would suggest you take each day as it comes. There is no need usually to pre-book hotels/Casa Rurals along the way, and if you do, then you are always walking against the clock. Some days you will feel great and will eat up the miles, and on other days, you might decide to do a short day, do your laundry and have a wander around the town if it seems interesting. If you find your joints are complaining, you might need to put in a couple of short days to give them a rest.

None of this you will know until you stick your nose outside the door at dawn the following morning and see how you feel and what the weather is doing. Your body kind of dictates your schedule as well as the weather and whatever your friends you have made along the Way fancy doing. Having a list of pre-booked hotels means your list dictates your day rather than you!

Have fun.