Traveling Solo -- is that the right thing to do?

[sckchi@aol.com]

Hi All -

I did the Camino Portuguese last fall with a friend and am considering doing the Camino Frances this year. I am a grandmother -- is it reasonable to plan to go alone?

[HuskyNerd]

Sckchi ~ It'd be great to know more about you before answering your question. Some grandmothers are 35 and some are 85. I'd have no doubts if you were on the younger side or if you were older and very independent. But if you have any significant physical (or, frankly, mental) issues you might want to have company. This would be true if you were a grandmother or a grandfather. But just knowing you're a grandparent isn't quite enough. Can you tell us a little more about yourself?

[dbird10]

I'm a grandfather, my partner and I walked from Roncesvalles in 09, I am starting solo in Somport on Apr. 12, and see no reason to not go solo. I am actually meeting some friends who will walk with me for a week or so but after that I am on my own. As long as you are reasonably fit and willing to interact with people I do not see a problem.

[gjclark]

I did the whole thing at age 68-I am a grampa-it is very easy to meet people and there are a lot of hikers that fit your demographic.

I would make this suggestion-unless you are really quite fit, it would be better to start at Roncesvalles and not St. Jean. The first leg is horrendous if wet-and not easy if dry.

Go for it-you will not be out in the wilderness. If things go bad, you are never more than a few hours from transport to a town or city.\

Buen camino!

[Covey]

GJCLARK.......I don't know why more pilgrims do not take your advice and start at Roncesvalles or Pamplona. The "first day" from St Jean to Roncesvalles is the hardest on the Camino Frances. The winter road via Valcarlos is easier and has many places to stop for refreshment, but the vast majority head on up over the top. On a clear day the views are spectacular, but as you say, on a wet day it is 8 hours of misery.

St Jean is but one of many starting points along the Camino Way from Paris to Santiago. It is an awkward place to get to for most travelers other than those living in London or Paris.

Many of the long distance travelers find it easier to fly to Spain and arrive at Madrid and then it is a train journey to Pamplona, so why not start at Pamplona? To get from Pamplona to St Jean or Roncesvalles is expensive and then you have to walk back to Pamplona!

In four trips from St Jean to Roncesvalles, only the first was done in good weather and the views from the peak were spectacular. The next three trips were either in mist/cloud or cloud/rain all day and were not much fun at all.

[toledo]

I sometimes walk locally with my wife but she is a slow walker and I like to go quite fast. I am always having to stop to let her catch up, so if you walk with someone I think you need someone who walks at the same speed unless you agree to meet up at the end of the day. With regard to starting at St Jean or Roncesvalles, I had dreaded the first day from St Jean for weeks before going, listening to all the stories. In fact I was pleasantly surprised when it wasn't as difficult as it had been made out to be, and actually found the second day through undulating woodlands, more tiring.

[HuskyNerd]

GJCLARK.......I don't know why more pilgrims do not take your advice and start at Roncesvalles or Pamplona. ....St Jean is but one of many starting points along the Camino Way from Paris to Santiago. It is an awkward place to get to for most travelers other than those living in London or Paris.

Ahh, Covey, it's because of the poetry of pilgrimage that many of us start at St Jean. My own intro to the Camino came in Paulo Coelho's The Pilgrimage and his description of St Jean and the start of his mythic walk captured my imagination. Hape Kerkeling's book, I'm Off Then does the same for German pilgrims, and so many other writers, like my personal favorite, Fr. Kevin Codd in To the Field of Stars begin at St. Jean. To recreate their storied walks means to start in the same place.

Another aspect is that each of these books describe the walk as a spiritual pilgrimage and the first day over the big hill introduces a key theme of pilgrimage: ordeal. If a person trains, anticipates, persists, endures and overcomes there's perceived a much greater spiritual reward. Something like Joseph Campbell's notion of initiation and its necessary separation, suffering renaming and reentry. Succeeding after a hard day to Roncesvalles convinces a pilgrim they are made of the right stuff and they have begun to earn their reward at journey's end.

I think another reason for St Jean is that it bears the culture of the Camino. As the bottleneck through which the northern French/European caminos must pass it is steeped in camino history. A start there gives a person the immediate sense they are participating in an historic community of pilgrims as evidenced in the Spanish Gate, the pilgrim office, the albergues and habitaciones. Add to that the sense of walking "all the way across Spain" -- from the cattle-guard border between SJPP and Roncesvalles to the 0 Km marker at Finisterre -- adds a sense of accomplishment and satisfaction in a complete journey.

Pamplona is definitely easier to get to, but for me it lacks is a noticeable "camino vibe." No criticism of that great town intended or certainly of pilgrims who start there. It's just that Pamplona has its own strong identity and story and history independent of the Camino Frances. It's a great town to visit and I'm glad it's part of the Camino Frances, but to me pilgrims here seem like small fish in a big pond.

Anyway . . . . St Jean is certainly more difficult, more remote, and more trouble. But to me it's worth it to experience the full meal deal as we say here in the US. So I'm off to St. Jean for an early May Camino Frances once again!

[Covey]

Ah... The Poetry! You are right of course about the history and the gate and the Pilgrim Office etc etc, but you could say that about Le Puy or Lyon.

My point is that when you are aiming for the Camino Frances from one of the continents, having to get to a small town which is fairly well tucked away at the end of a single track rail line, is not that easy. If for instance you fly to Madrid, then getting to Pamplona, Burgos, Leon or Santiago is fairly easy. If you arrive in Madrid, then getting to St Jean is not easy and can prove quite expensive.

Flying in from London, Bairritz is 2 hours from London, 45 minute bus ride to Bayonne Station and an hour in the train to St Jean and it takes me 5 hours door to door and costs me €60, but then I would not fly in to Madrid because I have direct flights from two London airports to Bairritz. My point is simply that if Madrid is the easier hub to aim for, then starting at Pamplona is simple, whereas getting across to St Jean from Pamplona is not.

For those who London is an easier or cheaper European hub, then the Gatwick or Stansted flights to Bairritz are an easier route to St Jean.

[BHinSanDiego]

I won't attempt to try to use the poetry that our good friend Husky did so eloquently, it couldn't have been said better. For me my Camino would have felt incomplete if I had started anywhere else than in St Jean, every book and story I read started there. That being said, it's not that difficult for people to get to St Jean if they come to the best place on the net and get the best information available from those of us that have been there. As you said Pamplona it'self is easy to get to, St Jean is too if one uses the Express Bouricott shuttle service. They will pick you up at the train station when you arrive and take you to St Jean for a reasonable price. I arrived in Madrid at about 7:30 in the morning and was in St Jean by 4 PM. Sometimes I feel like I should be getting paid by Bouricott for promoting them so much.

[Covey]

The Express Bourricot service is excellent, and if you are in a small party then the costs per person might not be too high, but that depends on how many they are picking up from say Pamplona. If there is just one person then it will cost €84 to get to St Jean, but if there are four of you then the cost is €21 each. I can get from London to St Jean for €60 so it is all relative.

However, not that many arriving to start their Camino come as a group so you may be lucky and find that there are a number of other pilgrims wanting to be picked up from where ever and taken to St Jean, but when you are planning your trip from thousands of miles away, life is not so certain.

The really depressing statistic is that 15 minutes in a car/coach is a days walk to a Pilgrim!

[EFDoucette]

Not sure if this is the right thread but I've discovered another potential way to get to SJPP. Coming from Canada using Paris as the entry/return destination, arriving Paris early in the morning. Then, an Easyjet or train to Pau, then train from Pau to SJPP via Bayonne. You may need to overnight in Pau but that would help the jetlag thing. Is this a reasonable way to connect?

[Covey]

You could spend the day in Paris thinking romantic thoughts (It is Paris after all!!) and then catch the night TGV train from Paris to Bayonne which gets to Bayonne around 6am and then catch the train to St Jean. You could walk to Orisson in the afternoon and stop the night there (you must have a reservation!) and then on to Roncesvalles the next morning.

[janemaryokeefe]

If you stop at Orisson, it makes a great stop for your first day out. Rather than overdue that first day, I found that I enjoyed it more, taking photos, seeing the animals and flowers and pacing myself. It's not a race! Take time to smell the flowers. Make reservations at Orisson ahead of time. It includes dinner and breakfast. Nice people too with great suggestions about camino walking.
Jane

[gjclark]

I am somewhat disappointed by the tone of some of the comments made about solo travellers and the "reasons" to start at SJPP. The inference is that a "real" camino must (should) start there.

Please-my Camino may or may not be done the same way yours was done. It may have been by bike, horse, or on foot. It may have started at Le Puy, Brussels, Paris, Roncevalles or Sarria.

My camino is no more-or less-worthy than yours. I suggest that there is no such thing as a "bad" camino that is completed for reasons that are real and valid to that person.

[Leslie]

You could spend the day in Paris thinking romantic thoughts (It is Paris after all!!) and then catch the night TGV train from Paris to Bayonne which gets to Bayonne around 6am and then catch the train to St Jean. You could walk to Orisson in the afternoon and stop the night there (you must have a reservation!) and then on to Roncesvalles the next morning.

I did this but took a bit more time for it once.

A friend from the US lived in Paris so I stayed overnight in Paris and spent some time with them the next day - wandered around the city, which I love - and managed to get some blisters on my feet before even getting to St.

I took the overnight train - which was really cheap at that time ~€50 and then walked to Orrisson and stayed there overnight.

I sat with my coffee, (and cig), the next morning looking down at the wispy clouds in the valleys between the hills.

There was something special about that morning for me.

However by the end of the day after walking to Roncesvalles that feeling was well gone. Unlike the battle hardened Covey and Sandy I never want to walk that part of the route again...

[Covey]

GJC.........I would agree with your feelings regarding starting at SJPP in order to do a "real" Camino Frances. As I have said before, SJPP is but one of many start points along the route from Paris to Santiago. The actual route in Spain changes from time to time in places, often for reasons of economic tourism.

I have often wondered where exactly did the "original" trail go? I assume it was along drovers trails between towns because that was where the water was. Even in the years I have walked the Camino Frances in Spain, the route has been "tweaked" in places.

In one place it was hijacked by a local village just before Najera who turned the Camino signposts around to point up the hill to their village, thus bypassing the new rest area which the council had built for the pilgrims which is now overgrown and disused!

As I have always said on this Forum "It is your Camino, and you do it whichever way you wish"

Walking or by horseback I have no problem with, though I wonder if allowing the Camino by bicycle has more to do with cycling being a national pastime in Spain rather than an ancient form of pilgrim transport.

[HuskyNerd]

Hi GJC ~
My compostela from last year's camino beginning at Puebla de Sanabria is identical to my compostela from my 2008 start at SJPP. So in the grand scheme the "starting point" makes no difference. Last year I chose the most fun and unique Camino I could accomplish in the time available and the result was very rewarding.

Let's be clear that, in the classic sense, a pilgrimage actually starts from a person's front door, not from the town where we get the first stamp on our credencial, be it SJPP, Roncesvalles, Pamplona, Paris, etc. So everyone's starting point is by definition different and equally worthy. The caminos to Santiago are like a giant river with many, many tributaries. All of them reach the same destination and all are equally part of the river.

Where one chooses to receive their first credencial stamp along this great river, though, is a matter of personal preference, taste, tradition, aesthetics, and economics. I'm counting down the days (now 38) before my third Camino, which will begin at SJPP like those whose stories I've read and who will be in my mind as I once again retrace their steps.

[janemaryokeefe]

I don't know why you should take offense by everyone's comments. You asked for advice. Everyone has had a different experience and you will make choices as to what direction your camino will take and it won't matter where you start. It's your trip. I loved the little town of St. Jean and staying in Orisson on my way to Roncevalles. I took a bus from Burgos to Leon to miss the heat of the flat area. I only did 360 miles of the 500 mile hike. Do I feel bothered because I didn't do the whole 500 miles? Not in the least! My camino was just that! My experience, my journey! Saw some beautiful sites, met some great people, had a wonderful experience! Just remember, "It's the journey, not the destination!" Have a great trip!-------whichever route you take!

[BHinSanDiego]

Hi gjc, first of all I respect you point of view rights to post on the board, however I've read and re-read the posts and cannot find anything that infers "a true Camino" must (should) start in St Jean. The only thing I find that mentions the village is the reason why people decided to start there (me included), maybe I'm missing something on this thread but I just don't see it.

[Covey]

The modern view of the Camino Frances is that it "starts" at St Jean. It has to start somewhere in France in order to be called the Camino Frances, but the name implies starting anywhere in France, including the ancient starting point of Paris.

I am not sure why the "modern" Camino Frances should cover some 760kms of the track in Spain and just 4kms in France but there it is. The Spanish side of the Camino Frances is well developed with a chain of albergues and a well marked and signposted track. The French side is far less developed, there are few "albergues" in which to stay, and the route markings in many places have long since disappeared.

Le Puy to St Jean is becoming more popular and there are more places to stay, but really the French side of the Camino from Paris to Le Puy is a matter of using small hotels and gites and is therefore much more expensive to walk.

I am in the camp of those who believe that their Camino can start anywhere. I used to live in Winchester, which was the ancient capital of England. On the edge of Winchester is a wonderful establishment called The Hospital of St Cross and Order of Noble Poverty and it is the oldest almshouse in the UK established by the King in the time of the Crusades to care for impoverished Knights returning from the Crusades.

By the main Gatehouse, is a scallop shell set in to the wall and a sign to Santiago because those from the UK who wished to pray at the tomb of St James in Santiago could obtain the "dole" which was bread and a jug of beer and shelter whilst walking to the nearby coast to catch a boat to Bordeaux and then walk to Santiago. The current English Camino or Camino Ingles runs from La Coruna, but originally the English pilgrims went to Bordeaux because that was where the UK-France wine trade took place and where there were ships.

A couple of years ago I met a girl who had walked from just outside Amsterdam. When I asked why, she told me that very near her parents house on the outskirts of Amsterdam was a sign pointing to Santiago. It had always fascinated her, so she decided to follow the sign to see what was at the end of the trail.

Where we start from is a personal choice, but we all tend to end up in the square in front of the Cathedral in Santiago.