Hi I'll be walking a portion of the Camino from April 22nd to May 4th?

[Lostinohio]

Hi My name is Paul, 56 years old. I live in Ohio, USA. I'm flying to Barcelona on April 22nd and planning on somehow getting from there to St. Jean de Peid. I would like to walk the first day from there and then get a train or bus to Sarria and walk the rest of the way to Santiago. I have a few questions that maybe someone could help me with. How do I get from Barcelona to St. Jean? How do I get from Ronsesvalles to Sarria? How long should this walk take me at an average to leisurely pace? I would prefer staying in private rooms (shared bathroom i fine) I'm not looking for fancy, just a little sleep and privacy. Any suggestions or people traveling at the same time?

[HuskyNerd]

Hi Paul ~
You've chosen an interesting itinerary -- from a 30 day walk you're doing a day of the start and a week of the end! I'm a little sad for you that it won't work to walk the entire way . . . . . you'll be missing so much. Alas.

There are a number of ways to get from Barcelona to St Jean Pied de Port, but I think the easiest and least expensive would be to take the train (Renfe) to Pamplona and then catch a van (Express Bouricot) from there to SJPP.

I don't believe the Roncesvalles/Pamplona bus is running that time of year, so it'd likely be best for you to arrange for the van to pick you up and take you back to Pamplona, once you complete your day's walk across the Pyrenees. From Pamplona you can choose to catch a train to make your way across Navarre, La Rioja, and Castille y Leon to Sarria. The transfers will be at Vittoria/Gasteiz, Palencia, Leon, Ponferrada, and Monforte de Lemos. This is a complicated trip and may require an overnight in Monforte to accomplish, since the Sarria train is once each day and very early in the morning. You can also choose to use buses, which you can research through the Hacemos tu viaje en autobús más fácil - ALSA site with Lugo or Santiago as you hub city for Galicia (from either you can bus to Sarria on a separate line). It's much less time consuming to return to Barcelona. You can fly there via Madrid at low cost.

With a day to reach SJPP, a day to walk to Roncesvalles, 2 days to get to Sarria and 5 days to walk from Sarria to Santiago you're looking at around 9 days for the entire trip. You didn't ask this, but my own preference with 9 days would be to start at Leon and walk from there to Santiago. This gives a lot better feel of the camino and calls for less travel time aboard trains/buses/vans (you can pretty easily reach Leon from Barcelona by train via Madrid). The last 100 kms of the camino are not that wonderful, but the stretch from Leon to Sarria is beautiful.

To arrange your hotels you can either just show up at a nice looking establishment at the end of the day or you can consult a book like the Brierley guide where you can find brief descriptions and phone numbers for his recommendations. In April it won't be necessary to reserve ahead.

Buen camino!

[Lostinohio]

Thanks for your help Sandy. I wish I had the time to walk the entire Camino but I just can't manage that much time off from work. I love the idea of starting in St. Jean but what you say makes a lot of sense. I could always return and walk the parts I missed in the future. I'm going to look into following your advice. Again, I really appreciate your help.