We hope we are much better prepared for the Camino this time. Just as in 2022 we have done all of our own research, planning, bookings and travel arrangements. It will be just the two of us and of course no Camino tour group. Tour groups are great and several of our friends have walked the Camino using a tour group. For us the half the pilgrimage is the planning! That said, by coincidence 4 friends of ours will be embarking on their French Way Camino on September 26th. They will arrive in Santiago de Compostela the day before we do. We hope to meet them for dinner the evening we arrive.
Packing List
If you read our blog from the 2022 French Way you know we over-packed. Well… this time we hope we did not! Packing for this trip will be very similar to the 2022 French way (I mean same shoes, same backpacks etc.) The exceptions are we will not be taking rain pants, not taking our winter Northface 3 in 1 triclimate jackets, no hand winter hand gloves and no sleep underwear. See our packing list from 2022 here. Definitely no umbrella, no shoe gators, no mummy liners etc. We will take a lightweight REI raincoat and new rain ponchos found here. We hope this rain poncho will outperform all the others. BTW – (just our comment – do your own research) the Casa Ivar online store has been very good with product values and low shipping costs to the States.
Bag Forwarding
We will be using a bag forwarding service again. Last time we used JacoTrans and they were 100% reliable. Their website was very easy to use and payment was simple. For Portugal we didn’t see a JacoTrans option so we are going with Pilbeo. Pilbeo has good online reviews and their online customer service has been amazingly good. Since our itinerary is a bit non-traditional I sent them a message with our dates/locations and within a few hours I had a link to the budget and a printout for our “one” bag.
Lodging
For the (2022) French Way, 7 week journey, we always stayed in private rooms (except in Roncesvalles). Some of our private rooms where in albergues that had dorm style beds with a private room option. For us the privacy was a better option for unique needs. Do your own research but for a couple, a private room is a small cost up-charge. For this Camino we are following the same plan with the exception that some of the overnight locations are very nice! So for all of you albergue dorm room folks please don’t overreact to our Camino/our plan.
How We Plan
We did everything of course – no tour groups! We enjoy the planning “almost” as much as the Camino. For this Camino we watched lots of youtube videos, looked at dozens of google street views of the routes, and checked every lodging tripadvisor, google, booking.com review.
Importantly though we mapped out the route first. That is, start in Porto (Mastosinhos) and walk along the coast to Vila Praia Ancora (6 days with a rest day). Then we will turn inland to Vila Nova de Cerveira, up to Tui and on to Santiago de Compostela ( 9 days and 2 rest days). The walking days measure out to 138 miles with the typical day at 11 miles. We chose this route because of the stunning beauty, the lodging resources and the simpler elevation changes. How did we pick start/stop points? We used the Buen Camino app (again) and plugged in the route and depended on the between point destination mileages to pick comfortable start/stops. (BTW – this is a great app).
Getting to Camino starting points is definitely part of the journey. In 2022 it took us two days to get to St Jean Pied de Port. This year, Porto is easier but still – San Diego to Seattle, Seattle to Amsterdam, Amsterdam to Porto! We will take a rest day in Porto before starting out (highly recommended). Getting home will AVE train from Santiago de Compostela to Madrid (couple of days of Madrid tourist stuff) and then home.
What’s next?
Who knows for sure but in 2022 we enjoyed Semana Santa week in Spain very much. So maybe, just maybe – We go from Santiago de Compostela before Easter and walk the Camino Finisterre and then arrive back in Santiago de Compostela for Semana Santa. Easter is a bit late in 2025 so the weather might not be awful. So.. Maybe… 2025 ¡Buen Camino!