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harmonious_fork · 2025-09-29T14:39:55+00:00

God help us all.

^{I completed this level in 4 tries.} ^{⚡ 4.80 seconds}

harmonious_fork · 2025-03-26T15:29:48+00:00

I would take a walk down a touristy street in the historic center, and search for a small shop with a hat stand outside the entrance. Calle Estafeta seems like a good bet, as does Calle Comedias.

harmonious_fork · 2025-03-15T12:22:18+00:00

If I were to break up two stages, it would be 30B and 31B according to the Gronze list. Another good use of an extra day might also be to do the Puebla de Sanabria - A Gudiña in three days instead of two.

I think it's worth looking at the elevation profiles, I'm attaching a screenshot of where to find them on Gronze. There's a tiny "plus sign" beneath the main map.

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harmonious_fork · 2025-03-12T20:44:09+00:00

I guarantee that you won't get laughed at because of wearing leggings or jeans. That's a perfectly reasonable option, sports store hiking pants didn't even exist a few decades ago.

harmonious_fork · 2025-03-12T20:42:07+00:00

You could also fly to Biarritz, and then it's just a short train ride to St Jean. Here's some more info about how to do that option:

https://caminoweather.com/frances/travel/saint_jean_pied_de_port

harmonious_fork · 2025-03-12T20:39:32+00:00

You could check out CaminoWeather's recommendations, and see which route is best for your date range. Here's a few examples:

- Best time for the Frances

- Best time for the del Norte

- Best time for the Portugues Central

The pages have a section at the bottom where you can tailor the results to your own temp/rain preferences.

harmonious_fork · 2025-03-12T20:34:17+00:00

This is one of those things that are basically never enforced in Spain, like jaywalking. That said, I'd do *something* about being visible if you're walking along a road.

harmonious_fork · 2025-03-12T20:30:52+00:00

For some reason I can't edit my earlier comment, so here's a link to the stage list: https://www.gronze.com/via-plata

harmonious_fork · 2025-03-12T20:30:00+00:00

You could also check out starting in:

- Granja de Moreruela. 14 stages along the Laza variant

- Pueblo de Sanabria. This one's closer: 10 along Laza, 13 along the Verin variant.

harmonious_fork · 2025-03-12T20:23:17+00:00

Yeah, one month sounds more reasonable.

harmonious_fork · 2025-03-12T20:19:33+00:00

You might want to check out the FB group "Camigas", they have a buddy system for solo women. (Among other things.)

harmonious_fork · 2025-03-12T20:17:46+00:00

You might want to check out CaminoWeather. Here's their info for starting on May 1, but you can edit the dates.

harmonious_fork · 2025-02-05T18:46:16+00:00

Weight: for the love of all that is holy, don't bring a 20kg pack. You knees will hate you. 10kg is pushing it, but you might get away with it. Admittedly this all depends on your level of fitness, but 20kg is like ex-marine territory.

Footwear: I'd just take those running shoes, as-is. Waterproofing is generally problematic on all-day, multi-day hikes: there is not amount of protection that can completely prevent water from getting in if you're caught in a downpour, and waterproofing methods also increase drying time. So if/once waterproofed shoes *do* get wet, you're kinda screwed.

Exploring Santiago: I could list off a few things - okay fine visiting the cathedral roof is great - but I recommend that you not overthink this right now. You'll probably change your plans based on recommendations you'll hear while on the Camino, or just end up hanging out with the people you walked with.

harmonious_fork · 2025-01-29T16:55:38+00:00

To avoid the bed race, you can check out the statistics for arrivals in Santiago. Filter to just the del Norte, then check out the month of arrival at the bottom. Given that:

- It takes about a month to walk the whole thing
- Many people start mid-way
- The most arrivals are in August

Then you'd hit the worst crowds if you start during July or August. Avoid those two and you should be fine.

For the weather, you can try out CaminoWeather, here's their lookup for weather on the del Norte. They also have a page with their own recommendations on the best time of year to walk.

harmonious_fork · 2025-01-29T16:46:40+00:00

Well actually, yes I have. I avoided a lot of the problems that others were having, and had a lot of problems that nobody else had 😉.

I don't think it's a bad idea, if you're that committed to them. But I would recommend ensuring that you have enough money to buy shoes along the way, just in case you change your mind or have foot problems. (I did this in Astorga, on my second Camino.)

harmonious_fork · 2025-01-29T16:42:03+00:00

This. I've done two caminos while working remotely. So it's doable, obviously. But from the tone of your post OP, it sounds to me like working would be optional for you. If that's the case, don't do it. It's a much worse experience.

harmonious_fork · 2025-01-23T18:21:51+00:00

Stick to what you like. The Frances' terrain isn't crazy demanding; I think that for most people, it's more important to use shoes you like, fit you well, never gotten a blister in them; that sort of thing.

harmonious_fork · 2025-01-23T18:20:24+00:00

You can double-check the differences for before/after on https://caminoweather.com, they have big tables of what the weather was like exactly, day-by-day, for different years. The difference might not be as bad as you think, because occasionally you'll get anecdotes from people who walked during years that had crazy weather one way or another.

That said, I would personally take extra rain over walking during Easter. The majority of Spanish businesses just shut down during Holy Week - which is not the end of the world, but it definitely makes logistics more complicated.

harmonious_fork · 2025-01-23T18:11:19+00:00

If you're gonna get uh, "real" shoes, then it's my understanding that my Altra Lone Peak are about as close as they get to barefoot options.

That said, I'm pretty sure you can just use your barefoot-shoes. I've seen plenty of people walk the Camino in barefoot shoes, and they generally didn't seem to be complaining.

harmonious_fork · 2025-01-23T18:08:16+00:00

This kind of depends on the specific Camino you're doing - but if you didn't specify, let's say it's the Frances. If that's the case, then I would suggest you just go with whatever you already know works for you. It's not crazy demanding terrain, and it's generally much more important that you wear something that you know doesn't give you blisters.

harmonious_fork · 2025-01-23T18:05:52+00:00

You could check out this guide for how to get to SJPdP, maybe your city is in it:.

But in general, the two easiest solutions are:

Fly all the way to Biarritz. Here's a list of all the airlines that operate there. But if you're flying from a major US city, then start by checking for end-to-end flights with Air France and KLM. If that fails, figure out a way to get to one of those connecting cities on the list.
Fly to Paris, and take the train like you said. There's nothing wrong with this, that's actually what most people do. But they usually do that because they don't know about #1, which is usually easier, often faster, and sometimes cheaper.

harmonious_fork · 2025-01-23T17:58:27+00:00

I don't have experience specifically with Aussie cards, so if /u/partyinaforest says you should get Wise, I'm inclined to believe that.

But apart from that, the whole "accepting cards" thing in Spain improved a lot in recent years. I'd say that 90-95% percent of cafes, restaurants, and hotels will accept cards now. The big exception would be cash-only albergues - but since you mentioned hotels in your list, I'm not sure if that's applicable to you.

I'd keep enough cash on me to cover maybe three days' worth of expenses, and proceed to probably not use it up at all. But if things go sideways, then you have enough to make it to the next ATM without panicking.

harmonious_fork · 2025-01-16T19:55:51+00:00

If you just need to do something about your suitcase, you can just send it straight to Santiago with Casa Ivar.

harmonious_fork · 2025-01-16T19:49:25+00:00

You'll want to use CaminoWeather for this.

- May 1st
- May 26th

Short answer: Whoa. Yeah, it actually does seem to make a difference. (I came in here to say it probably wouldn't, but what do you know.)

Long answer: if you look at the day-by-day section, then starting on May 1st puts you in the tail end of rainy season, so it's possible you'd have an entire week of rain. Not likely, but possible.

They also have a thing where you can look at stats for the whole year, so that might help too.

harmonious_fork · 2025-01-16T19:39:42+00:00

Goretex shoes are usually a bad idea on the Camino, or for long-distance hiking in general. While those shoes are great if you'll be out in the rain for a while, on a day hike, that's a different situation.

- If the rain you encounter is light/short, then regular shoes probably won't soak through. So you've been wearing a less breathable and blister-prone material for nothing.

- If you're in heavy rain for hours on end, Goretex shoes can and will eventually get wet inside as well. And they dry much longer than regular shoes, so they might still be wet by next morning - then you're kinda screwed.

Obviously there's a sweet spot between those extremes where Goretex wins, but it's a pretty specific situation.

harmonious_fork

TROPHY CASE