Reddit reviews A Pilgrim's Guide to the Camino de Santiago: St. Jean • Roncesvalles • Santiago (Camino Guides)

Hi Mattoy,

Yea I would love to share.

First off, the trip was amazing and life changing. We found out about it from watching Martin Sheen pretend to do it in the "The Way". I remember watching this movie and turned to my girlfriend and said "We will be doing this within a year." She laughed at me, said I was crazy and that she had a PHD to finish and start a job.

Fast forward to August, she finished up her graduate school, I proposed, and off we went. We had done the research, gotten the guidebook and went off.

We started in St Jean and ended up in Santiago in 32 days.

Things we struggled with:

1. Finding a place to say. I would say in about 40% of the cases the first alburge we tried to get in to was full. As Mattoy mentioned you can only reserve a spot in the alburge if it is private. I guess the thing that bothered me was I didn't want to call ahead. I never not know where I am sleeping at night and really loved the fact that it wasn't set in stone. Additionally, there were days where my fiance' couldn't continue so if we had made that reservation we would never had made it.
   
   2. This is a little dirty and not a huge deal but there is shit everywhere. You are walking through rural spain with livestock all over the place. As a result, fecal matter is all over the place. As a result, people who weren't careful with washing their hands got gastro. Not the end of the world, but also not pleasant.
   
   Things I Loved
   
   
2. The people. You will meet some of the coolest people on the trip. You will here so many fascinating stories and realize just how truly different and awesome some people are. I got to meet a monk on the trip. Enjoying a dinner with her was one of the highlights of the trip.
   
   2. Wine!!! Wine is super cheap and you have a bottle with every meal almost. My fiance' and I had Sangria or wine at every meal and it was really really nice. The beer is also super cheap and good.
   
   3. The scenery. There are obviously some parts that aren't that great but over all WOW!!! The walk is amazing for the scenary and things you get to see.
   
   4. I was able to get away and just focus on me, my relationship with God, and my future with my soon to be wife (June 7th!). I haven't been away that long without calling anyone from home or anything.
   
   What I gained
   I gained an immense understanding of myself. I also was able to relax, disconnect and focus intrisically on me and what I am doing. You have so much free time while you're walking to just reflect. A few times I just put on the headphones, blasted the music and started walking.....amazing time.
   
   
   The Camino is what you make it and what you put in is what you get out of it. I met some people who were so determined to get to a certain place the quickest, or had to meet their planned out schedule and as a result, they didn't have time to focus on themselves they had to get their day done. An example, we stopped for lunch and were having a beer and some people we were friendly with came up. We asked them to join us but they were too far behind "their schedule" to stop. I feel like you're missing the point of the Camino if that is your thought.
   
   
   tl;dr - buy a sim card and make your reservation in the morning for the Alburgue you plan to sleep in at night, bring ear plugs, and don't feel like you are chained to your schedule.
   
   
   
   

Hey!

I walked the French Way in November and a part of December. I walked from the 12 November til the 5 of December. I started in Leon however (had to be home by Christmas).

And I loved it. So few people on the road, it is amazing. You keep running/walking into the same people.

Clothing: I wore leggings together with a pair of pants, but in the end I just wore leggings with rain pants over them. They are also easier to clean when you get mud on them. Then I wore a merino wool long sleeve t-shirt and a fleece vest and also a waterproof coat (it was a coat for sailing so it was warm too). I bought all these things at Decathlon. My shoes turned out to be waterproof, but most Albergues have newspapers laying around to stuff in your shoes when they are wet. I didn't really have that many cold days, some days I just walked in my long sleeved shirt. The rain was something else. When it rained, it poured!

Paths: The paths were still safe (Keep in mind, that I can only talk about the French Way starting in Leon). The only thing that wasn't safe was going up to O'Cebreiro when it rained, it is a pretty steep climb. I was lucky that it was a sunny day when I walked, but I talked to some people who did it in the rain and slipped a few times. Sometimes, due to the rain, when you go downhill, the rocks can get slippery too, but if you go nice and slow, you'll be fine. I had the Brierley book with me, I checked it religiously, but thinking back now, I didn't really need it, except from when I was in a town to look for an Albergue.

Albergues: Like u/chookkyy said, a lot of the Albergues will be closed. But there is this awesome site, Gronze. Here you can look up the Albergues on the Way and check if they're open. Really a life-saver. I checked before I went and I didn't once stood in front of a closed Albergue.

I don't really know how much I spent, but not much. I tried to stay under 25 euro a day. I highly suggest to go for the Pilgrim's menu when you have to eat. You get a 3-course meal with a drink and you get a lot of food. Most of the times it was 10 euro. I did it really cheaply. I always chose the cheapest Albergues, except for when I was in Santiago.

You said you would like your own room at the end, but it you're lucky, it could happen on the Way too! One of my Camino friends slept all alone in some Albergues. She had the Albergue all for herself. She did, however, always stop in small towns, not in big cities. Sometimes she was even asked to close up in the morning.

I slept in one Albergue with donation and I paid 5 euro there.

Feel free to PM me when you have anymore questions! I'd love to help!

Buen Camino