Thread 2807672

How many of you have walked The Way of St James? What was it like?

>>2807672 (OP)
>How many of you have walked The Way of St James?
I did like ~8y ago

>finishing high school
>don't know what to do with my life
>girl i really like gets rejected from her dream uni, so nothing to do for half a year
>she's kinda religious
>so suggesting doing the Camino de Santiago starting near our home with me
>ff 3 weeks
>we're on a train to Trier (Germany)
>took ~150 days

my grandmother is super catholic
and sponsored me with like 5k€ kek

overall it's a cool hike on itself
but what makes it so special are the like minded people you meet along the way
the hundreds of churches and monasteries
and of course the historic / religious significance

if you're just in for the hiking path
the Spanish section (Camino Frances / del Norte) is definitely the most interesting one

>>2807706
>the like-minded people you meet along the way
Every time I hear a Camino walker say this, I can't help but think it's some kind of christian cult.

>>2807740
I think it's WASP thing, the Lycian Way is a much more interesting long distance trek

>>2807740
>can't help but think it's some kind of christian cult
i think you misunderstood this

there are plenty of non christians walking there, especially on the later parts / the closer you get to Santiago
i'm not very religious myself

and typically
after you finish it
you won't keep contact to most people

it's comparable to a mountain cabin weekend (not sure if Hüttenwochenende this is a thing outside of Germany)
it brings the people you hike with together, yet it's unassuming and casual

similar feeling to meeting someone backpacking, travel with them for a few weeks, them split up again
really difficult to describe if you never experienced it yourself

>>2807858
>the Lycian Way is a much more interesting long distance trek
purely from a hiking perspective
yes
there are plenty of other long distances hikes that are better in Europe

but the Camino de Santiago has a few advantages
>affordable, cheap beds and cheap food (doable on <25€/day)
>very good infrastructure, basically no need to organize anything outside of high season
>more people
last point obv can also be a disadvantage if you just want to hike alone
but if you don't, you won't find a similar situation anywhere else on earth

>>2807706
Great thanks for answering. Sounds like you had a great time. You said it was a pretty impromptu trip, did you have to train much for it ahead of time, or were you already fit? Is 150 days a slower pace than average or doesn't it really matter? I'm jealous though, going with a religious woman you're into sounds kino

>>2807927
>did you have to train much for it ahead of time
not really
we were both pretty sporty though (she did gymnastics and I played handball), also with 18yo you have quite a bit of capacity
so might be different for you

>Is 150 days a slower pace than average or doesn't it really matter?
it wasn't exactly leisurely but also not ambitious
around ~2200km in total and rarely over 25km/day with a few hundred meters elevation tops (except the Pyrenees)
we did rest for a day or two in some locations

other (older) travelers were usually the same speed as us
you mostly got "fixed" cities / locations you want to reach within a day
it's not exactly a physically exhausting hike
the mental part is difficult, just walking the whole time

the first 2 or 3 weeks were kinda hard because of this

>going with a religious woman you're into sounds kino
it absolutely was
we married 5y later (and still are)

Sleeping places are guaranteed?

>>2809193
You have albergues each town, both private and public.

>>2807672 (OP)
I haven't done the french way from st jean pied du port but I've done the Portuguese, primitivo, and camino del Salvador from Leon to Oviedo and it's without a doubt a worthy expensive.
Twice I did it with a friend and twice alone, lots of beautiful free spirited women on the trail, some deadbeats and plenty of boomers, my highlight was waking up to some dutch woman changing shirts and seeing her titties, also met a nice german woman and a Mexican bro that I walked with for a handful of days. Miss those times.

>>2807871
Sounds like it's an experience set apart from the consoomer-wagecuck-goycattle way of life that is becoming increasingly difficult to escape these days as a traveler. And thanks to the amenities along the way, you don't have to hump 20 kg of food, water and camping gear. Which makes walking 10x more enjoyable.

Instead of returning to Asia for a third season of socially isolated travelbumming, I'm starting to think I should go to Spain next February and walk the Camino.

I just finished a week ago, and already I deeply miss some of the people along the way. I still have a lot of time to kill now. Do you have any recommendations for things I can do next?

Is it still cool doing a shorter walk or are all the cool people and babes doing the norte and frances?
Are there also any notable towns to just hang around for a week or two to meet people passing thru? Or maybe just walking back and forth on a short section

>>2807672 (OP)
Looking at it, looks so beautiful, only seen it in video. The food looks so delicious and wholesome, the churches are so spiritual, the women are incredibly gorgeous babes, its what Christianity is supposed to be about.

was great, banged at least 4 spanish girls and three french girls and one girl from wisconsin, buen camino!

>>2809371
No you didnt

>>2809204
>You have albergues each town, both private and public
But I mean how do you know if they have space available?

>>2809213
Change continents, continue walking.

>>2809589
You're on foot, anon
You walk from door to door throughout the village inquiring about lodging, then retrace your steps and make your selection from the options which are available.

>>2809605
>>2809589
Or call them or text them on whatsapp. In general it wont be a problem. There were only two places I stayed at that didn't have a public albergue and i had to pay five euro extra for a private one
>>2809604
Now I have to go back to slop and wagie life

If you're a weeb then do the Shikoku pilgrimage instead.

>>2809589
What do you mean how do you know if they have space available? You either ask at the reception or check their number and call them like one normally does when trying to find a normal hotel?
Some of the albergues can even be booked through booking but I don't think a specific app just for albergues.

>>2809213
Gr11

>>2810184
I mean do you book them all beforehand and plan the distance u will walk every day ?

>>2810240
Some people do because they have a strict plan but I never booked an albergue since I walked whatever distance I felt like for the day(while still trying to accommodate it within a reasonable timeframe) but sometimes it costed me more money because the public albergues are much cheaper and fill up faster so I would end up needing to sleep on private ones.
I should also say that only applied to the primitivo because I've done it during high season and it joins with the french so there's a lot and I mean a lot of people on the camino.

Some people carry a tent and just sleep wherever and don't even bother with albergues or hotels.

>>2810251
Where do the tent sleepers shit?

>>2810254
Woods, coffee shops, restaurants, public restrooms

>>2810251
On the french way, that only happened to me or times where the public albergue filled out

Best time of the year to start on the Carmen SanDiego?

>>2807672 (OP)
Did the Portuguese route last September, was great. Did it in 6 days solo starting from Porto, just make sure you buy good shoes and it’s really easy to do. Most people who did it weren’t Christians and mostly just people who enjoyed backpacking. You have alburgues but they were annoying and uncomfortable for me, so I split hotels with some bimbos I met on the Camino. If you do want hotels, try to book them a day+ in advance since they do run out.

>>2810979
>albequeres annoying and uncomfortable
In what way? Would you say its similar to the downsides of hostels ? (Loud and smelly people)

>>2807672 (OP)
I walked Via De La Plata

Because it's less touristy and less gay.

It was really fun, I walked through the Spanish Extremadurra, Andalusia etc.

The French way is giga touristy and people ship their bags everywhere. It's gay, but enjoy if you're into that.

Here's a cool photo of a Red Kite (bird of prey) resting on a rock in the middle of the desert I took during the walk.

>>2813625
Holy based. Did you see many people doing it on bike?
VdlP was on my list when I was big into the Camino but never managed to actually do it and nowadays if I were to walk it would just start in Zamora and do the Sanabres instead.

Did you cross any gypsy encampments? Fuckers seem to be everywhere in Extremadura.

>>2813643
There's a lot of Spaniards on the bike (proportionally). Only 9000 people a year take Via De La Plata (as opposed to 300,000 on the French). But proportionally speaking, it probably has the highest number of bicyclists to walkers.

Keep in mind tho the route is UNWALKABLE, during the summer because the temperatures in the desert rise to 50 degrees celsius. Early Spring or Late Autumn are your best bets.

No I didn't see any gypsies.

I am at two minds of recommending it, because the reason it was so awesome is because there were so few people, so the more of you fuckers walk it the more lame it will become, but I think it's fairly inaccessible to the tourists, because you are forced to do 30-40km days sometimes, you can't ship your bags and the temperature is much more inhospitable than the other routes, so it deters tourists.

One of my favorite aspects is the fact that I never had to worry about Albergue, they were never full because of the low traffic, I did days as long as 50-60km arriving near 8pm and I still had available beds.

I did genuinely meet a lot of cool people, after arriving to Santiago and deciding to walk to Fisterra it dawned on me how touristy the commercial routes are.

I've heard good things about Primitivo, Inverno and North if you wanna walk a less commercial route. Avoid the French route especially the last 100km from Sierra, it's a zoomer/tiktok/instagram influncer infested hellhole.

>>2813650
I'd love to share more, but I don't wanna dox myself, it was nice though, really wonderful 2 months of my life. I'm mostly memeing by the way, I'm sure Camino Frances is not too bad, but it is busy, you won't get a lot of peace and quiet while walking, where as the less trafficked routes will offer both the ability to be alone in nature and socialize in the Albergue (if you wish to).

Ohh and the locals are fed up with "pilgrims" on the more popular routes, where as on the less trafficked ones you will be treated pretty well.

>>2813650
Cool trip bro.

I've posted earlier on the thread and I've already done the primitivo, epilogue to Muxia, Portuguese and San Salvador from Leon to Oviedo and not new to 50km days that's why VdlP was on my list, I'm fairly familiar with high temperatures too.

And I understand what you mean by commercial, when I finished the primitivo there were so much people from the french waiting for the pilgrim's certificate that I couldn't even be bother with it. More than anything else the camino for me was just an easy way to be away from home and enjoy my days walking.

>>2813666
Yea then VdlP is perfect for you, there's also a lot of history in cities like Salamanca, Merida, Zamora etc.

The final stretch through Sanabres is also gorgeous, don't fuck up and take the way up Astorga because it combines with Frances

>>2813670
Every major city on Via De La Plata is gorgeous, except Ourense, Ourense sucks dick.

Really enjoyed Salamanca, definitely worth staying an extra day.

>>2807672 (OP)
I did the french route starting in st jean.
It was filled with annoying tourist normies and I much do like my solitude

>>2813674
I mean what did you expect, almost a third of a million people walk it a year.

VldLP is walked by 9,000 a year

>>2813625

And Primitivo/North are walked by 20,000 a year.

Use your brain next time no offense.

>>2811146
>smelly people
Fuckkk. I bet this is an even bigger problem than it normally is in hostels because everyone is walking for hours a day and trying to travel light, so they wear the same dirty socks and shirts for several days in a row.
>>2807672 (OP)
BIG THANKS to OP for posting a trail map at the top of the thread. It makes the thread much easier to understand.
>>2813674
Being forced to share accomodations with annoying normies is a bigger hangup for me than pedestrian traffic on a trail. You can always step out and let a group get ahead of you, or speed up and pass them by.

>on a travel board
>meant for travel and exploration
>reeeeee im not going to interact with filthy normies
At this point just find a place in the world you find pretty and walk it

Undesirable

>>2813807
I mean you can travel and avoid normies. It just depends on what you are doing

>>2813807
Why do you pretend like travel requires being a chatty Kathy with every rando you encounter? It does not. I've found Asia more enjoyable because to Asians I am an alien with an alien appearance, alien behavior and alien mannerisms. In a strange way, they accept me as I am, different from everyone else. Other races always regard me as an ordinary human, and react strangely when I fall afoul of their expectations.