Thread 2833344

36 y/o canadian, never traveled abroad except one trip to the Caribbean as a teenager.

I was thinking of doing one of the camino walks in spain, or potentially another long walk elsewhere in europe. kind of curious what the experience was like for other anons, most speak highly of it in the archives. what's the best time to do that? spring seems logical as it's not too hot, though I do fine in hot weather.

>>2833344 (OP)
You'd be sick of waking after two days

Bumping this thread, I was considering doing this walk when I leave the EU for good in March

>>2833358
Probably true, but I'm having something of a midlife crisis so I think it'll be good for me. That being said, since I'm new to travel and likely going solo I was considering the primitivo walk, which takes about 2 weeks.

>>2833344 (OP)
Heard nothing but amazing things. Jump in and do it. Apparently it's one huge party with plenty of talent on the route to flirt and get lucky with.

>>2833410
>tfw you're the only guy in the alberge not paired up with a qt3.14

do people actually fuck on this hike?

>>2833358
What's stopping you from walking a reasonable distance, like 15 km in a day?
>>2833344 (OP)
Yeah, what's it like for a socially repellent 4chan autist, for instance? Normies always brag about it, but elsewhere you hear about how hostile the Iberian Peninsula is toward foreign tourists these days.

>>2833483
>"If you have a tent, you can fuck anywhere," he thought.

>>2833489
seem like a lot of extra luggage to carry...isnt the point to stick around town, drink, socalize in albergue?

>>2833344 (OP)
I walked SJPdP to SdC last year, AMA.

Started in SJPdP late February, I wanted to avoid heat and people. I kept a thread updated in /fit/ while doing it. I was a fat fuck with zero exercise. It took me at first 2 days to walk each 'phase' but by the end I was flying, took about 8 weeks. Lost weight, met some good people, don't understand how so many things are closed randomly, had fun.

I'd recommend it to anyone thinking about it. I'm not religious but it was a great time and easy to follow.

>>2833483
>do thousands of young people away from home fuck?

>>2833344 (OP)
hey, im actually a local from galicia and i live in one of the towns that you go through to do the Southern way (portugal route), AMA
>>2833358
Really depends on how much you hurry and how fast you wanna do it, but its tons of walking if you want a good pace for sure
Also keep in mind that galicia is one of the rainiest places in europe despite being in Spain.

Unless you go in summer, which has been pretty dry the past few years, rain is guaranteed. Much of the route will look like picrel in galicia btw

>>2833344 (OP)
Did it in 2016 with a few friends, we started from Leon since we only had a few weeks vacation during Semana Santa. Walked about 20km a day, stopping at nice cafes and restaurants. The free Catholic hostels are often like a military barracks - try to stay in a hotel if there's one available. You have to visit those hostels in any case to get stamps on your libro de peregrinacion so that you can then get the certificate in Santiago.
Met a Hungarian milf along the way, banged her every night. Good times

>>2834110
to what extent should I know spanish? right now, I know zero, but i would want to impose my monolingual retardation as little as possible on them. do all galacians also speak spanish?

I was considering the camino primitivo as well since it's shorter and probably more realistic in terms of time. Have you done the routes yourself? If so, what do you recommend? What impression do locals have of the tourists/pilgrims? Do they think or know anything about canada?

>>2834141
i would assume most of the route and hospedation has english speakers working there
be careful for tourist trap prices on some of the villages and towns on the route tho, people know these are full of pilgrims and sometimes jack up the prices, some of these places are built around pilgrim tourism

Regular cafe/pub prices for locals in the region:
>Coffee: 1,00-1,50€ unless you go for something fancy
>soda/beer: 1,50-2,50€
>affordable lunch (Menu del día): 8-16€

Also in Spain you will usually get a free snack with your drink or coffee, usually something sweet with coffee and something savoury with a soda/beer. Some places give pretty amazing small tapas from just getting a single beer while others may just give you like 3 olives or nothing at all, it varies wildly

>>2834141
>do all galacians also speak spanish?
Yes but a few always respond in galician regardless just because they're so used to speaking galician even if they fully understand spanish. Theres more people speaking galician in rural areas and among the old, while younger people and urbanites have less galician speakers
>Have you done the routes yourself?
never but i know many people who did
>If so, what do you recommend?
never looked into the different routes...
>What impression do locals have of the tourists/pilgrims?
they dont think much of them. Some might be mildly annoyed when theres no spots at restaurants during peak season but ive never heard people legitimatelly hating on pilgrims. I would assume most people like that foreigners find value on our little corner of Spain, i do personally
>Do they think or know anything about canada?
Not much other than "they speak french right"
Most of the times ive heard canada brought up in conversation people assume the whole country speaks both english and french or something, no clue what Quebec is


Some useful phrases in spanish
- Thank you/TYSM - Gracias/Muchas gracias
- Sorry/Pardon me - Perdón/Disculpa
- Hello/Goodbye - Hola/Adios
- How do i go to [place]? - ¿Como voy a [place]?
- Where is [thing]? - ¿Donde esta [thing]?

the vowels always make the same phonetic sound in spanish, other than in the cases of "que/qui" and "gue/gui", where the U is skipped entirely

The H at the start of words behind a vowel is silent so instead of pronouncing "Hotel" you must pronounce "Otel". And of course "Hola" is pronounced "ola". The J sound in Spanish ALWAYS makes what you'd call a "strong H" sound in english tho, so "Jamon" is more or less pronounced "Hamon" with a very strong, audible H

"Ge" and "gi" make the same strong H sound
"Ga-Go-Gu" are the same as english G in "gallows" or "seagull"

>>2834062
>don't understand how so many things are closed randomly, had fun
what do you mean by this?

What is the terrain like? is it mountaineous or a lot of flat walking I would love to walk the whole trail but I would be scared off by high altitudes. Also how would it be walking it from March?
How long does it take to walk the whole thing at a normies/bit fitter then a normie pace

>>2834175
a book i bought says it can be done in 4 weeks but i think 6 weeks is common. 8 if your'e fat or old or a woman

>>2833364
I just did the Primitivo, anon. It was great. But you obviously have to enjoy walking, a little solitude, be in decent shape. The people you meet are the factor that makes or breaks your Camino. I met tons of cool people. Knowing basic Spanish made it much more enjoyable.

>>2834175
>What is the terrain like? is it mountaineous or a lot of flat walking
tons of old mountains (geologically speaking) in galicia, so these are not pointy young mountains but rounder ones eroded by millions of years. Still, theres tons of them. Spain is mostly the same except theres some big elevated plains (known as "mesetas") in inner spain

>>2834233
how good was your spanish? what resources did you use to learn?

how busy is the primitivo? I'm not a social guy by nature, but I was sort of looking forward to getting on with new people in a new country.

>>2834233
What kind of physical preparation is needed for the primitivo? Everyone says its quite hard, especially the first week.