A few days after we finished our 38 day trek on the Camino de Santiago French Way, we had a 3 hour train ride to Barcelona with no Wifi, so decided that was a good time to try to get down all the random thoughts we have about the hike now that it’s all over and done with. So here’s a quick rambling of all of our post-Camino thoughts in no particular order.
First off, it just feels weird that it’s over. Like, poof! That thing we’ve been talking about doing for the past 9 years is done. Looking back though photos from 7 weeks ago when we started in St. Jean Pied de Port, I can’t really tell you if it feels like just yesterday or forever ago.
I think when you decide to take on a trip/hike/adventure that covers a span of weeks or months instead of days, you encounter a type of mental time warp. Our whole trip actually started a few weeks before the Camino by cruising to Alaska, spending time in Anchorage, exploring Dublin, London and then Paris. So when we get home we will have been gone a total of 9 weeks.
Summer has turned to fall, school is back in session, the Minnesota State Fair has come and gone and by time we get home, all the leaves will have fallen off the trees. Not that I’m complaining since it will be the right weather to indulge in fall flavored coffee drinks…..
Having the ability to spend extended periods of time in a different country can be hard but also exciting. Whether you fall in love with exploring a new country or not, the experience opens the mind to the many different ways people live their lives. We are both very excited and happy that we were fortunate enough to have been able to do the entire Camino de Santiago French Way route in one trip. But we are also kind of glad it’s over and we can get back to the many modern conveniences we take for granted. Like stores and restaurants that don’t close for the afternoon, clothes washers AND dryers, free ice water at restaurants and our own comfy beds and pillows!
We made the decision to not spend the money on an international roaming plan or getting a local SIM card and just work off of Wi-Fi since many places along the Camino said they offered it. Unfortunately, in nearly every hostel and bar we stopped at, the connection was often slow or non-existent. Looking back, I think if we were to do it again, we would have to choose to spend the money on a SIM card or international plan.
We spoke with many people along the way and only 1-2 were like me (Kris) and chose to carry the weight of a laptop along while they hike. Keeping your pack weight to a minimum is key when you are hiking 15-30km a day, every day. But I wanted to be able to stay connected to my clients and put in a few hours here and there.
Even with the frustrating Wi-Fi connections, I would absolutely pack it again if we were to do another hike. Especially since we often finished our daily hike between 2-3pm which was during siesta time and most restaurants/businesses were closed until dinner time. Dinner time being 7pm or later. Most days we would use this time to get settled, shower, explore the village and check in on my business.
Physically, I think we faired pretty well compared to all the horror stories you hear from other hikers of never-ending blisters, black toenails, bad knees and twisted ankles. We did have to take a few extra rest days due to shin splints (twice for me and once for Mark) and I did have a bit of heat rash I had to cool each day during the first few weeks, but no blisters, joint or major back issues to report.
We were fortunate enough to have found packs, shoes and socks that didn’t cause us any issues. We spent plenty of time hiking around in them before we left home so we were pretty confident that we wouldn’t have any issues or hot spots. Granted I don’t think you can ever truly know how your body and gear will respond to that many consecutive days of use until you are out their doing it.
Our original plan was to finish the Camino de Santiago French Way in 35 days, buffering in 5 days for additional hiking and 4 days in Barcelona before we had to catch our cruise home. Those buffer days came in handy! We didn’t feel rushed and it wasn’t stressful for us to stop and add in some extra rest along the way when we needed it. In all 3 cases of shin splints, we were able to take a break, book extra nights where we were and heal up. Had we put ourselves on a tighter schedule without those buffer days, I think we would have tried to push ourselves through our injuries and potentially spent more days in pain or worse, have to abandon the hike.
I’m happy that we had great weather for nearly the entire hike. Although it was much hotter than I expected. We were both hoping to wear some of our shirts/shorts 2x before having to wash them but at the end of nearly every day, we were soaked with sweat. On the flip side, we also had a few days up in the higher elevations where the mornings were very cold. We didn’t really pack much in terms of cold weather gear so we ended up buying hats, gloves and fleece layers along the way.
Considering we only needed warmer layers for a few days, I’m glad we just bought them when we needed them. I wouldn’t want to have carried it all the way since the beginning. Clothing was really inexpensive. I got a hat and gloves in Leon for about 7.50 euro and we both got fleece tops at a Decathlon in Ponferrada for about 8.00 euro each. We ended up keeping them but for those prices, I felt like if they became too much to continue to carry, we could leave them behind somewhere and not feel too guilty about it.
The scenery though the Pyrenees was stunning and better than expected. The middle section through the Meseta was monotonous and mentally challenging at times. Lots of long, boring, flat sections. The final section approaching and going through Galicia became much more beautiful again. And we almost kissed the ground when the trails became nicely groomed right at the border crossing into Galicia. We usually love the more technical trails and having to navigate rocky trails but after a few days of doing it while carrying packs, we started loving every section of flat trail we encountered.
Food was a little tougher than we expected as well. I guess we didn’t realize how much we are used to having an array of options for meals back home. Specifically, breakfast. At home we are used to having cafes and coffee shops open around 5-6am during the week and choices ranging from eggs to pancakes, cereal, bacon, sausage, fruit, oatmeal, yogurt, sugary pastries, breakfast sandwiches, bagels, and more. And coffee comes in 8-20 oz as flavored mochas, lattes, hot or over ice with any number of flavoring options.
On the Camino we started pretty much every day with toast and jam, a small americano, café con leche or cappuccino and maybe an orange juice. No breakfast restaurants or coffee shops open in the early mornings. Some villages would have bars (restaurants) open mid-morning and you could stop for more of the same or get a Spanish tortilla – a type of egg bake with just potatoes in it) It got to the point we nearly skipped breakfast as we were craving ANYTHING but crusty bread and jam. But we were always so hungry we ate it anyway.
Would we do it again? Yes but not the same route. We don’t usually visit the same place twice, simply because we are always trying to see something new. In the case of the Camino de Santiago (and I would assume any thru-hiking type adventure) you’re never going to have the same experience twice. We’d stay in different places, hike in a different season and encounter completely different weather. All which would make the exact same trip, a completely different journey.
But, neither of us have any pull to do the French Route, Camino Frances, again. We have discussed many times coming back to do another trail though. Specifically the Camino del Norte. Norte follows the northern coast of Spain where you can see the ocean and experience more of the coastal terrain. It’s a longer trail but we both feel it would be much more exciting to get to take on that experience.
I couldn’t believe how much we found ourselves missing just seeing water. ANY water. Through central Spain there is almost no rivers or lakes. We didn’t really think much about that when we left home. Home being Minnesota, land of 10,000 lakes where it feels like you can’t walk 10 miles and not run into some type of body of water.
Have you done any of the Camino trails? Would you do the same one again? Tell us in the comments!
