Today we are sleeping in as we prepare to begin walking our Camino, leaving from Leon, Spain, tomorrow morning. I don’t know what we will find to eat today in Leon, but if we can’t find anything inspiring we know of a fine little Mexican restaurant called King Kong near the Cathedral.
On our 2017 Camino, the first real meal that we ate on the Way was a Pilgrim’s dinner in a small restaurant in Saint-Jean-Pied-de-Port the night before we started walking. We didn’t know it at the time, but the meal was the classic Poulet a la Basque or Basque Chicken. It was so tender, piquant, salty, and oh-so-good that I had to figure out the recipe. On my birthday later that year, Michelle bought me Yosmar Martinez’s Tastes of the Camino Cookbook. The first recipe is for Basque Chicken. Her recipe is not exactly like the one we had in SJPdP, but it gave me a jumping off point. So with Yosmar’s forgiveness for “borrowing” parts of her recipe, here is my version of Basque chicken. This version will serve 2-3 people.
Begin by seasoning one and a half pounds of boneless skinless chicken thighs with salt and pepper and browning it in a pan with olive oil. It does not need to be cooked through. Set the chicken aside.
Add sliced onion, red and yellow pepper, four cloves of minced garlic, and a cup of petite diced tomatoes to the pan and cook until everything is softened, about ten minutes.
Add half a cup of dry white wine and cover to simmer on low for thirty minutes. Taste the sauce and season with additional salt and pepper if needed but be careful to not make the dish salty due to the garnish later. Also, a small amount of sugar may be added if the tomatoes are particularly acidic. Add the chicken back in and continue to simmer on low for an additional 20 minutes or until the chicken is cooked through and slightly falling apart.
During the simmer, prepare the potatoes. Preheat the oven to 400º and cut fingerling potatoes in halves or quarters depending on size. Toss them in some olive oil and salt and place them in a roasting pan or cookie sheet. Roast for fifteen minutes, tossing several times to make sure they get browned evenly.
Meanwhile, for the garnish, cut four ounces of Serrano ham (I used Prosciutto) into thin strips and cook over medium-high heat in a skillet. There is no need to add oil as the ham will render some fat quickly. Cook until the strips begin to brown and get crispy. Roughly chop some flat leaf parsley for additional garnish. Don’t skip this, the green brightens the final dish and lightens the flavor too.
Spoon the sauce into a large serving bowl and place the chicken on top. Garnish with the ham strips and parsley. Serve the potatoes on the side. Don’t forget the white wine!
Basque Chicken with Roasted Potatoes
1-1/2 pounds of boneless skinless chicken thighs
4 T olive oil, divided
1 large onion sliced
4 cloves of minced garlic
1 red and 1 yellow bell pepper, sliced
1 c petite diced tomatoes
1/2 c dry white wine
4 oz Serrano ham
2 sprigs flat leaf parsley
1 pound of fingerling potatoes
optional sugar
salt and pepper to taste
Begin by seasoning the chicken thighs with salt and pepper and browning it in a pan with half of the olive oil. It does not need to be cooked through. Set the chicken aside.
Add onion, red and yellow pepper, minced garlic, and diced tomatoes to the pan and cook until everything is softened, about ten minutes.
Add wine and cover to simmer on low for thirty minutes. Taste the sauce and season with additional salt and pepper if needed but be careful to not make the dish salty due to the garnish later. Also, a small amount of sugar may be added if the tomatoes are particularly acidic. Add the chicken back in and continue to simmer on low for an additional 20 minutes or until the chicken is cooked through and slightly falling apart.
During the simmer, prepare the potatoes. Preheat the oven to 400º and cut potatoes in halves or quarters depending on size. Toss them in the remaining olive oil and salt and place them in a roasting pan or cookie sheet. Roast for 15 minutes, tossing several times to make sure they get browned evenly.
Meanwhile, for the garnish, cut the ham (I used Prosciutto) into thin strips and cook over medium-high heat in a skillet. There is no need to add oil as the ham will render some fat quickly. Cook until the strips begin to brown and get crispy. Roughly chop some flat leaf parsley for additional garnish.
Spoon the sauce into a large serving bowl and place the chicken on top. Garnish with the ham strips and parsley. Serve the potatoes on the side.
On a side note…
We hope you enjoy following us along our journey across Spain and Portugal in the coming weeks. Hit subscribe for up to date blog posts, and make sure that you check out our Instagram feed for real-time, up to the minute posts along the Way. Our goal is to post on Instagram daily, and YouTube and blog at least once a week. Thanks for coming on this adventure with us! Our July recipe will be for Tarta de Santiago, an almond cake that is popular across Spain but especially in Galicia. Buen Camino!
Traveling – it leaves you speechless, then turns you into a storyteller.
Ibn Battuta, Travels of Ibn Battuta
We have been planning for over a year, had a multitude of setbacks, a lot of excitement, and a huge set of nerves as we take on our biggest adventure ever! We hope we’re ready, we pray the weather is kind to us, and we want to bring all of you along! During June and July, we will be hiking about 722 miles or 1162 kilometers. We will hike part of the Camino Frances from León to Santiago, then we will hike all of the Caminho Portugués from Lisbon to Santiago. We will then conclude with the Camino Finisterre from Santiago to Muxia to Finisterre and back to Santiago.
There are so many paths to take when you are planning a Camino, it’s hard to pick a route. Just look at the maps below – that is just the routes in Spain, Portugal, and a bit of what is in France. We wanted something new and a bit of what we have done before to reminisce on our favorite parts. Last time we walked all of the Camino Frances and then from Santiago to Finisterre, so much of what we will be doing this time will be new.
There are Camino routes throughout Europe and we want to walk so many of them! It’s like a bug that has lovingly bitten us hard. When we travel in the US, our goals have been to visit every state and every national park and we are getting very close to reaching those two goals. Therefore, we are coming up with new travel goals, and though we may not walk every Camino path, but we are sure going to have fun picking a new route each time we travel to Europe.
I sometimes envy those who don’t plan or train at all for their Camino pilgrimage. When it comes to a quick weekend getaway, we usually don’t have a plan. If we are going away for a week’s vacation, we have a rough idea of “things to do” but nothing too rigid. However, in both cases, we know where we are sleeping each night, which in turn is all we know about our Camino. Honestly, we don’t even know if we will walk or bus/taxi to our destination village every night. We plan to walk, we hope to walk, but sometimes life says, “today you aren’t going to walk.” We are flexible. We know from our Camino 2017 that sometimes you just have to taxi/bus to your destination. We ended up taking a bus/taxi 3 times, about 12 km total, in 2017 because of the heat and illness. It happens. Our “plan” is to simply walk without worry and trust that each day will go exactly as it is supposed to go. However, we are well aware that just like in 2017, Spain is expecting record high temperatures. Therefore, we will be waking up early and hoping for the best.
We will arrive in Madrid on June 10th, so at this point, the only things left to do are (1) pack our backpacks and (2) take a few more short walks. When it comes to your backpack there are a couple of major considerations, they are:
How can I keep the weight down?
What can and can’t I live without?
What clothing will dry easily overnight?
Can I get it along the Way if I need it so I don’t have to carry it?
We have assessed, evaluated, considered, and paired down as much as we can. Some will say our packs are too heavy while others will say our packs are too light. They weigh less than the last time we walked the Camino and they will get lighter as we go. The goal for clothing is to have something to wear during the day, wear in the evenings, and wear in the pool/while the other clothes are getting washed.
As for Michelle, with her pack coming in just over 15 pounds before water, here is what she is carrying (including the clothes on her back):
2 tank tops, 1 short sleeve shirt, 1 zip-up jacket for cool mornings, 1 raincoat
1 pair of leggings, 1 pair of roll-up hiking pants, and 1 pair of lightweight shorts
1 pair of compression socks, 2 pairs of double layer socks
2 pairs of underwear
Panty liners to help with overall freshness. Yes, I could buy them as I go but I have a brand I love and my pack will get lighter as I go.
2 sports bras, not the ones that slip over your head because it will be too hot for pulling anything over my head (I remember well from our last Camino)!
Hiking shoes and tennis shoes for the daytime and super lightweight Crocs for evenings and rest days. I have a lot of foot problems and I am praying this variety helps.
Toiletries include: conditioner, razor (Brian has shave gel for us both), brush, tweezers, nail clippers, camp soap (it will wash my hair/body and our clothes), cotton balls, face cleaner, q-tips
Misc: Bandana, head wrap that has a visor on it, hair clip, 2 ponytail holders, 2 Pro Bars in case of an emergency, a bottle of electrolytes, roll up water bladder, tissues, one small roll of toilet paper, main water bladder, rain cover for the backpack, and wide angle lens
Vitamins and medications. Yes, I can get vitamins in Spain but I have them all portioned out so I don’t have to think about it. I have an auto-immune disorder and I am anemic so this is my assurance that I will be ok.
As for Brian, with his pack coming in just over 18 pounds before water, here is what he is carrying:
2 tech t-shirts, 1 polo shirt, 1 long sleeve shirt, and a rain jacket
1 of each hiking shorts, zip-off pants, and gym shorts
1 pair of socks and 2 pair of underwear
Chacos to walk in and Crocs for evenings and rest days
Buff and bandana
A roll of string and safety pins for drying laundry
Vitamins and medication
Toiletry kit including soap, shampoo, razor with extra cartridges, shave gel, q-tips, cotton balls, face cleaner, sun screen, toothbrush, and toothpaste
Misc: 2 Pro Bars in case of an emergency, a bottle of electrolytes, roll up water bladder, tissues, main water bladder, extra carabiners, rain cover for the backpack, battery back-up, portable keyboard for blogging, and Camino guidebooks
The gimbal for recording video along the Way
Foot balm and tension ball for easing foot pain
Cruisin’ with the Colemans stickers to pass out
The first aid kit which is explained below
We carry a small first aid kit, as everyone should, in case of an emergency on the trail. Here is what we have in our kit:
Various sizes of band-aids and steri-strips
Moleskin
Wet ones to clean your hands before cleaning a wound on the trail
One pair of disposable gloves in case we have to help another pilgrim
Tape, gauze, Neosporin, tweezers, and scissors
A bottle with Benedryl, Advil, and Aleve
Anti-inflammatory cream and Cortizone from our last trip to Spain. We will be bringing more of this stuff home because it’s amazing!!
Needle and thread for draining blisters
Tums and anti-diarrhea meds
What we carry in our fanny packs
Our fanny packs include the essential things that you need access to while we’re walking. This includes:
Passport, pilgrim passport, money, credit cards
Phone, headphones, charging cords, European charger, and wide-angle lens
Probars
Chapstick, gum, tissues, Charmin wipes, and utter smooth butt cream
Shells to leave along the Way and rocks to leave at Cruz de Ferro
The only thing left to do is take a few short walks with our final backpack loads in the week leading up to our departure date. We want to keep our legs loose but we don’t need to do anything big this week. We certainly don’t want to injure ourselves.
Just a short hike around the neighborhood to test out our loaded packs.
The final thing we did this week was to have a conversation with the fantastic Dan Mullins. Dan has a weekly podcast called My Camino (this is the link to our talk with Dan). He talks to pilgrims from all walks of life, from all over the world. This podcast has been very inspiring to us and we are blessed to be able to have a conversation with Dan. We look forward to listening to a new episode every week and going back to listen to old episodes. If you need inspiration while you wait to walk your Camino, check out Dan’s podcast. Oh, and don’t forget to buy his song, Somewhere Along the Way, I have it on my playlist to enjoy while we walk!
During the podcast, I talked about how our Camino 2017 overwhelmed my senses. I don’t know if you find this a positive statement or not, or if you even know what it means, but to me, it summarizes the wheel of emotions I felt along the Way. From hearing the many languages and trying to communicate in a foreign land, to smelling the new foods and flowers, to seeing new sights daily, to tasting new foods and wine daily, and to feeling a huge array of emotions, the Camino overwhelmed me. It made it tough at times but now I am drawn to it. I want to feel those feelings again. I want to embrace my emotions more than feel overwhelmed by them. We travel all over the US and my senses are never as overwhelmed because it’s not like everything I experience is new. For example, the landscape may be different when we travel out West, but the food and language are similar. I believe that feeling overwhelmed by your senses is why people bungee jump, skydive, or zipline. The Camino changed our lives and I can’t wait to see what changes will follow this Camino. I talked a bit more about our Camino 2017 in this blog post, Rock Bottom: Why I Almost Quit My Camino. Thank you, Dan, for allowing us to reminisce on our 2017 Camino and get us excited for the new journey just around the corner.
Thank you to our blog subscribers for indulging our many passions from the Camino, to RVing, to traveling, to cooking. We enjoy reminiscing about our adventures, we hope you appreciate reading about them. If you are not a subscriber, scroll to the bottom of this page and add your name to our email list. The only emails you will receive from us are notifications of our blog posts.
Buen Camino friends. We hope to see you Along the Way.
As the school year winds to a close, we are getting very excited about our upcoming trek on the Camino de Santiago. As you probably already know, in 2017 we hiked the 550 mile Camino Frances from Saint Jean-Pied-de-Port to Santiago and then on to Finisterre. This summer we will be repeating part of that trek, walking from Leon to Santiago but also walking the Camino Portuguese from Lisbon to Santiago and the Camino Fisterre, walking from Santiago to Muxia to Finisterre and back to Santiago for a total of 1,162 km (722 miles) over a two month period. Today we bring you “his” thoughts and “her” thoughts about our upcoming adventure as we answer the top five questions that we hear most often.
What are you most excited about?
Brian: Revisiting some of our favorite cities (such as Astorga and O’Cebreiro) along the Camino Frances is really exciting but I am most looking forward to being back in Santiago on Feast Day. Seeing the fiesta from a pilgrim’s perspective was a great experience and getting to participate again now that the exterior of the Cathedral is finished is going to be awesome.
The opening of the Festival at the Cathedral in Santiago
Michelle: I agree that seeing the Fiesta in Santiago again will be fantastic, especially since the Cathedral is complete on the outside so I hope the projections will be on the Cathedral this year. But, ultimately, I am most excited about walking every day with friends! Walking next to my best friend, meeting new friends, meeting up with an old friend in Portugal, and sharing this incredible moment in time with so many other pilgrims.
What are you most nervous about?
Brian: On the Camino Frances we were averaging about 13 miles a day with frequent stops every 5-8 km. In Portugal, the villages are further apart and our days will be significantly longer with an average of 16 miles a day. Add to that the fact that we are further south and the summer heat can be brutal, I think there is plenty to be nervous about!
Michelle: Yes, what he said! I am nervous about how early we will have to get up in the morning to beat the heat. Also, the last time we walked the Camino, we were so lucky with the rain. It only rained twice while we were walking the entire summer. I am hoping for cooler temperatures and the rain is tolerable. But, what I am most nervous about, and it’s something I haven’t shared with people who don’t see me in person. I injured my foot when we were in Gatlinburg in March. I have been walking with a boot because of two stress fractures on the top of my foot. The doctor said I will be healed by the end of May and can do light walking until we leave on June 10th. Unfortunately, I fear re-injury. However, we have accepted that we may need to taxi ahead and accommodate as needed. There is magic on the Camino and I am praying some healing magic comes my way. Brian is quite patient and we always have each others back in tough situations like this one. Safety is always goal number one.
Along the trail
What village are you most looking forward to?
Brian: Duh, Porto, the home of Port wine! We plan to do plenty of Port tasting while we are there. I’m also really excited about Tomar. While we are there, the Fiesta de los Tabuleiros will be happening. The Festival of Trays only takes place every four years and just happens to coincide with our layover. For me, one of the primary reasons for hiking the Camino is to experience the local culture and big festivals are a great way to meet locals.
Michelle: Mmmmm port, tinto, cheese, pastries, festivals. Let me dream about all of that for a moment! I don’t have one particular village in mind but I am excited that the first and last legs of our trip will be a repeat of some of our favorite spots. I love Foncebadón because it’s this super tiny village that many pilgrims stay at in order to hike to Cruz de Ferro at sunrise. O Cebreiro is another tiny village that we couldn’t stay at last time because they didn’t have any rooms, I am looking forward to staying there this time. If the village is tiny, I am looking forward to it. The big cities overwhelm me because Brian wants to walk them! Haha
What are you doing differently this time?
Brian: My packing list is a little different this time. I’m taking less clothing and getting rid of some of the same extras that Michelle mentions below. I’ve decided to take a dice game (Farkle) for evenings in the albergue (but to save weight, I’ve created an online score sheet on Google Drive). I also have some new camera gear that you can read more about in the next question.
Michelle: I am taking a smaller pack going from 48 liters to 36 liters. I am not taking a sleeping liner or towel because we will be in private rooms and they are provided for you. The biggest thing I am doing differently, beyond the “stuff,” is a shift in attitude. I was overwhelmed last time. This is a big adventure, far from home, where nobody speaks your language (or so I thought). I didn’t know if we could do it. This time, I know we can. I am more open to the relationships that form on the Camino. I am open to whatever food we eat as a pilgrim. I am open to the entire experience, in a way that I was not before. What a blessing.
Pilgrim’s dinner at Orrison
What is the most essential piece of gear you are taking?
Brian: Because we are documenting this trip more actively on YouTube and our blog (we hope), my gear is probably the most essential equipment. I’ve found new trekking poles that can double as a monopod and I have a gimbal to help with better video quality. I’ll also be bringing a boom mic for voice-overs. All of the videos will be shot on a new iPhone X that I’ll be upgrading to in the coming weeks.
Michelle: I am adding extra shoe insoles because mine were quite beaten up last time. Finally, as of this moment and this could change, I am taking 3 pairs of shoes to help manage my foot problems. I am taking my Merrell Moab 2 hiking shoes and my New Balance 880 tennis shoes which I will switch between during the day, and then my Chacos for evenings and rest days. Again, we’ll see but I have to figure out how to manage my foot problems.
There you have it, another edition of He Said, She Said. We are just counting down the days, practicing our tinto arm, making sure we have all of our gear, purging as much as possible, and most importantly wrapping up the school year so when we return we will be ready to start another year. Do you still have a lingering question about the Camino? Leave a comment below! Your question may just show up in our next He Said, She Said blog post.
Outside the Templar castle in Ponferrada
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You may not know this about me but I love food. I mean that I REALLY love food. Any time we travel, I spend a decent amount of time looking for local specialties and the best places to eat. That does not mean that we spend a lot of money on food. Yes, sometimes we will go to a fancy restaurant and drop a couple of Benjamins for a really nice dinner but some of our favorite and most memorable meals have been at dives that don’t know who Zagat is. With that in mind, my first Monday morning post that isn’t a recipe of the week is going to cover my favorite subject… FOOD!
Some of the most frequently asked questions we hear about the Camino deal with food. Do you have to carry your food? What’s the food like? How expensive is food? What if I have dietary concerns? What if I’m a picky eater? I hope to answer all of those questions here and assure you that you will not starve while walking on the Camino de Santiago, no matter how picky or restrictive your diet is.
First off, Michelle and I both try to live a relatively healthy lifestyle. We like to eat fresh, non-processed food as much as possible. We try to avoid excess sugar, but we will eat an occasional dessert and we both share a love of wine and cocktails. Michelle must eat gluten-free because of her Hashimoto’s disease (an autoimmune thyroid disease).
Going into the Camino, we knew that we were not going to be worried about counting calories. While walking 13 plus miles per day in the extreme heat that we were going to be burning plenty of them. One day I did do my best guess at tracking calories because I was curious and came up with over 3000. That said, we came back from Spain at nearly the same weight that we left home. The challenge was adjusting to not eating as much food as we had been used to while on the Camino and we each gained weight upon our return.
Upon arriving in Madrid after a long overnight flight, we were both starving. Once we navigated the Madrid subway and made our way to the Atocha train station it was time to find some food. We had done a little research ahead of time and new that there was a counter service fast food place that had gluten-free breakfast items. After a little searching, Michelle had a chocolate croissant and egg and cheese sandwich and I had a taste of my first bocadillo (not gluten-free). Our first meal was a success
Chocolate croissant, egg and cheese sandwich (both gluten-free), and breakfast bocadillo (not gluten-free) at the Atocha train station.
Finding food on the Camino is rarely a problem. Most days pilgrims pass through several villages and there is almost always at least one bar or cafe, and usually, several options are within feet of the marked path. Many albergues offer a pilgrim’s meal at dinner time for a small additional charge (€5-10). Before talking about dinner though, let discuss meals in Spain and how that fits into the pilgrim’s schedule.
Our first pilgrim’s meal in St. Jean Pied-de-Port
Breakfast in Spain is usually the smallest meal of the day and rarely consists of much more than toast (tostada) with butter and jam, pastries, and cafe con leche (espresso with steamed milk). Michelle sometimes was able to get rice cakes but often had to make do with a little fruit or an egg. Among the pilgrims we know, this is called “first breakfast” and you’ve probably already guessed that means “second breakfast” can’t be far behind. First breakfast was onfton included in the price of lodging.
First breakfast at a bed and breakfast in SJPdP.Gluten-free breakfast option, if you’re lucky
Once we got through the Pyrenees, Spain was getting record high temperatures and in order to beat the heat, we were often leaving our albergue before 6 am. As a result, we needed to purchase breakfast the night before since most places to eat didn’t open until 6:30 or 7:00 a.m. Our breakfast of choice became a snickers bar and Monster as we walked in the dark. Not the best choice, but it helped in a pinch and we have a few ideas to help us when we are back on the Camino this June 2019.
After walking 5-8 km, most mornings we would come to our first village of the day and usually would run into a group of pilgrims sitting outside a bar or cafe eating second breakfast. Choices of food would range from tortilla and bocadillo to a more traditional “American” breakfast of fried eggs and bacon. We often spent less than €10 for second breakfast with two Coke Zero.
Lunch in Spain can be tricky for Americans. Lunch is typically the largest meal of the day and is often eaten at home but for pilgrims, everything closes down around 2 p.m. and doesn’t reopen until after 5 p.m. for siesta. If you arrive at your final destination for the day during that time, you will often not be able to find food because EVERYTHING is closed. We would typically get a similar meal to our second breakfast or if we were lucky, some tapas. Often by this time of the day, we would enjoy some amazing Spanish wine or beer if we were within the last 5k of our walk. The price here was often about the same as second breakfast, around €10 including wine.
Hundreds of options are available when it comes to tapas
Many tapas are regional and a specialty of the house
Don’t be put off by food sitting out on the counter, it is fresh and safe to eat
One of the few times we found a gluten-free bocadillo!
Patatas bravas (center) are fried potatoes drizzled with aioli and a spicy red bravas sauce
Gluten-free pizza was a rare treat
Once we were done for the day, it was time to check into our albergue, hand wash our laundry, shower, and take a little nap. We were usually pretty hungry at this point and would often get a snack. Our go-to became a bottle of wine and Doritos for €5-8. So our not-so-processed lifestyle had gone out the window, but when you’re hungry you’ll eat anything!
Wine is often less expensive than soda. We often saw 750 ml bottles in the mercado for less than €1
Dinner in Spain is often not served until 8 pm or later, long after most pilgrims have crashed into bed. Luckily, along the Camino, most villages work hard to serve the needs of pilgrims and dinner is available after 5 pm. When an albergue offers a communal meal it is usually at a set time and if you miss it, there’s no food for you. Fortunately, there is never a shortage of bars and restaurants to serve every food need for the average pilgrim. We ate a wide variety of regional and local specialties from ranging from €8 to much higher. The most economical dinner option is the pilgrim’s meal or menú del día. This dinner was usually three courses and included wine or bottled water (learn to ask for “agua del grifo” or tap water). The first course could be soup, salad, or even pasta. The second course was usually some kind of meat with fried potatoes. The final course would consist of dessert. I was always sure to ask for “especialidad de la casa” or the house special. I was able to try such unusual dishes as tuna ragu, garlic soup, home-made cheeses, and even chicken curry. We did spend a little more on dinner many nights with our total usually coming in at about €20-30 for two bringing our food total for the day to under €60 per day for two people. If you want to know more about our Camino budget, check out Michelle’s post here.
A first course, ensalada mixta
First course of garlic soup and mixed salad
First course of Pulpo (octopus) and mixed salad
Second course of bisteca (steak)
Second courses in a “fancy” restaurant- goat shank and hamburger (minus the bun)
Second course – pork medallions and roasted chicken
Second course of Swedish meatballs and BBQ ribs
Second course of chicken wings
An odd meal – Michelle’s fried eggs and chorizo and my fried chicken sandwich with tortilla chips (not something we would see outside of a Mexican restaurant usually)
Pot de creme dessert course
Dessert course of brownie and ice cream and apple custard
Dessert course – Ice cream cake and a layered cake
Dessert course of flan and ice cream
Dessert course – helado (ice cream) and house special that was similar to tiramisu
The communal dinner at Orrison was one of the best we ate
Pealla for five but the cook forgot to add the meat
Pealla and a mystery stew
Paella
Spanish food IS NOT Mexican food but we did find a few Mexican restaurants in big cities
There are a couple of foods that I have to mention because they are too amazing to leave out. Once in Galicia, seafood is found nearly everywhere, is the freshest that I’ve every eaten, and very inexpensive by American standards
Scallops are the symbol of the Camino and usually served grilled with heir roe
Pulpo (octopus) is boiled and then grilled and topped with olive oil and paprica
Yes, we ate these! Barnacles are a delicacy and more expensive than most meals. This appetizer platter was about €20.
Many restaurants, bars, and even hotels will often serve wine or other alcoholic beverage that they make in house. Orujo, Patxaran, and Vermouth are popular regionally, make for a nice aperitif, and were served after dinner gratis in some places!
Sometimes you just need to eat something familiar and in larger cities, you may run across American fast food. We saw KFC, Burger King, McDonald’s but only stopped once because they had gluten-free buns!
We never cooked our own meals, but many pilgrims do. Markets, supermarkets, and even farmer’s markets are prevalent but be warned, in smaller villages most are closed during siesta and on Sundays. This is a great way to save money and get to know other pilgrims.
Meat, dairy, and produce trucks make regular deliveries to small villages
If you have special dietary concerns, most restaurants will work with you to accommodate our restrictions. Make sure you learn the names of your allergies in Spanish so you can communicate with the server. Vegetarians will probably have the greatest difficulty as Spaniards love their meat, but we did run across many vegetarians who said they were far from starving. Michelle did not have too many problems eating “sin gluten” and only got sick once during our entire time in Spain from cross contamination.
Tarta de Santiago is a staple of the Camino and this almond cake is naturally gluten-free when made properly. Often in bars it isn’t.
Never pass up an opportunity to eat a communal dinner, we met wonderful friends and had a great time, even when the food was only mediocre.
Communal dinner in Roncesvalles – the food wasn’t the best but the company was fantiastic
Finally, I can’t recommend enough to use common sense when eating in Spain, just as you would anywhere in the states. If an establishment looks dirty or seedy, don’t go in or leave. We never had any problems and NEVER felt unsafe while in Spain, but there were times we decided not to go into a bar or down a certain street because it didn’t look like our scene. Another thing to be wary of is looking for fresh food. We often didn’t go into places because they had a sign like this outside. All of the food pictured is premade, frozen food that is just reheated. Food is so inexpensive in Spain, why waste your time eating a frozen meal?
If you have additional questions about food or any other subjects on the Camino, let us know in the comments below. If you’ve been, what was your favorite meal?
When I look through the Facebook group, American Pilgrims on the Camino, I feel like I am the only one who wanted to quit. I know there are those who needed to quit because of physical problems, but somedays it feels like I am the only one who wanted to quit. Let me set it up for you.
Michelle on the Meseta after trying her first Tart de Santiago. She is all smiles.
We had been planning our Camino for about 6 years. We couldn’t contain our excitement the closer it got to our departure date. I, Michelle, am a Professor of Communication so the thought of interacting and engaging with people from all over the world filled me with joy. We are hikers with 10 years of hiking experience including quite a bit of long-distance day-hiking and some backpacking so we were looking forward to the physical elements of the walk. I was a bit anxious about the food because I have an auto-immune disease, can’t eat gluten, and I am a bit of a picky eater but hate to admit it. Though I tried to have an open mind and share Brian’s enthusiasm for embracing food culture, I quietly struggled with the thought of it. Though it took forever to get there, June 2017 arrived and we set off on the Camino filled with excitement and a small case of anxiety.
“Second breakfast” Spanish tortilla for Michelle, Bocadillo for Brian, Toblerone to share, and Coca-Cola light
I took the photo above of our first “second breakfast” as it’s affectionately called on the Camino. Second breakfast is what you have after hiking about 5-10 km. First breakfast is typically bread and coffee. So begins my first challenge, I can’t eat bread and I don’t drink coffee. I wish I liked coffee, I do, it’s just not my flavor so I usually found a Monster energy drink at a store the night before and started my day with it. Next, I initially loved Spanish tortilla. It’s eggs and potatoes, what’s not to love. On a side note, Brian wasn’t a big fan of bocadillo, he called it a baseball bat of bread with a thin layer of ham and cheese. Fortunately, Brian usually had a lot of other choices. But this isn’t why I wanted to quit the Camino.
Hiking early in the morning to beat the heat
Challenge number 2, oh how we both hate early mornings. We had to leave our albergue by about 5:30 – 6 a.m. for most of our Camino because Spain was experiencing record heat. When we didn’t leave so early in the morning the heat was so bad we had to quit early so leaving early was a better alternative. But this isn’t why I wanted to quit the Camino.
Laundry, Camino style
Then there is doing the laundry by hand, day after day. After a long day of hiking in the heat, all I wanted to do was take a nap. Brian had to talk me into showering and washing the clothes with him before passing out on the bed. Some days it took a lot of convincing. But that is not why I wanted to quit.
I don’t know where my husband got so much energy but his drive to see every inch of every town after hiking an average of 13 miles a day and hand washing our laundry astounded me. He was so happy – all the time – happy. I was tired, exhausted, crabby and weak. That is why I wanted to quit the Camino but I hadn’t hit rock bottom yet. I felt so inadequate. It wasn’t Brian’s fault.
I also felt very isolated. I didn’t have anyone else to talk to on the Camino. We were hiking together, so yes we had each other, but after Pomplona, we went for several days without meeting anyone who spoke English. Feeling isolated in our room one night I even looked up flights. I was ready to max out a credit card and fly home the next day. Brian convinced me to give it one more day and if I wanted to quit he was ready to come home with me. What? He would quit too! Ugh, the pressure of not wanting to end his Camino. But I agreed to give it one more day and I was convinced we were going home.
I really don’t remember the next day except that it wasn’t as hot, the shade was plentiful, the hills weren’t too bad, and we walked into a town to have second breakfast only to find a group of pilgrims all speaking English. The signs were everywhere, I knew by the end of the day we were to continue walking on the Camino.
I was re-establishing a good rhythm on the Camino again until our third day on the Meseta and our 17th day of walking. The Meseta is a week-long stretch of flat hiking from Burgos to León where you feel like you can see the entire week ahead of you because it is so flat. It is also normally the hottest part of the Camino but for us, it was the coldest, wettest, and windiest part. We had awful winds, up to 25 mph.
Then we walked into Carrión de los Condes. When we arrived, we walked into a convent where cloistered nuns were sitting in the back singing. It left us speechless. A fellow pilgrim was sitting in a pew, crying, so I sat with her. Later that evening she saw us again and she told her friend that we were her angels. Apparently, we helped her out a few different times but didn’t realize what we did was so meaningful.
“The singing nuns” who asked that we don’t show their faces
That evening we met a different order of nuns who are affectionately called, “the singing nuns.” We knew this was an evening we could not miss. There was also a priest who we had been following on and off all day. We first met him chanting in a church earlier that day. He brought us to our knees in that church. That evening he led mass and we learned he was from Poland, delivering the mass in Latin, Spanish, and English. Wow.
The best part of the evening was when the nuns asked everyone why they were walking the Camino. When they learned we were walking to celebrate our 10 year wedding anniversary, they dedicated a song to us. Sobbing in an overcrowded room full of strangers, I realized this was my rock bottom. I knew I needed to continue on the Camino. I had to complete this walk. I felt so broken and so energized all at the same time. We left that room full of friends to find our dinner and ran into a group of Spaniards celebrating a reunion. They invited us to dance with them. I wanted a do-over with the energy I was feeling that evening. I started my Camino over again the next morning, renewed.
It was that evening when we opened ourselves up, sharing our story with strangers, that everything changed. From that day forward we met friends from all over the world, people we are still friends with today. I don’t know what took us so long, but I am so very thankful for that evening and finally hitting my rock bottom.
Leaving my burdens at Cruz de Ferro
Only a short 8 days later we left the weight of our burdens at Cruz de Ferro. We even shared this moment with two new friends from Hawaii who kindly took the photo above. Please don’t wait to connect with people. They are a big part of the Camino. I continued to struggle with the food, hand washing the laundry, and heat exhaustion, but I had new friends to help us along the way as I hope we helped them.
Brian, my partner, best friend, husband
I am thankful to have Brian walking by my side. We pushed each other, lifted each other up, and we know when it’s time to be patient with one another. It is my hope that you have someone to walk with along your Way or find someone faster than I did.
This is a controversial topic – money! Before you read any further, we ask that you are kind to us. This is our budget for our Camino – you can spend a lot less and even spend a lot more than we did! We know there are a lot of ways to plan or not to plan your Camino, this is just what we did in 2017 and what we are doing for our 2019 Camino, we hope this budget helps a few people. Let me begin by giving you a summary of our goals when planning our Caminos:
Flight cost – find it cheap and the least amount of connections
Plan a few luxuries – this so we have little things to look forward to along the way.
Private rooms – this is important to us so we don’t have to pack sleeping gear/sleeping clothes and towels. It saves weight and we know we will get a good night sleep.
Enjoy the culture – this means we plan to have evenings out to enjoy the local food and don’t eat as many pilgrim meals in the evening.
One of the many rooms along the Way
Ok, so this is another way we are different than other pilgrims. We planned out our Camino from beginning to end, meaning we planned our stops and reserved all of our rooms in advance. We knew this meant that if we were suffering from illness or injury, we would have to taxi ahead to the next town vs. walking to it. Some will not agree with this philosophy, but this was how we planned our pilgrimage. In the end, for our Camino in 2017, we taxied about 20-25 km of our entire Camino. This is a number we could live with for the peace of mind of knowing where we were sleeping every night. We have to travel on the Camino during the busiest time of the year because we are teachers, so planning the rooms in advance helped ease our minds and helped us stay on budget.
Jean-Michel with us at his Bed and Breakfast in Saint John Pied de Port, France wishing a Buen Camino!
Let’s talk about flights first, I discussed this a little bit in our blog post entitled, Our Top 10 Pieces of Essential Camino Gear if you want to read it later. We monitor flights using the apps Skyscanner and Hopper and when they tell us to buy, we do. The best thing to do is look at direct flights from one hub to another. For us, we have found inexpensive flights from Boston to Madrid. In 2017 we flew Iberia Air and our Boston to Madrid tickets were $500 total, for both of us, and then we spent another $500 total getting from Ohio to Boston. For our 2019 Camino we are flying Air Portugal from Boston to Madrid and our tickets were the same price at $500 for both. We are still monitoring flights to Boston. You have to know where you are looking to fly, monitor flights, and be willing to wait to buy the tickets.
A foot bath and massage in Pamplona, I wouldn’t even call it a luxury because my body needed this treat!
We always plan a few luxuries on our trips because it gives us things to look forward to when we are exhausted, tired, or just plain grumpy. In Pamplona, we didn’t know where it would happen but we budgeted for massages. This city comes after hiking about 3-4 days (depending on if you stop in Orrison, as we did) and your feet will be so happy that you are treating them. This cost 100 euros for us both and was so worth! We planned to have a few more massages along the way but didn’t have as many opportunities as we hoped. Our total budget for luxuries was 500 euros, we mainly spent this money on nicer restuarants and wine.
Don’t fret, we planned other luxuries, like in the places we stayed at. Our lodging budget was to average 50 euros a night for a room. Fortunately, we had plenty of rooms that only cost about 35-45 euros so we could splurge a bit in other places. For example, we read in another blog (sorry, I can’t remember the name of the blog) that Casa de Tepa in Astorga was their absolute favorite hotel on the entire Camino so we booked a room. This room came in at 82 euros, sadly prices have gone up because the website says it costs 115 euros today. We stayed in the Napoleon Room, I encourage you to go to the website and check out their videos of the different rooms. This wasn’t just called, “The Napoleon Room,” it was the actual room that Napoleon stayed in! Crazy! The best parts of this hotel were the location to the Gaudi museum and the town square, the gorgous backyard patio, the reading rooms throughout the hotel, and the cash bar on the patio. It was a fantastic find and a well-planned luxury.
Private rooms were so important to us, as it’s an important way to end a long day of walking. I am a light sleeper and I heard so many people complaining about not getting a good night’s sleep on the Camino because of the sounds and smells of others. This meant our budget was higher than it was for others in a shared room, but sometimes not too much higher. The best part was that we did not have to carry sleeping bags, pillows, towels, or even sleeping clothes. We didn’t always have a private bathroom, that was something we were willing to give up in order to stay on budget.
Luxuries came in many forms from private rooms, to air-conditioned rooms, to massages, to couple fancy restaurants (the one featured below is not considered a fancy place – lol).
We found “Mexican” cuisine in Leon, Spain
Finally, we had to find luxuries by exploring the local life and local food. It was important for us to experience the culture, not just the pilgrimage. Sometimes that meant finding out what food tasted like in a Spanish-Mexican restaurant. The takeaway was that we full-filled the urge we had for tacos but don’t get a margarita (you’ll thank me for that advice, I promise)! Other times our goal was to truly experience the local food. For example, when in Galicia you must try pulpo (octopus)! I am not a fan of octopus here in the States, but I am not going to lie, I loved pulpo. As far as our food budget goes, we planned to spend 50 euros a day for both of us in 2017 but we were closer to averaging 60 euros a day. What can I say, we do love our food…and wine!
Pulpo in Galicia
In summary, the 2019 Coleman budget for the two of us combined breaks down like this:
Flights: 1000 dollars
Private Rooms: 50 euros a night
Food: 60 euros a day
Other transportation: 300 euros
Luxuries: 500 euros total
We hope this helps you in your Camino planning because if you are still reading this blog post, we will assume you are a planner. Click the like button to show us some Camino love. We would appreciate hearing from you – in the comments please tell us about your Camino, what you are looking forward to on the Camino, or what you are nervous about.
We’re in Florida! It’s time for two weeks of fun in the sun and Camino training, so I am thinking about gear! Everyone loves to talk about gear and I get it. When you prepare for your 1st Camino you research like crazy because you desperately want to know what to bring, but more importantly, what not to bring. Before I get to the gear, you may want to know how we are training for the Camino in Florida. This is a great question because, yes, you can combine RV’ing, Florida beaches, rum runners, and fun in the sun! Our plan is to start every day (except for some travel days) with a 7-10 mile walk. We have all of the routes planned out based on where we will be so we can easily get our miles knocked out before we start the fun. Follow our Instagram page to see how we will spend our days in Florida. We won’t be carrying gear beyond water, it is a vacation you know, haha. Our plan is to pack our Camino backpacks when we get home from Florida so we can train through the cold Ohio winter months, hiking fewer miles but with fully-weighted down packs.
Before I digress too much with my enthusiasm for our trip, let’s get back to the Camino. I remember when we first start planning our Camino I wanted to bring so many pieces of gear that I thought were “essential” even though we have backpacked enough to know the difference between essential and non-essential. The movie The Way had me feeling the not so practical side of planning for our Camino as I wanted to unload my entire closet into my backpack. But you can’t, and at the end of a long day on the Camino, you will so thankful you didn’t pack too much gear.
There are a lot of opinions about gear on every forum you read, and there will be plenty of people who want to assess what you have in your pack once you are in Spain. Have you checked out the Facebook group, American Pilgrims on the Camino? It is very helpful. Our first night in St. John Pied de Port, France, the hospitalero lifted my packed and told me immediately my bag was too heavy. He was right, it was too heavy but I had seen a lot worse and at the time I had done my best to purge the nonessentials. When you arrive in Roncesvalles you will see tables and tables of gear that people have purged after climbing over the Pyrenees Mountains.
Everything we took, laid out on the table before we packed
With all of that being said, this is our top 10 items to carry on your Camino. It’s not a perfect list. It is your job to create a packing list that works for you. As Brian and I prepare for our 2019 Camino, we will probably talk about gear again. Leave your questions so we know what you want us to talk about next.
(1) Backpack: Your most important piece ifequipment is a backpack. You need to find a backpack that makes you feel like you don’t even know it’s there. We strongly recommend going to an REI near you. REI has a large selection of backpacks, they will fit you to help you find a pack that works with your body shape/size and have a return/exchange policy like none other. Brian was lucky, he was fitted and loved the first backpack he purchased. Brian found the Osprey Exos 48, and surprisingly, you can find this pack in the outdoor stores in St. Jean Pied de Port, France. Me? I am never easy. I tried the same pack in a women’s version, bought it, hiked in it, and it bruised my hip bones. I hated it. REI graciously exchanged this pack for another one. I am still not totally happy with my pack but it made it through our 2017 Camino. I am heading to REI to look at backpacks in January to prepare for our 2019 Camino. Seriously, it is important to get your pack as soon as you can, load it up, hike with it in your neighborhood, and make sure you absolutely love it. You will be carrying it on your back every day, up to 8 hours a day, for as long as you are in Spain. You have to love it.
(2) Clothing. This is the first place people overdo it and I get it, you want to look at feel good. However, I promise you will feel much better if your backpack is lighter. For pants, you need zip-off or roll up hiking pants that are made of polyester and have UV protection to help with the cool mornings/evenings and warmer or hot days. You are looking for lightweight pants that wick moisture and can be used in multiple ways. My absolute favorite pants are from REI, they are the Sahara Roll-Up Pants, they are not available anymore. I just bought a pair of the Kornati Roll-Up Pants, they are almost the same but they have a snap instead of a button. I hate snaps so I may have to get those fixed. One of the things I love about both pairs is they have an adjustable waistband which is important on the Camino when you are mostly hand-washing your clothes. I have this pair of pants for the evening while the pants I wore during the day are being washed. During the day I liked wearing capri length leggings, if I liked my legs more I would wear a shorter length of leggings because we are typically traveling in the heat of the summer. As for Brian, his pants were a pair of zip-off hiking pants and a pair of hiking shorts, both are polyester and looked very similar to mine. Please, whatever you decide, don’t wear jeans, they are too heavy, they don’t wick moisture, and they don’t move well when you are hiking.
As for tops, Brian had 2 button-down tech shirts, a tech t-shirt for bedtime, and a long sleeve tech shirt for cold mornings. Could he have had less? Probably, but he was happy. I had 2 tank tops and a zip-up sweatshirt. They were all made from polyester and very lightweight.
We both had raincoats which are essential on the Camino. You want one that is lightweight and in a bright color so you are easy to see in the fog and rain. We don’t recommend ponchos because when it’s windy they are all over the place. Your backpack should have a cover so when it’s raining put the cover on your pack and put your raincoat on. I promise it’s all you’ll need for rain.
As far as undergarments, we suggest 3 pairs of socks. One for the morning, one to change into in the afternoon, and one for the evening/overnight. Regarding underwear and bras, we believe you should have one to wear and one for wear while washing. Again, they should be made of a polyester material.
Ladies, let me talk to you for just a second… I suggest wearing a panty liner so you feel fresh and clean all day long. Also, I suggest you find your favorite sports bra that you are willing to wear all day long. You don’t want one that feels like it’s pulling on our shoulders. I love the sports bras in this link. It is inexpensive, the most comfortable piece of clothing I own, and wicks sweat very well. In the evening, I like just an everyday bra, certainly nothing I have to pull over my head. I am too tired and like easy by this point in the day. The goal here is to find your comfort level.
Finally, you need a bandana to wick away sweat, dirt, whatever. We carried one on our backpack strap so we had access to it all the time. The goal is to think about what you are wearing all day, what you are wearing while your clothes are drying and when you’re sleeping (should be the same), and what you are adding to your layers when it’s cold. Some people wore hats, but it’s up to you.
(3) Toiletries: This should be easy. You need a toothbrush, toothpaste, brush/comb, maybe a face cleaner if you struggle as I do with oily skin, an all-in-one shampoo/conditioner/soap, and a towel. We absolutely loved this Turkish towel from Amazon. Then there is all the other stuff you feel like you need which complicates the “trying to keep the weight down” issue. I really didn’t carry much more. I had to carry vitamins which I put in individual bags for each day, I got the bags on Amazon. I carried a small roll of toilet paper, which I did need and would take again because many times by mid-afternoon the bars were out of toilet paper. You have to decide what you can live with and what you must have with you.
(4) Bedding: What bedding you need depends on the type of accommodation you will be sleeping in. We stayed in private rooms so we had a bed liner with us in case we needed it but we didn’t. All of our rooms had bedding, sheets, and a pillow. I am so thankful because I would not have wanted any more weight on my back. Those staying in dorm rooms will need a sleeping bag or just a bed liner in the heat of the summer. Many people rolled up clothes for a pillow, I would have had a travel or inflatable pillow.
(5) Fanny Pack: This is so important for everything you need to get to throughout the day so you don’t have to get in your pack. We kept our essentials in our fanny packs which included passport, money, pilgrim credential, phone, charger, and a snack or two. Be sure to put things in a freezer baggie to protect your stuff from rain and sweat.
(6) Two pairs of shoes: Brian and I left for the Camino each with a pair of Merrell hiking shoes and a pair of Chacos. Brian decided by Pamplona that he loved hiking in his Chacos so he mailed his Merrell’s home and bought a pair of flip-flops for the evening. As I have mentioned before, Brian is the easy one. I have foot problems; I have bunions and a hammer toe. It sucks, I will need surgery eventually. Therefore, I wore my Merrell’s in the morning, wore my Chacos mid-day, put my Merrell’s back on for the late afternoon walking, and then back in my Chacos for the evening. I am actually, very seriously, considering bringing a pair of tennis shoes as a 3rd pair for our next Camino. I get blisters and have a lot of foot pain if I am in a pair of shoes too long. I don’t want the extra weight, so I am trimming in other areas, but we have some long days planned for our 2019 Camino and I think this will be a smart decision. Time will tell what I decide.
(7) Basic First Aid: You do not need much here at all, there are plenty of pharmacies along the way. All you need is a small baggie with a few band-aids, needle/thread to deal with blisters, moleskin for blisters, and Advil. Spain sells an anti-inflammatory cream in their pharmacies that is amazing! Bring some home, you will love it! We also had a small exercise ball that we used on the bottoms of our feet at the end of the day, I strongly suggest it. Your feet will be bruised with all of this walking, make sure you are taking care of them.
(8) Hydration system: There are a couple of perspectives here – water bottle vs. water bladder. We chose water bladder and will again on our next Camino. There are some long days on the Camino and you need to make sure you have plenty of water. We knew the hostel/albergue had potable water so we filled up for the day. We never had water issues but we saw a lot of people who did. Between non-potable water or just not having enough, we saw it all. The other thing that will help you stay hydrated is electrolyte tablets. You lose a lot of salt when you are sweating so be prepared.
(9) Cell phone: You will need a cell phone for a variety of reasons – to call ahead to albergues to let them know when you will be arriving, to make reservations if needed, to be able to check maps, and to be able to call home if you wish. Therefore, you need to decide if you are going to get an international plan or unlock your smartphone and get a SIM card once you land in Spain. We opted for the SIM card and were very happy. We didn’t use it much, mostly used wi-fi but we did use the phone to confirm with albergues. Also, make sure you have a European charger. There are a lot of great smartphone apps that would we encourage you have including Google Translate, Google Maps, Wise Pilgrim, and Booking.com.
(10) Charles Schwab Card: Number 10 and the best thing we learned about before our Camino! We are so thankful someone told us about using a Charles Schwab card when on the Camino. Charles Schwab does not charge ATM fees, they rebate ATM fees from other banks, and they don’t have international charges. We transferred money from our checking account to our Charles Schwab throughout our trip and then took money out every week as we need it. Seriously – best advice ever!
If you are still reading this blog, you are serious about what to pack on your Camino and that makes us smile. Please click the “Like” button if this blog helped you at all. The Camino is a magical place. Enjoy your journey.
I can’t wait anymore – I have to talk about the Camino! There is so much to say! This is the first of several blog posts over the coming months on the subject of the Camino de Santiago. We hiked the Camino Frances in 2017 which was a life-changing experience for both of our adventurous spirits. Many times we had heard the phrase, “you never hike the Camino just once,” but we had no idea what it meant until the draw of the Camino pulled us so hard we could not resist it. I have to admit, I am still shocked at how much I want to go back and hike the Camino again. Brian felt the same draw to go back, but he wasn’t as surprised as I was. There will be more on the reasons we both felt the draw in future blog posts.
Let me begin by telling you some people decide to hike the Camino and don’t plan a thing. This is not who we are, we like to plan, I can go so far as to say we love to plan. Spreadsheets are life to us! For us, the spreadsheet takes something that can be quite intimidating – hiking across a country – and making it more manageable. Our spreadsheet broke down the 550 miles trek into small sections so we had more confidence and set achievable goals. All of that being said, we have a lot of respect for the many thousands of people who complete the Camino annually without any planning. There is something to be said about just picking up and going, just because it is not for us doesn’t mean we don’t admire those who do.
It was about May 2018 when we both finally admitted to one another that we wanted to go back to the Camino; it was less than a year from being back in the states from our Camino 2017. I remember where we were standing in the new house we just purchased in April 2018 when we admitted our desire to hike the Camino again because my heart skipped a few beats. It took a few months to make any progress on that decision, mainly because we were in the midst of preparing for our son’s wedding and our summer 2018 adventure but we knew we were going! We plan the details of our next big summer adventure the moment we finish the adventure we are on and often while we are on the current summer adventure. So in September 2018, the real planning began. Determining when we are going to travel is not a step for us because we are teachers so we know that we’re traveling in June and July whether we like it or not. With that being said, before I outline the steps we have taken thus far, I strongly encourage you to join the American Pilgrims on the Camino Facebook group. With over 18,000 members, everything and anything you need to know to plan your Camino is in that group! Ok, without further delay, here are the steps we have taken thus far to plan our Camino 2019: Monitor International Flight Prices
I cannot tell you how important it is to sign up for some sort of flight monitoring website. We signed up for a few and the winner of finding our cheap airfare was Scott’s Cheap Flights. You can pay up to about $1500 a person to fly internationally but with a bit of legwork, you can fly a lot cheaper. A couple weeks ago, I received an email from Scott’s Cheap Flights that Air Portugal was having a great sale so did further investigating and found great prices. If you are willing to fly from one of the main hubs (we picked Boston), they had round-trip tickets as cheap as $300. This means we still need to get to Boston, but we will monitor flights until we find a good price to get to Boston. Determine the Route
Next, you need to determine which of the Camino de Santiago routes you will choose to hike. The most popular and the one we did in 2017 is the Camino Frances. Many people are inspired to hike the Camino Frances because of the 2010 movie, The Way, starring Martin Sheen, and we were no different. The moment we saw this movie we knew it was a bucket list adventure, and it only took us seven more years to get there.
This time we are going to hike the Camino Portugués which is 640 kilometers. Since we have the time, and we want to go back, we are going to hike part of the Camino Francés from Leon to Santiago. Finally, we are going to hike the “extra loop” to the “end of the Earth” which is Santiago de Compostela to Finisterre to Muxia and back to Santiago. We hiked to the end of the Earth in 2017 to celebrate our anniversary but this time we want to complete the loop and go on to Muxia and then walk back to Santiago. Our total hiking mileage is coming it at 1162.3 kilometers. This is epic for us! The last time we were there we had 38 hiking days, averaging about 14 miles a day. This time we will hike 44 days and average 26.4 kilometers or 16.4 miles a day. We like a challenge – and well – we have one before us! Buy Guidebooks
There are several guidebooks out there about the Camino and we have two favorites. The first, and most popular, guidebooks are by John Brierly and you can find any of his books on Amazon. This is the basis for our spreadsheet and provided us with everything we needed to know about hiking the Camino from villages, distances, terrain, details about where to stay, and notes of stuff to watch out for as you travel. Many people carry his book with them on the Camino and just rip out pages as they don’t need them anymore or they have the electronic version on their Kindle.
The second guidebook we use is the Village to Village guidebook by Anna Dintaman and Matthew Harms, their books can also be found on Amazon. You should also check out their website too. It has been a great resource for planning where to stay, what to wear, what to take, and has links or email addresses to albergues.
Buy your guidebooks about 6-8 months before you leave. You don’t want to buy them too early because you want the latest edition; however, you want to buy them early enough to have the time to read the books so you can, at least, mentally prepare for this undertaking. Make Spreadsheet
Disclosure: We were not the original creators of this massive spreadsheet! One of our fellow Ohio APOC friends, Greg, created this spreadsheet and shared it with us. We have shared it with others so as to pay it forward because if you are a planner, this spreadsheet is amazing!
Ok, here is where we went crazy! But you need to know that we plan our summer adventures with this type of spreadsheet every year. Our rationale is that when we are gone for two months, we need a spreadsheet to ensure we meet our goals for the adventure.
For our first Camino, we were not going to plan anything because we heard that most people don’t plan their daily goals on the Camino. It was about five months before we left for the Camino when we decided the no-planning philosophy was not going to work for us. There were a few determining factors going on here – (1) we have to travel during the busiest season, (2) we heard stories of people coming into a village and there were no rooms left (and we saw this happen!!), (3) we wanted to know where we were sleeping each night even if we had to bus ahead due to illness or injury, and finally most importantly, (4) our minds were at ease the moment we started planning our stays. For us, the spreadsheet is our lifeline and we love having it. Would we ever go without one? We could, yes. If we were only going for a couple of weeks, a good possibility, yes. If we weren’t going during the busy season, possibly. It is all a matter of preference. Training Time
If you have the time, we would strongly encourage you to start walking! Walk 5, 8, 10 miles at a time as much as you can, build up to longer walks whatever that looks like for you. Start where you are comfortable to prevent injury. Since we are still about seven months out, we are walking once or twice during the week and have one long walk on the weekends. Do what works in your schedule. If you can get consecutive long walking days in, that would be perfect for your training! If you have any old Roman roads in our neighborhood, walk on them! Haha But seriously, do not go for a walk in the woods, which is what we would normally be doing. Walk on gravel roads, brick roads, pavement, anything to toughen up your feet. Carry a backpack with about 12-15 pounds in it during the last couple months of your training. I will talk about gear, I promise, in another Camino post! For now, here are a few more big suggestions to train for your Camino:
See your podiatrist and get insoles. They saved our feet! You have to find the shoes and insoles that work for your feet. It is critical. We both love Merrell shoes and insoles that are fitted for our feet.
Know how to care for blisters (see the APOC Facebook group, everyone has an opinion on what to do)
Do lunges and squats, just 10-20 a day, 3-4 days a week. Your knees will thank you for that specific training, I promise you!
Have your backpack fitted, we went to REI and both love our packs for different reasons.
When you know what you are going to wear on the Camino, wear it in your training. You want to minimize gear surprises.
Don’t overthink the training, just walk. There are people of all ages, backgrounds, and fitness levels on the Camino. We met two 12-year-old girls hiking the Camino, lots of 20, 30, and 40 something folks, and even more 50, 60, 70+ folks walking the Camino. If you can walk, you can walk the Camino. Even if you can’t walk the Camino will provide, see the 2017 movie, I’ll Push You if you need the motivation to walk the Camino. Extra Step: Making Reservations
This step is not for everyone but it certainly made our Camino the most “relaxing” adventure we have ever had! I referenced making reservations in the “Creating the Spreadsheet” point but it needs to be clarified. The site we used to make most of our reservations was Booking.com. It won’t help you with every single reservation, for some villages you will need to email the albergue to make your reservation because they are not on Booking.com.
Before you make your reservations, check out the APOC Facebook group because everyone is talking about various albergues and may provide you with insight about where you want to stay or avoid staying because it does not meet your needs.
I didn’t talk about the budget in this blog, it’s a topic for another post. However, in short, you can spend very little or stay at 5-star hotels throughout your journey. You can find municipal albergues for $3-5 a night. We averaged about $40 a night for a private room. Sometimes that included dinner but often, for us, it did not. I will talk more about our “teacher budget,” this means that we had more resources than a college student but not as much as someone from Corporate America.
There are so many blog posts about the Camino, this is just our point of view from our experience. Read as much as you can before you hike your Camino. It’s your journey, it’s your Camino, make it what you want it to be. As we say on the Camino, Buen Camino!
★ 25 years guiding★ 48 U.S. states★ 10 countries★ 3,000+ Camino miles
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Know before you go
Activity Level.
Every Cruisin' with the Colemans trip comes with an activity level so you know, before you lace up, roughly how hard the walking will be. Think of it as the overall rhythm of the trip — a few days might push a little past it and a few will feel gentler, but it's an honest read on what your legs are signing up for.
Nobody knows your body better than you do. We're all for a good challenge, but pick a level that matches your current fitness and trail experience and the whole walk gets more fun. Not sure where you land? Reach out — we've walked every one of these ourselves and we're always happy to talk it through.
Grades
EasyEasy0–8 km (0–5 miles)
Gentle, mostly flat days on well-kept, easy-to-follow paths. Ideal if you're new to multi-day walking or simply want a relaxed pace with plenty of time to soak it all in.
Easy – ModerateEasy–Moderate8–16 km (5–10 miles)
A little more distance over mixed ground — mostly maintained trails, quiet lanes, and the occasional gentle climb. A good fit if you're reasonably active and ready for a few longer stretches.
ModerateModerate16–20 km (10–12 miles)
Fuller days on varied, sometimes rugged terrain with regular ups and downs. Great for steady hikers in good shape, or determined first-timers chasing a real sense of accomplishment.
Moderate – StrenuousModerate–Strenuous20–24 km (12–15 miles)
Long days with sustained, often steep climbs and descents on rough trail. You'll want solid fitness; a few exposed spots call for a head for heights, and navigation can get trickier when the weather turns.
StrenuousStrenuous24–28 km (15–17 miles)
Big days on demanding, often remote mountain terrain — serious distance and elevation for experienced, fit hikers. Expect rough footing, the odd exposed or aided section, and higher altitude on some routes.
ExtremeExtreme+28 km (+17 miles)
Our toughest walking, built for very fit, very experienced hikers. Rugged, sometimes remote mountain terrain with scrambling, exposure, and aided sections — plus altitude, weather, and navigation that all add to the challenge.
Where you rest
Accommodations Levels.
Where you sleep is part of the story, so we hand-pick locally run places that welcome you like an old friend. The level shifts a little from trip to trip depending on the route, but the goal never does: a clean, comfortable, genuinely local stay at the end of every walking day.
Most nights you'll land in friendly, independent or family-run hotels, guest houses, and B&Bs chosen for their charm and the little touches that feel like home. Some trips lean a touch more luxurious; others, especially in the remote stretches, mean simpler refuges or huts. Either way, we've picked each one to help you rest up and wake ready for the trail.
Basic – A Place to Rest Your HeadBasic
Mountain huts, refuges, and simple B&Bs. Ensuite rooms aren't a given, and you may share a dorm with fellow walkers — but what you trade in polish you more than gain back in camaraderie and a big, rustic welcome.
Classic – Charming Without the FrillsClassic
Locally owned B&Bs, guest houses, and small inns that feel like a home away from home — usually family-run, cozy or freshly kept, and well placed for the next day's walk. A warm welcome comes as standard.
Comfort – A Little More...ComfortableComfort
Characterful, locally owned hotels and B&Bs with the little extras that make a stay feel special — décor rooted in the region, the occasional spot to unwind, and sometimes a kitchen worth lingering over.
In Style – For Those who Want to Treat ThemselvesIn Style
First-class stays in boutique hotels, vineyards, and country manors — often in the best seats in the house, from hilltop towns to the water's edge, with standout service and, now and then, a truly memorable table.
Mixed – Boutique Hotels to Mountain Huts, all in One TripMixed
One trip, a bit of everything. You might bed down in Classic or Comfort rooms through the towns and villages, then a refuge or other Basic spot up in the mountains where that's all there is — an honest, memorable mix that matches the journey.
