After a lot of research, my mom and I decided that we were ready to take on the famed Camino de Santiago. Traditionally a Catholic pilgrimage, this journey takes approximately 30 days and spans from various start points to the finish line in Santiago de Compostela. After much consideration, we opted to take the most popular Camino route, Camino Francés, that begins in the French Pyrenees mountains and follows the north coast of Spain. Here is a photo of all the routes:
We had considered Camino del Norte, but we were concerned it would be cold that close to the ocean. In addition, we want to maximize the number of people we can meet along the way. We also considered Vía de la Playa, but since we both speak Spanish we wanted to stay where we had a better chance of using that language. My mother was concerned about knee injuries from the Pyrenees mountains, so we decided to start the trek in the Spanish city of Pamplona, shaving off the first 67 km, or 40 miles. This would leave us 665 km, or 413 miles, to cover in 30 days. We also considered a less traveled route south of the Camino Frances, but we met a local man in Pamplona who said it was good that we did not choose this one. Apparently, there are few people and drinking water is scarce. In retrospect, skipping the Pyrenees was a good call. While we missed the views in the mountains, we did not begin our month-long hike with the blisters and stress promised by mountain trekking. If your time is limited, consider beginning your journey in Pamplona like we did.
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