Lessons Learned on my First Camino

Reflection is a part of every pilgrims day to day. The Camino de Santiago definitely gives you time to reflect on your planning and preparation.

What could I do differently next time?

If I had this next time…

Next time I’ll try this alternate route instead…

And for the four (or however many) weeks you’re on pilgrimage, you are essentially planning you’re next camino.

When people ask me about my pilgrimage, I often describe it as “the most challenging and rewarding thing I have ever done.” But never, as will do. Because as every pilgrim knows, you will do it again (or endeavour to).

I’ve always shared two key learnings from my first camino:

1. The camino will always provide.
2. You will never be truly ready for your camino until you have finished it.

I know what you’re thinking, they sound cliched and profound. But I will always live by those two statements.

To delve deeper into how I would do things differently next time, I’ve broken the planning process into five key areas: route selection, accommodation, physical preparation, packing and mental preparation.

Because to be honest, I did the bare minimum to prepare for my pilgrimage, even though I was obsessed with the Camino de Santiago for over a year before I set out from St Jean Pied du Port.

Route Selection

As I was an inexperienced pilgrim with below average Spanish capabilities, I opted to take the most common Frances route to Santiago de Compostela. 

On the Frances Way, it was near impossible to get lost. Within every 500m (on average) a marker would indicate I was still on my way to Santiago. English quickly was identified as the most common language that brought people together, with locals and pilgrims alike.

The only downside to this route however was how commercialised it was – and this was back in 2014! My planned daily budget was quickly shattered, and my dreams of €10 a day was more realistically €25-30 (and that was really scrimping).

With the staggering number of pilgrims on the Frances Way, getting a bed was difficult and the experience of an empty road was incredibly rare – but still happened occasionally when I went left the script and plan of my guide book. If you don’t wish to be constantly bombarded with other pilgrims, select a different route or less popular months.

The stretch between Burgos and Leon was as bad as they say. Every day was a mental battle, with little to look at and the majority of the way as roadside walking, motivating myself was difficult.

However, this being said, I would do it again in a heartbeat! With this blog documenting my preparation to ride the Chemin de Paris before linking into the Camino de Santiago/Frances Way.

To book or not to book?

I am so thankful I booked my accommodation in St Jean Pied du Port in advance. After spending several months on waitlists at multiple albergues, I secured a bed at Gîte Ultreïa, just a month before my arrival. Along the way, I met many pilgrims who did not find accommodation on their day of arrival and had to set out late in the afternoon or camp out for the night – not the best start to your pilgrimage!

Most of the way I stayed in municipal albergues… I’m was an early riser and fast walker, so I often arrived in my destination before others securing myself a bed. However, other pilgrims were not so lucky, and I met many who were constantly left without a place for the night and struggled daily. I did miss out on a bed once, after walking 40km to Ages, but got lucky in the next town (and that is a whole other story).

As the Frances Way is a commercialised journey, the new modern pilgrim style is reservations. If you are after a more medieval and traditional pilgrimage, another route would be better for you, as you will constantly be put into a fury by pilgrims’ accommodation reservations and taxi/bus mentality of many modern pilgrims.

After my first mishap not getting a bed when I moved to walking long days, late into the afternoon, I would ahead the night before to make a reservation in my preferred destination. If my plans changed, I would contact the albergue straight away to cancel if needed. Some pilgrims may frown upon this, but I did not want to take a risk of having no place to sleep after 45km (I was also unequipped for outdoor or floor sleeping with no sleeping bag or mat).

If you intend to arrive late in the day, you should definitely book a bed in a private albergue the night before, and communicate with the albergue throughout the day. I found most albergues, would hold my reservation until 3pm, and would release my bed if they have not heard from me. If you are relying on municipal albergues, be aware that in the popular months, albergues are often full within the first hour of opening time (sometimes before opening), with lines out the door two hours in advance.

Time to get physical

The training I completed before the Camino was not even close to being enough. I did not walk regularly. I did not walk far enough. I did not train on hills. I rarely carried my backpack. All big mistakes!

It wasn’t until I was over halfway into the Camino de Santiago that I actually felt physically ready to take on that climb over the Pyrenees. This lack of physical preparation led to a very hard and painful first week.

If I had prepared, I would have enjoyed the early days on the camino much more and would not have ended up on the side of the road in the foetal position crying 5km outside of Estella.

For my next camino, I will be prepared, and I will be sharing all of my physical preparations on the blog, so stay tuned!

What to pack

So… crossing my fingers and hoping for the best didn’t work.

DO NOT CARRY MORE THAN 10% OF YOUR TOTAL BODY WEIGHT

I began the Camino de Santiago with all my travel gear in my Osprey Farpoint 40L backpack weighing a total of 13kg with water. This was just plain stupidity.

As mentioned above, on day 5 I was ready to throw in the towel. All because, the lack of preparation and physical burden of carrying my heavy backpack. The extra weight caused havoc on my joints and muscles and I felt as if I could not go on.

Determined to continue (after a very teary eyed phone call with my mum), I bought a new day pack in Estella, filled it with no more than 6kg of camino gear (including water), and sent the rest of my items in my backpack to Los Arcos with the luggage service. I did this again to Logronno, where I shipped my non essential gear to Madrid.

Once I recovered from the strain, I could finally enjoy the Camino de Santiago.

Mental Preparation

I never really thought about the mental and spiritual journey I was undertaking when I decided to walk the Camino de Santiago. I blame being young and carefree…

There will be hard times. That’s a given.

You are pushing your body through limits you never knew existed. You are opening yourself up to solitude, and a quietness for thought. You will feel things you had tucked away in that box, deep in your psyche. However, at the same time, you will make new friends with fellow pilgrims and locals who will inspire you, witness stunning scenery, eat amazing food and soak in historic architecture.

Channelling the good to stay positive was the biggest key to enjoying and thriving on the Camino de Santiago. Once I caught onto this, I’m not sure you would have seen me walking without my face lit up by a smile.

Positivity and appreciation allowed me to walk through the pain, without feeling it (mostly).

However, with solitude comes thought, and the Camino surfaced things I had buried, things that I previously wasn’t ready to deal with so had locked them away, deep deep away. This is when the tears came. So many tears. Tens of kilometres worth of tears. The Camino gave me the space and time to finally move through the tears and back to running up mountains with a great big smile plastered on my face. And yes I actually did that, I ran the 10km up to O’Cebreiro – it was the last big mountain climb!

And that’s the lessons learned on preparing and planning for the camino summed up. If you have any questions or wish to hear more on any of these, please leave a comment below.

Until then, buen camino.