camino | Go Go Chlo

Getting ready to travel 824 kilometres on foot.

This year, after being trapped at home, I decided to pack up my life, and start my wanderings across the globe. The beginning of this journey starts with a physical and mental challenge.

I am travelling by train to Irun, Spain, and walking West across the Northern Spain coastline, along an ancient path to Santiago de Compostela. This path or ‘camino’ has been travelled on for hundreds of years, ever since the remains of St James was discovered in Santiago de Compostela in 9th century, and pilgrims made their way to see his tomb.

If you have seen my other posts, you may have picked up on the fact that I love churches, and with this being traditionally a religious route, it really appeals to me, because of all the churches I will see. I also love walking, and have been learning Spanish for four years, so it seemed like the perfect way to start the year ahead.

Wow though! There has been a lot of preparation to get ready for the trip! The pilgrimage involves carrying everything you need on your back, and staying every night in a different location, as well as lots of training.

Training

I am not the fittest person, and whilst I enjoy walking, I have never done such a consistent walking itinerary. I have done mountain climbing, but never walked over them over several days. Most people recommend 12 weeks of training to prepare for the challenge (especially as the Northern route is one of the most rugged).

I had less than eight weeks…

On average, pilgrims must be able to walk approximately 21-25km (13-15 miles) per day, and one of the longest stretches goes as high as 39 kilometres. Since deciding to do this challenge, I have been slowly increasing my walking distances from walking 7 miles every other day and having a big walk at the weekend, and slowly getting up to regular 21km walks. I was also mixing this in with using an exercise bike, swimming and a better diet. It was all going well until two weeks into training, I sprained my ankle. I then had to start again from scratch. I now feel confident that I can walk the distance, but my speed is very dependant on the weather (which is likely to be rainy), the terrain (which is likely to be uneven), my ankle (which is going to be strapped up), and my backpack (likely to be very heavy)!

Accommodation and Covid-19

The route normally has traditional accommodation for pilgrims to stay in, called ‘albergues’. These are generally public buildings such as monasteries, halls, or train stations, that have bunks for pilgrims to sleep in for very little money. Unfortunately, Covid-19 has meant that many albergues did not open this year, and even some that did, will be shutting for the end of the high season when I arrive. So, booking the accommodation has been a little trickier than expected, and in some places I will need to walk further each day to make it to my bed. I now have my first week of accommodation booked, this is made up of a mix of albergues, hostels, pensions (guesthouses), and hotels. If I ever get caught out though, I do have a poncho that doubles as a rain shelter, so it’s all good!

Booking the accommodation, I used regular booking platforms, and also directly contacted albergues and tourist information centres by email in spanish. This has been very successful so far. I would recommend using a cashback platform when making bookings, to earn back some of your money. I have used TopCashback for almost all my accommodation so far, and made over £30 back in cash so far (for about 10 days of hostels). It is completely free to benefit from this scheme, so it is an obvious win.

I have put all these extra earnings into a giant spreadsheet, along with all my expected expenses for the trip. The three months total I will be spending in Spain, should hopefully total under £4000.

Covid-19 has also meant that I have had to be more cautious with my documentation and vigilant of checking the .gov website. For example, I am travelling into Portugal before I go into Spain over land. Portugal were previously accepting the NHS vaccination pass, but has since changed their advice to say that you must have an EU vaccine card, you can only get this if you are an EU citizen. Thanks a lot BREXIT! Very frustrating. So I will now need to test before entering Portugal, but thankfully the over land travel between Spain and Portugal, does not require testing..

Technology

The ancient pilgrims never had to worry about what tech they would need, because they just followed the sun and the other travellers, West to their final destination. In our modern world, I have been encouraged to use apps and tech available to me to make sure I am as safe as possible. It does feel a little like cheating though!

I have available to me:

2 Portable chargers
Digital camera
Two apps about the pilgrimage, with maps, updates, photos, and resources
A panic alarm app, SOS emergency app, and emergency services app.
My Strava and Fitbit accounts
NHS digital covid pass
And of course, good old, Google Maps.

I do have a traditional map and compass, just in case I still want/need to use traditional methods of orienteering. I will still be using my torch rather than moonlight though.

Packing

Packing has been a real challenge of distinguishing the absolute must have items from the luxuries. For example, I now consider the following items as ‘luxuries’; shampoo and conditioner, a third evening shirt, a wired bra, and a razor. That’s right… I am going to be a stinky, hairy mess of a woman for a few months! I am quite excited to let loose! Haha

The advice is to not carry more than 10% of your body weight on your back. I already invested in a heavy sleeping bag, as I will be travelling during a cold season, so sacrifices had to be made. The weight of my backpack now consists of the following proportions: