How to Walk the Camino de Santiago: Week 1

Week 1 Summary:

Day 1 - St. Jean Pied de Port to Roncesvalles via the Napoleon Route (15.3 mi/24.7 km)

Day 2 - Roncesvalles to Zubiri (13.9 mi/22.3km)

Day 3 - Zubiri to Pamplona (13.1 mi/21.1 km)

Day 4 - Pamplona to Puente La Reina (14.8 mi/23.8 km)

Day 5 - Puente La Reina to Estella (13.5 mi/21.8 km)

Day 6 - Estella to Los Arcos (13.4 mi/21.6 km)

Day 7 - Los Arcos to Logrono (17.1 mi/27.6 km)

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Whew! What a week. From sheep and horses in the Pyrenees Mountains to medieval hamlets, romanesque bridges, and free wine fountains, we have completed the first 7 days of the Camino de Santiago. We walked about 101 miles in these 7 days and we feel it. We’re now off the “Spanish schedule” as we get up early to begin walking (usually by 8-8:30) and have dinner very early (7:00 pm). This is because we typically go to bed between 8:30-9:30 out of pure exhaustion, but we wake up refreshed (or at least in high spirits) ready to do it again. We knew the physically demanding expectations of the first day in the Pyrenees, but I don’t think there is any way to prepare for a full day of uphill walking. We passed the high point of 1,429m and were rewarded with a day full of breathtaking views.

We have wanted to walk the Camino for some time now, but never thought we’d get the time to walk the whole thing in one go. We’ve already met people from around the world, and even a few close to home. We are using two different guidebooks to help us plan our day to day segments and nightly accommodations which are, Hiking the Camino de Santiago by Anna Dintaman and David Landis and A Pilgrim's Guide to the Camino de Santiago by John Brierley. The former was received as a gift and is by far our favorite of the two books. It lists the accommodations (hotels and albergues) in every town with prices and whether or not there is wifi, washer/dryer, etc. We love the simplistic nature of the book and easy access to must-see attractions after a long day of walking.




We also love the first book because we are booking our accommodations ahead of time and it's easy to look ahead to see what's available. We're doing this for two reasons: one, we arrived in St. Jean by bus from Pamplona and headed straight to the Pilgrim Office only to find a long line out the door of other Pilgrims looking to begin their journey. As we walked around the city looking for a room, or at least a bed in one of the Albergues (hostel), everything was full or filling up fast. We learned quickly that we couldn’t be picky and ended up lucking out at an albergue where we got our own room with a shared bathroom. Not knowing where we were going to sleep that night was stressful for us. Reason number two, we are paying Caminofacil to transfer our large backpacks from one city to the next each day, and we need to let them know where we’re staying by 8:00 pm everyday. So far this is working out great for us, even though we get a few comments each day from other pilgrims that our packs look too small (we think they’re just jealous). :)

So far we're really enjoying our time on the Camino. It reminds me of training for a big race (even though Ricardo keeps telling me this is not a race...) because after walking all day long we are starving and we eat...a lot (even though I appear to be the only one in these food photos).

We see so many amazing things every day and have experienced wind, rain and very hot days. We've officially walked our way through the Navarra region of Spain and have entered into La Rioja region (lots of grapes and wineries!)

Extra Information - Where We Stayed & Pricing (based on 2 ppl):

Night 1: St. Jean Pied de Port - La Bendicion: €44 private room/shared bath. Walked in to reserve.

Night 2: Roncesvalles - Albergue Roncesvalles: €24 bunk beds. We booked on their website ahead of time.

Night 3: Zubiri - Pension Amets: €55 private room/private bath. Booking.com

Night 4: Pamplona - Pension Room Pamplona: €32 private room/shared bath. Booking.com

Night 5: Puente La Reina - Albergue Jakue: €40 - We definitely recommend the meals that they offer here! Private room/private bath. Booking.com

Night 6: Estella - Agora Hostel: €40 (included breakfast). Each bed has its own "pod" with privacy curtain and reading lamp. Fancy hostel ;) Bunk beds. Booking.com

Night 7:  Los Arcos - La Casa de la Abuela: €35 - We highly recommend! Do the dinner and breakfast if you can. This was our best overall value so far as well. Private room/shared bath. We called ahead to reserve.

Night 8: Logrono - Albergue Logrono: €30 private room/private bath. We called ahead to reserve.