Overview

  • Camino de Santiago routes completed: 2 Camino Frances & Camino Finisterre
  • Total distance walked: 889 kilometers (551 miles)
  • Starting point: St. Jean Pied de Port, France
  • End point: Atlantic Ocean / Faro de Fisterre, Spain
  • Distance on the Camino Frances: 800 kilometers (496 miles)
  • Distance on the Camino Finisterre: 89 kilometers (55 miles)
  • Start and and dates of my Camino: September 6 – October 2, 2018
  • Duration of time on the Camino de Santiago: 26 days
  • Walking pace: 34.2 km/day (21.2 miles/day)
  • Longest distance walked in a single day: 53 kilometers (32.8 miles)
  • Spanish provinces (or states) I walked through: 6
  • Days off: None
Wooden Camino Sign

Getting there & back

  • International flights to get to Spain: 2 (Newark-Madrid-San Sebastian)
  • Additional train rides to get to St. Jean Pied de Port, France: 2 (Hendaye-Bayonne-SJPdP)
  • Distance walked from the San Sebastian airport to Hendaye train station: 4.4 km
  • International borders crossed during that walk: 1
  • Total travel time from the U.S. to St. Jean Pied de Port, France: 20 hours
  • Modes of travel needed to get back home after my Camino: 5 (bus, train, subway, airplane, car)
  • Travel advice to other pilgrims: Fly into Paris (instead of Madrid)
At least I never needed to use a donkey!

Food & Drink

  • Number of mornings I drank cafe con leche: All 26 days!
  • Wine regions I walked through: 3 (Navarra, Rioja, Bierzo)
  • Number of wine fountains I drink from: 1 – Bodegas Irache winery
  • Favorite Spanish wine varietal I tried: Tempernillo
  • Brands of Spanish beer I tried: 2 (Estrella & Mahou)
  • Other tasty Spanish libations consumed: Sangria
  • Days I ran out of water (and then overheated): 1
  • Times I ate paella for dinner: 1
  • What I normally ate for dinner: Fresh salad and salty fries – it’s what I craved
  • Meals served while exotic birds roamed around my table: 1 (in Hospital de Orbigal)
My dinner companion

Wildlife on the Camino

  • Wooly sheep spotted while climbing into the Pyrenees: Hundreds
  • Horses and ponies roaming loose near the top of the Pyrenees: 20+
  • Bulls running loose in the street of Pamplona: 0
  • Herds of horned cows that tried to gore me elsewhere on the Camino: 1
  • Wildlife parks/nature preserves I walked through: 1 (near Logroño)
  • Horseback riders on the Camino: 6 (in a park near Burgos)
  • Pilgrims walking the camino with a companion donkey: 1
  • Types of colorful, exotic birds at the restaurant garden in Hospital de Orbigal: 8
  • Albergue cats who got tons of love and affection from me in Fromista: 2
Rowdy cows!

What I Saw Along the Way

  • Churches and cathedrals I visited: 14
  • Number of monasteries I toured: 1 (Samos Monastery)
  • Bullrings I visited in Pamplona: 1 (Plaza de toros)
  • Parades I stopped to watch during my journey: 2
  • Vineyards I walked past: 20-30
  • Giant fields filled with acres upon acres of sunflowers: too many to count
  • Number of museums I visited: 2
  • Albergues I slept in while walking the Camino: 20 (77% of my nights)
  • Times I got to a town after all the albergues were already full: 3
  • Number of private hotel rooms I sprang for during my camino: 6
  • Pools I soaked in after a hot day of walking: 2
  • Different nationalities of pilgrims I met during my journey: 14
Samos Monastery

Odds & Ends

  • Days of rain I experienced on the Camino: 3
  • Days the high temperature exceeded 80°F: 15 (58% of the days!)
  • Hottest day on my Camino: 87°F (on September 23rd)
  • Quietest stretch of the Camino: the 180-km long meseta (between Burgos and Leon)
  • Busiest section of the Camino: the last 100 km east of Santiago
  • Visits to pharmacies for blister supplies: 5
  • Pairs of new socks I purchased: 1 (Injinji toe socks!)
  • Pairs of sandals bought to let my weary feet rest in town: 1
  • Pilgrims who began & finished their Camino on the same days as me: 1 (Marco from Italy)
Finisterre
At the end of the Camino

Final Thoughts

The Camino de Santiago is the longest continuous hiking journey I’ve completed to date. In hindsight though, I really wished I would have take another week of time to enjoy this experience. My breakneck pace didn’t allow me to see everything I wanted to explore before I had to fly back home to the U.S.

That said, I really loved this experience and the one decision I absolutely don’t regret was adding the extra 55 miles on at the end of my journey to walk to the Atlantic Ocean. In the end, I literally walked across the entire length of Spain! That accomplishment still boggles my mind.