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
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)
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)
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
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
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)
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.