Day 1, St Jean Pied de Port to Roncesvalles, 27.1 km
Day 2, Roncesvalles to Larrasoaña, 25 km
Day 3, Larrasoaña to Uterga, 34.5 km
Day 4, Uterga to Estella, 30 km
Day 5, Estella to Los Arcos, 21 km
Day 6, Los Arcos to Logroño, 29.5 km
Day 7, Logroño to Nájera 28 km
Day 8, Nájera to Santo Domingo de la Calzada, 21 km
Day 9, Santo Domingo de la Calzada to Espinosa del Camino, 32 km
Day 10, Espinosa del Camino to Atapuerca, 21.5 km
Day 11, Atapuerca to Tajdajoa, 30 km
Day 12, Tajdajoa to Castrojeriz, 30.5 km
Day 13, Castrojeriz to Fromista, 25.5 km
Day 14, Fromista to Carrión de Los Condes, 21 km
Day 15, Carrión de Los Condes to San Nicolás del Real Camino, 31 km
Day 16, San Nicolás del Real Camino to Calzadillos de Los Hermanillos, 20 km
Day 17, Calzadillos de Los Hermanillos to Villarente del Puente, 32 km
Day 18, Villarente del Puente to Virgen del Camino, 22 km
Day 19, Virgen del Camino to Hospital de Órbiga, 27 km
Day 20, Hospital de Órbiga to Santa Catalina de Samoza, 25 km
Day 21, Santa Catalina de Samoza to Molinaseca, 37 km
Day 21 extra, Cruz de Ferro
Day 22, Molinaseca to Villafranca del Bierza, 31 km
Day 23, Villafranca del Bierza to La Laguna de Castilla, 26 km
Day 24, La Laguna de Castilla to Triacastela, 26 km
Day 25, Triacastela to Ferreiros, 32.5 km
Day 26, Ferreiros to Palas de Rei, 33 km
Day 27, Palas de Rei to Arzúa, 30 km
Day 28, Arzúa to Arca do Pino, 20 km
Day 29, Arca do Pino to Santiago de Compostela, 20 km
Day 30, Santiago de Compostela to Negreira, 21 km
Day 31, Negreira to Maroñas, 20 km
Day 32, Maroñas to Dumbría, 22.5 km
Day 33, Dumbría to Muxia, 25 km
Day 34, Muxia to Finisterre 32 km
Day 35, Finisterre to nowhere, 0 km
Assessment of clothes and gear
Packing list Please note, this original list has been updated after the experience of my first camino. Please see here for updated version.
Post camino assessment and reflections
Other posts from before and after my camino can be found in the archives or categories sections, in the panel on the right
Trepidatious traveller - camino blog 
Thank you so much for this complete and in-depth details of your walk. It has been very inspiring to read through your daily blog and helped me and my family make the decision to do the pilgrimage in 2015.
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Hi Carlos. Thanks for your message, it is much appreciated. You will have an amazing adventure with your family – buen camino!
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Thank you Maggie, I have read the whole trip. I am leaving April 8-9, 2014 and this is has really helped me decide what to consider for clothing – given possible weather conditions. It was so great to read – felt I was there.
Brian
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Thanks Brian for taking the time to comment on the blog. And I am so glad you found it useful. I plan to walk the camino Portuguese in the same time frame next year. It is a fabulous time to walk – the wild flowers are stunning and the greater scenery is lush and green. You will have a fabulous experience.
Buen camino!
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I’ll be walking the CP on/about the first week of September so I’ll be looking forward for your comments. May start in Lisbon, but undecided for now.
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Hi Lil. Am continuing to feel anxious about walking from Lisbon, but will do it anyway. I hope my experiences turn out to be encouraging!
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Gonna start walking in Portugal begin of May. First Rota Vicentina from south west up north, then find way to Lisbon and start caminho there. Will try setup and maintain blog/fb diary while on road
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Hi Patrick. I’ve not heard of the Rota Vicentina previously. Just looked it up. It sounds lovely. Send me a link to your blog when you set it up – I shall be interested to follow it. Best wishes for your trip, Maggie
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Hi Maggie – thank you for pulling together such a useful and informative blog. I have researched so many different sources in preparation for my solo Camino Frances, which I start mid-May ’14, but your blog really seems to “tick all the boxes” from my perspective. Especially detailing a realistic time-line that I can build my own Camino around. Thank you so much.
I also liked your honest reflection on the hymn “To be a Pilgrim”. There is a Psalm I came across (84) that says a lot about such walks – paraphrased, “Blessed (happy) are they who set their hearts on pilgrimage”.
Thank you again.
Chris
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Hi Chris, many thanks for stopping by and especially for your kind comment. I’m really glad you found the blog useful. I am sure you will have an amazing trip and I wonder how long it will be for you start planning your next one!
Buen camino!
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hello,
i am hiking the camino this year about the same time you hiked last year. i am glad to have found your blog and noted how cold the weather was. i will pack more layers. i have questions about bedbugs. you said you used a protection sheet. were you glad you did so? did you hear or see many incidents of bedbug infestations? do you have recommendations of which type to buy and where they are available? also,are you allowed to camp along the way?
peace,
lisa
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Hi Lisa, many thanks for your comment. You are about to have a fabulous experience. I think last year was exceptionally cold, but then very year seems exceptional lately. You want to be able to keep warm in the evenings without putting your boots back on, so some kind of footwear you can wear with socks if necessary. I also used gloves quite a lot, especially first thing in the mornings.
We didn’t come across any bed bugs. Our only experience was on arrival at an albergue and couple of pilgrims had been segregated as they knew they had been in contact the night before. I think arrangements were being made to fumigate their packs and contents.
I used a protective sheet which I purchased from amazon – see here Lifesystems.
It is a little undersized and I was seriously considering buying a double version to take this year, but finally decided to take what worked for me last year, and save the extra weight.
Buen camino
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Hey Maggie,
Great blog, found it via Marianne’s. Have always wanted to do the Camino de Santiago, I live in Sevilla and would like to do it from here one day, if my wife let’s me. I was up in Santiago a couple of years ago, great city. Wish you the best on your walk and will be following. Good luck.
Barry
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Thanks Barry. I am already thinking about walking the via de la plata next year, and possibly starting from home and joining up with the Mozarabe route, and I haven’t even actually started this walk yet! I absolutely loved Santiago, and have now started a new love affair with Lisbon.
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Hello Maggie — I have just finished reading your Camino blog and loved following you and Ella all the way down the road! This is the second blog which I have read in the past few days, and I fear that, at almost 80, I have been bitten by the Camino bug. Right now, it’s off to do a LOT more research, tentatively looking forward to a trip similar to yours in fall of 2015 (God wiling, that is…). But first have to convince Headquarters that this is something which we must — and can — do together. Great story, excellent pics from your daily hikes, and lots of useful commentary at the end. So, THANK YOU, and have a wonderful time on the Portuguese Camino.
Henry McCown
Austin, Texas
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Hello Henry. Many thanks for reading the blog and for your comment. I hope I am still able to contemplate walking a camino when I reach 80. I know there are many in their 70’s and 80’s walking. There are plenty of options on the Frances route to make shorter stages. It’s just important that you each walk at your own pace and don’t try to force yourself to walk faster or slower than is natural for you. When I walked with my daughter Ella, and also with my new camino buddie Elly this year, we rarely walked together for many kilometres, but would meet up at cafés or shady spots along the way.
I do hope ‘headquarters’ agrees to your plan and I wish you both an amazing journey.
Buen camino!
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I have thoroughly enjoyed reading about your Camino, and your posts on Camino resources are excellent. Planning for Camino 2015, and your blog has been inspiring!
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Thanks for your visit maureen – I am very pleased that the blog has been useful. Which route are you planning and what season?
Buen camino!
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My friend & I are planning to walk Camino Frances from St Jean Pied de Port, to Leon, which is where we started in 2012. It’s exciting to be in the planning stages again, and we will either be there in May/June or October/November. Much depends on scheduling lives & time. Looking forward to our eventual return nonetheless. Thanks for your reply!
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I just finished reading your blog for the Camino Frances. I loved every page!,, i really “walked” the Camino with you. I am 80 yrs. old. I lived in Santiago for 3 years as a newly wed, since my husband (puertorican, like me) was a medical student there. I too studied, and got my Ph D there. Our 2 daughters are gallegas and our 2 sons were born in P R. While there, under Franco, hardly anyone talked or walked the Camino. How I wish I had done it then. Now, I cannot, since I have all kinds of old age sickness. Hope to go this summer and visit the towns And hamlets along the Camino, for 200 kms or so, but of course walking is out. Also your photos are outstanding. Please recieve my thanks for making this experience so worthwhile. May Santiago bless you
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Thank you so much Conchy – your lovely message brought tears to my eyes. What adventures you must have had and what a romantic place to live as a newly-wed.
It must have been a very different experience living in Spain under Franco.
I wish you a wonderful trip this summer – I am sure you will get a very good feel for the camino, even from a car. Just drive slowly so that you can take in all the marvellous views.
And I can tell you, I do feel blessed. Not necessarily by St James, but from all the really lovely comments I receive on this blog, particularly yours.
I wish you buen camino
Maggie
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Would love to see yr pictures etc on your adventure wish I dare do something like that !
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The thought is more intimidating that the actual journey Maureen. If I can do it, I’m sure almost anyone who is reasonably fit can
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Hilarious!
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What a charming blog! And the pictures! Thank you much. I am starting from le puy late April 2017 and may have to detour to England for a few months before renewing my visa and finishing the Camino. I shared your blog on Facebook so that family and friends can see how wonderful an experience the Camino can be. Happy travels!
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Hi George. Thanks for your lovely comment. I haven’t walked any of the caminos starting outside of Spain – maybe in years to come. I hope your family get a good feel of the camino from the blog.
Buen camino to you!
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Thank you, I just received a call from a friend in California who may join me in SerrÃa. It would be a nice way to end the camino.
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That will, indeed, be an excellent finale to your journey.
Buen Camino!
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Hello, my name is Carine and I come from Northern Ireland but live in Yorkshire England. I completed the French Way St Jean Pied to Port to Burgos in 12 days with my friend Heather in Sept 2017. We are now planning to walk from Burgos to Santiago in 16 days this September – we preferred longer walking days and family commitments – esp grandparent duties, mean we need to take under 3 weeks. In preparation for the second leg I have read your blog up to Day 12 of your journey and also 3 later blogs on longer days we are planning for stage 2. I will be making my way through the rest of your days over the next few months as well as following up any links. Thank you so much for all you have written so far. I have enjoyed being reminded of this year’s walk and I have made notes on all your handy hints. Wonderful.
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Hi Carine and welcome to the addictive world of camino walking! When I blogged from the CF I wasn’t attempting to make it useful to others, merely to document my camino (as I have a very poor memory), but I am very pleased if you find it at all helpful. Later caminos walked along lesser known routes include more detail. Maybe check out my ‘resources’ page and gear assessments for useful tips and links. Buen camino!
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Hi! What a great blog you’ve built. A real gift to all intrepid peregrinos. I can’t believe you’ve done 6 and the Camino starting in Almeria will be a true test of will. Just want to tell you how touching your comments about the Cruz de Ferro were. I too placed a stone beseeching light burdens for all the children of a dead friend (he had 150 foster kids). My Camino from St.Jean included a bad accident that put me out of commission for two year afterwards. Terrible feet but amazing new friendships. I’d love to gift you a free copy of the book I wrote describing my journey if you are interested. – Cheers. Stan
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Hello Stan, and huge apologies for not responding sooner. After eight weeks of posting every day, I have taken a rather long holiday from my blog.
Wow, 150 foster children! That must surely be a record. I hope you get a second attempt at the camino, it is such a wonderful experience. I would love to read your book – is it available on line?
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