http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Way_of_St._James
We had actually wanted to hike the West Highland Way in Scotland, but the tickets to Scotland were quite expensive and the exchange rate with the pound was really awful as well. Delta ended up having a once in a lifetime sale and we discovered we could get round trip tickets to Madrid for $210 each. That along with me being laid off and having more time than I will ever have again until I retire, sealed the deal for us taking an almost 3 week trip to Spain. We knew that it would not be enough time to hike the entire route, so we decided to start in Burgos, with an ambitious goal of averaging 35 km per day.
Once we purchased our tickets. We requested our "Credencial del Peregrino" from the American Pilgrims on the Camino. This document would grant us access to the "alburgues", or pilgrim hostels, along the route. The alburgues are accomidations that only pilgrims can stay in. They are usually bunkhouse style and cost 3-10 Euros a night per person. The credencial also serves as a record of places that you visit. You can get "sellos" (stamps) from alburgues, bars, churches, town halls, random citizens, etc. and it serves as proof of your travels.
Since we were walking and needed to carry everything at all times, we packed light. Only 1 change of clothes, our fleece sleeping bags, rain gear, and only the bare essentials went into our packs. The base weight of our packs (without any water or food) was about 13 lbs. for Chris and about 14 lbs. for Rachel.
The only thing that I can equate the camino to in the U.S. is the Appalachain Trail. But the camino is not wilderness hiking like the Appalachian Trail, and it is much, much, much more popular than the AT. We went through towns on average of every 5 to 10 km. We stayed in the alburgues and "hostals" (cheap hotels) along the way. We ate in restaraunts and bought snacks from grocery stores. The Camino is extremely popular in Europe, but apparantly not that many Americans do it. Other pilgrims often commented that we were the first Americans that they had met on the camino.
This blog is a typed up version of the journal we kept while hiking and the pictures that we took along the way, supplemented with some pictures and info from the internet.
This is a map of all the routes across Europe
Here is a map of the Camino Frances. We started in Burgos.
