CAMINO FRANCES PRACTICAL.

CAMINO 1. St Jean Pied de Port to Tardajos, near Burgos
26th March - 10th April 2013

Schedule

Travel Details

25th March 2013
ETD London Stansted 06-30 hrs Ryanair Flight FR8378
ETA Biarritz 09-45 hrs

Bus 14 from Biarritz Airport to Bayonne Station (30 mins; 1 euro; pay on board)

Train ETD Bayonne Station 14-55 hrs
ETA St. Jean Pied de Port 16-20 hrs (9.60 euro)

Alternative: Taxi from Bayonne Station to St. Jean Pied de Port - approx 90 to 100 euros

Return from Burgos- Wednesday 10th April:

Bus from Burgos Bus Station ETD 10-15 hrs
ETA Bilbao 12-15 hrs (Euro 12.88)

BIZKAIBUS ETD Bilbao Bus Station 12-25 hrs ETA Bilbao Airport 12-45 hrs (Euro 1-35, pay on entry)

Easyjet Flight EZY3224 ETD Bilbao 13-40 hrs ETA London Stansted 14-30 hrs

 

Pilgrim's Passport or Credentials

 

This is available free by return post from http://www.pilgrims-to-santiago.com/freecredential.html, although they ask for a small donation to help them with their costs and support their organisation.

 

 

European Health Insurance Card

 

Make sure that your European Health Insurance Card is up to date and that you take it with you. I needed mine for admission to hospital in Burgos.

 

Copies of Key Passport Pages

Sentinel Debit/Credit Card Contact Information

ATM's

WiFi

Security in Albergues

Packing Details

 

Whilst the above totals nearly 13 kgs, I was wearing quite a few of the items and carried my walking pole and camera; nevertheless I estimate that my rucksack weighed approximately 11 kg when I started, which was a bit too much. I got rid of some items that I did not really need (such as the spare pair of gloves which went to a welcoming peregrino with cold hands, and I transferred all my toiletries etc into a plastic bag getting rid of my old and unnecessarily heavy toilet bag. But finally I posted a 2kg box of stuff to be collected at my destination .... my spare goretex jacket, a spare shirt, spare socks. a spare undershirt, a spare electricity adaptor, and my John Brierley guidebook.). This left me with basically one set of clothes for walking in, and one set for changing into in the evening. It is worth considering the purchase of a special lightweight rucksack for the Camino.... you can get 50 litre rucksacks weighing only 1200 grams!

 

Baggage Transfer

See www.jacotrans.com

I spoke to several people about using Jacotrans and their response was generally positive. It is not as complicated as it first appears, and many people used Jacotrans just for selected stages and arranged their bag transfer the night before. The way it works is that you get a "Jacotrans envelope"..... either get a few of them before you go or ask at the albergue.... fill in the details of the bag pick up point and the bag drop off point, put 7 euros in the envelope and seal it, and then get the albergue to phone Jacotrans to log the bag into their pick up and delivery schedule. Whilst this could save you carrying a heavy rucksack on a difficult leg, or perhaps when you are injured or have blisters, the only problem is that you do not know exactly what time your bag will arrive at the destination point, so if you want to go on further it can be a bit of a problem waiting for your bag to turn up! The other point to remember is that not all albergues/casa rural/pensions accept bag transfers.... you may have to send it to another albergues/casa rural/pension in the same town and pick it up from there. Below are scans of the Jacotrans envelope showing the detail, and the terms and conditions.

 

 

 

Jacotrans are not the only company offering this service. For example, if you don't fancy lugging your bag up O Cebreiro, there is a local company that will transfer it for you. When we climbed O Cebriero we arrived at the top at 10-30 a.m. and actually went on to do another stage (to Triacastela)........ but this would not have been possible if we had had to wait for the bag to arrive.

 

 

Another bag carrying service between Burgos and Leon

Spanish Postal System or Correos

Spanish Post Offices offer two standard "Caja Verde" boxes which come flat-pack and "flip-up" into shape. They have a self adhesive strip for sealing so all you need is a pen to write the address on. The "Caja Verde Mediana" box cost Euro 2-40 and measures 317 x 215 x 125 mm. I used one of these boxes to post 2 kg of clothes to Santiago de Compostela for Euro 7-30. You can send it to a hotel if you have booked one, or to the central post office in Santiago de Compostela. The other box is the "Caja Verde Grande" which costs Euro 2-95 and measures 390 x 280 x 190 mm.

CAMINO 2. - 1st & 2nd May 2013
Visit to Santiago de Compostela

Airport bus outside Hotel Universal in Praza de Galicia

CAMINO 3. - 22nd May to 14th June 2013
Tardajos, near Burgos to Santiago de Compostela

Schedule

Day	From	To	Hrs	Km	Cum
	London Stansted	Bilbao (Ryanair)
	Bilbao	Burgos (Bus
16	Tardajos	Hontanas (Albergue El Puntido)	4.5	21.5	324.5
17	Hontanas	Boadilla del Camino (Albergue En El Camino)	6.5	26	350.5
18	Boadilla del Camino	Carrion de los Condes (Albergue Espiritu Santo)	6.5	25	375.5
19	Carrion de los Condes	Terradillos de los Templarios (Albergue Los Templarios)	5.5	24	399.5
20	Terradillos de los Templarios	El Burgo Ranero (Albergue Domenico Laffi)	7	31.7	431.2
21	El Burgo Ranero	Mansilla de la Mulas (Amigo Del Perigrinos Mansilla)	4.5	19	450.2
22	Mansilla de la Mulas	León (Paradores San Marcos)	4	20	470.2
23	Rest Day	León (Paradores San Marcos)
24	Bus to Hospital de Orbigo	Astorga (Albergue Amigos del Camino de Santiago Astorga)	4	17	487.2
25	Astorga	Rabanal del Camino (Hosteria A Cruz Del Ferro)	4.5	20	507.2
26	Rabanal del Camino	Molinaseca (Casa Rural El Horno)	6	24.5	531.7
27	Molinaseca	Villafranca del Bierzo (Hotel Posada Las Donas del Portazgo)	8	31	562.7
28	Villafranca del Bierzo	Vega de Valcarce (Casa Rural El Recanto)	4	18	580.7
29	Vega de Valcarce	Triacastela (Meson Vilasante)	9.5	33	613.7
30	Triacastela	Sarria (Pension c/o Escalinata)	5	21.5	635.2
31	Sarria	Portomarin (Posada Del Camino Portomarin)	5.5	21.5	656.7
32	Portomarin	Palas de Rei (Pension Residencia Barcelona)	6	22	678.7
33	Palas de Rei	Arzua (Pension Casa Frade)	7	25.5	704.2
34	Arzua	O Pedrouzo (Pension Pedrouzo)	4.5	19	723.2
35	O Pedrouzo	Santiago de Compostela (Hospederia San Martin Pinario)	4.5	20	743.2
36	Sightseeing	Santiago de Compostela (Hospederia San Martin Pinario)
37	Sightseeing	Santiago de Compostela (Hospederia San Martin Pinario)
	Ryanair Flight 8379 ETD Santiago de Compostela 10-05 hrs ETA London Stansted 11-10 hrs