Walking in Spain

I had wanted to walk the Camino de Santiago for a long time but felt that it was a trip I wouldn’t be able to fit into normal life given that I work and am limited in holiday time. However my sister found a great self guided holiday which meant I was able to experience the Camino in a week.

The journey

We flew from London to Santiago in northern Spain. Once there we took a bus to Sarria where we were starting our walk back to Santiago cathedral. It was an easy journey as Santiago is very well set up for tourists walking the Camino.

Where we stayed

We stayed at lots of different hotels. We booked through Macs Adventure, the Sarria to Santiago self guided walk. This meant they booked all our accommodation along the route for us and arranged for our luggage to be taken between each hotel so we didn’t have to carry it each day. 

How we spent our time

To receive the Camino de Santiago certificate you have to walk a minimum of 100km. There are lots of different routes you can take to Santiago but the French way is one of the most popular, and we had a really positive experience as it was mainly beautiful scenery and very well signposted. From Sarria to Santiago is officially 117km however we ended up walking about 130km over six days as to get to some of the hotels meant walking slightly out of the way.

The walking is split into fairly even stretches over the six days and can mainly be achieved in the morning. There are places along the route for lunch and other refreshments, it’s all very well set up for walking. It was a great experience and would be easy to go on your own as you are surrounded by other walkers, but I really enjoyed going with my mum and sister and it was quite a bonding experience.