Camino

Lizz…John has a journal that is well worth your time to read below to prep you on your trip. If you would like to contact him by email let me know as I’m sure he would love to help you out in your planning.

GO HERE

Hi Lizz,

Are you member of UK outdoor website http://www.outdoorsmagic.com
if not its worth signing up.

I will do both

Email is

Rebelgirluk at gmail dot com

Very glad to be put in touch with…

hey rebel girl –

While on my list, I've not yet done the camino so sorry, i'm zero help… But I've certainly dreamed about it enough and it seems the first thing (for me) to decide is which route. And of the many, the two most popular are the Norté or the Frances… Found this link useful: http://www.caminoforums.com/camino-del-norte/2923-camino-del-norte-camino-frances-some-food-thought.html

But as I really can't help you, a shameless request for you to help me: I'd love to do a long walk in Wales later this year. Best months / routes / ideas? While tarp tenting mostly, trotting down for an evening or two in a nice pub getting to know folks along the way definitely part of the plan.

lloniannau,

pete

Lizz,
My wife did the Camino in Northern Spain in 2013. If you would like to contact her PM me and I can get you her contact info. She started around May 1 and finished around the 10th if June. She didn't camp.

Dave

Hey there – three fab long distance walks – the coast path – you can do the whole thing! But the gorgeous bit is the Pembroke Coast path – Fishguard round to St David's and beyond. Beautiful and both ends accessible by public transport, hosteling and camping possible. Pembroke coast path doable in about ten to fourteen days. Lots of up and down as it's cliffs but there are fabulous views, the islands of the coast etc and St. David's is lovely. 186 miles or so

Or Offa's Dyke path from Chepstow to Prestatyn which is basically along the border between England and Wales – again hosteling possible for some stops, camping possible for all. There are also bed and breakfasts relatively cheap. Both ends accessible by public transport. Up and down up and down by hills not mountains (except maybe one) doable in two to three weeks or many section hike it in two bits and go at a leisurely pace 177 miles

Lastly Glyndwr Way – basically from Kington on the English/Welsh border to Aberystwyth on the coast in mid Wales (imagine basically walking West to the sea), although the main version loops back on itself to end in Welshpool Camping available, Bed and breakfast available, maybe one or two hostels along the route. Aberystwyth is on a train route, Kington accessible by bus fromGloucester, or Hereford, or possibly Cheltenham which all have train stations. 120- 135 miles depending on if you walk to the coast or do the big loop.

When to walk? I'd say any time after Easter. April – September is prime walking time. Can be gloriously sunny in July and August, but we know to expect rain and wind a lot. Apparently we get the most wind in the world! On these three routes you'd get decent views, up and downs, opportunities for re-fuelling, and places to drop down into to drink beer or eat fish and chips. You'd feel a bit stretched by some of the walking (unless you're hyper fit) but not too much – I can do all three and I am comfortably middle aged. Most paths are very clearly marked.

If you look at the long distance walking association http://www.ldwa.org.uk website they also have detail on each of these as well as links to pages specifically for these routes. What else? Ask me more I can burble about wales and walking for ages! Oh, and if you don't want to try and bring a stove on a plane I can lend you a jetboil.

hey rebel girl,

Thanks so much for all the information – much appreciated. And burbling to boot – one just doesn't get hear the word much in my part of the woods… So as I zero in on my Wales trip I just may take you up on your offer for more burble am cymru -:) And I also own a jet boil, figure on just buying my canisters over there.

cheers,

peter

A few opinions about both of the above topics.

First, the Camino. We have not walked this route, but have done some research on it. We crossed the main stem of the Camino near the French/Spanish border when we did the HRP. The Camino is one of the most heavily walked routes in the world: in 2014 over 230,000 people walked at least some portion of the Way. Do not expect to have much solitude.

Now to Wales. We have walked the Pembrokeshire Coastal Path, Offa's Dyke Path, a portion of the not-yet formalized North Coast Path, and the Cambrian Way.

Please see our annotated trip report at:http://amyl.smugmug.com/Backpacking/Europe Click on the 2009.07 Wales/England Walk link for details on the latter three walks.

Walking anywhere in the British Isles is a great pleasure and the trips in Wales were all excellant. If you haven't traveled there, you are in for a fine time. You can reserve B&B's, which in the high season will likely be necessary in order to ensure lodging, or you can hope for the best. We stealth camped on most nights and never had any issues with finding a reasonable place to set up.

Expect rain. The people were generally friendly, however Welsh is an incomprehensible language. Fortunately, all of the signage is bilingual. The National Trails are very well marked, to the point that you might be able to do them without maps (although I don't recommend this). The Pembrokeshire Coastal Path is mostly fine walking, although you do have to traverse the industrial areas around Milford Haven. We found these interesting, but for natural countryside aficionados, this might be unpleasant. The St. David's peninsula is spectacular.

Offa's Dyke is a wilder walk in the sense that almost all of it is in the countryside, except for passing through a couple of villages and a small market town or two. The views are fine and there is some really nice ridgetop walking. Like all of these areas, it is not wilderness, but very enjoyable none the less.

The Cambrian Way is not a waymarked route and requires much more planning, but is very rewarding. It mostly stays in the hills and outside of a few areas like Snowdonia, you won't run into a lot of other hikers. The guide book is a bit eccentric, like the person who laid out this route, but quite useable. The Cambrian Way was probably the most rewarding of the routes we walked in Wales, but requires more planning and a lot more effort.

James (writing for Amy)

Da iawn, diolch ynfawr iawn nawr – burble yn Gymraeg yn dal i fod burble! Ech bod croeso mawr.

Welsh is tricky, but everyone speaks English. Some places have more first language Welsh speakers – Carmarthenshire, the Llyn peninsular, the North West, and other pockets in Gwynedd. Sometimes you might go into a pub and think people have switched from speaking English to Welsh – just to be tricky for the stranger in the midst. The good news is that Welsh has a lot of English loan words and phrases so people switch English in even if they are mostly conversing in Welsh – it's sometimes called Wenglish! But because an English speaker knows the English words thir brain tricks them into thinking there's been a switch into another language when they start to realise that they can't comprehend most of the words.

I have never met anyone who switched into Welsh when a stranger came into a cafe or shop. They were speaking Welsh to start with, it's their first language. Just like in Paris people speak French. But lots of people who are as Welsh as Welsh don't speak the language – complicated historical, class and geographical reasons. Also Welsh in the north of the country is differnt to Welsh in the south.

I wish to thank Lizz for her helpful insights into Welsh. No criticism was intended by my comment. The issue for us revolved around the Welsh names for places printed on our maps. Whenever we would stop to ask a local for directional information and we would pronounce the name of a place as we read it (and some names we didn't even attempt to say), they would look at us in utter confusion. For an native English speaker, correctly pronouncing a place name like Troedyrhiw, Bettws, Ynysybwl, or Cwmllynfell was nigh on impossible. The process of sorting this out added to the enjoyment of the trips.

James

No criticism taken at all.

I love the craziness of the language – I started a Japanese class last year and the teacher kept saying how hard Japanese was. And I thought, we mutate word endings and beginnings depending on what is before or after, even proper names and place names so Machynlleth can be Vachynlleth and so on. (Except a hard v sound is spelt with an F and a soft one with ff) Ho ho ho.

I can remember my favourite tourist enquiry was someone asking where is Mac-an-leith it took me a moment to realise they were already there!

I know it's an absolute horror to try and pronounce cos double letters aspirate or soften the letter dd is th for example. Y is usually pronounced ur, except when it isn't. And so on.

And English place names can be a horror too -towcester is pronounced toaster! Bicester is bister, Chester is, no wait that is Chester! Blenheim is blenem. Tee hee.

We do want visitors, honest!

I did the Camino several years ago. I had a fantastic time; very social as much as you want; it's getting very commercialized with private places to stay which cost more. I hiked the end of May into June, because the weather was better, less pilgrims and no bed bugs. I only carried a Golite Jam; used a hostel sleeping bag which worked well. I stopped at grocery stores along the way for extra food like lunches and snacks and there are plenty of places to eat. Albergues fill up by 3-4pm and you need a Pilgrim passport. Lots of fresh fruit, friendly people who will help you along the way. It was cold and snowy up in the mountains and sun-blazing hot in the plains. I got a room in a hotel in Santiago when I arrived and there is an office where you get your certificate that will help you find a room. While having my last meal in town, I met a pilgrim who was headed for the airport the next day so we shared a cab ride. There really isn't much camping along the way, and not needed. You can find several websites chock full of info on this route. I highly suggest it if you have the time.

You might try the Camino forum: more information that you could ever need. It is what I used before walking last summer. The Camino is not backpacking (at least on the Frances route). Do not let the backpack on your back fool you (as it did me–wore my normal backpacking boots, in the summer, across the desert–the result was a metropolis of blisters on my feet).

https://www.caminodesantiago.me/community/

Buen Camino

I used lots of Body Glide on my feet and not one hot spot or blister. Others on the route were not as lucky. I wore trail runners and they worked just fine.