{"id":43073,"date":"2019-11-04T18:00:17","date_gmt":"2019-11-04T23:00:17","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/the2seasons.com\/?p=43073"},"modified":"2019-11-05T07:00:21","modified_gmt":"2019-11-05T12:00:21","slug":"el-camino","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/the2seasons.com\/?p=43073","title":{"rendered":"My Hike on the El Camino de Santiago – Part 2"},"content":{"rendered":"

I am leaving today for a week in Paris.\u00a0 This is my gift to me for making it on the El Camino de Santiago.\u00a0 I thought that we better share with you the second post about that trip before I leave on this one.\u00a0 And by the way, I hope to check in on our Instagram<\/span><\/a> stories everyday, so if you want to see what I am up to in Paris, follow us here<\/span><\/a>.\u00a0<\/span> Today I am going to continue to answer questions that you all asked about the 200 mile hike I took (and the 500 mile hike that my husband took.)\u00a0 To read part one, go here.\u00a0\u00a0<\/a><\/span>Here is my hike on the El Camino de Santiago – Part 2.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Was it safe?<\/h2>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

(A statue of St. James<\/em>)<\/p>\n

This was the number one question that we were asked. My answer is absolutely YES!\u00a0 In fact, we saw more women hiking than men.\u00a0 We saw women alone, and we saw women in groups.\u00a0 To clarify, most people kind of pair up with others who begin the hike at the same time they do or who walk at he same pace.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

(Sunrise on day two.<\/em>)<\/p>\n

However, sometimes you just want a day or more to yourself, and it is perfectly safe to do that.\u00a0 There really wasn’t anything that would cause the hike to be unsafe other than some of the rough terrain we had to climb and descend.\u00a0 There were lots of long, lonely spots, but they were safe.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

(I loved this little car that was parked beside a fruit stand.)<\/em><\/p>\n

What was the weather?<\/h2>\n

When we hiked in late August and September, the temperatures were mostly in the high 60’s and low 70’s.\u00a0 Mornings were in the 50’s.\u00a0 We had rain just one day, but that was the luck of the draw.\u00a0 It was cooler in the mountains, of course, and it would be much hotter in the middle of summer.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

\n

(Part of my typical outfits.\u00a0 If it was cool, we wore jackets, too, and I always had a bandanna.)<\/em><\/p>\n

What did you wear?<\/h2>\n

It was definitely not a style show.\u00a0 For hiking, I took light weight wick away shirts. Two were long-sleeved, and one was short-sleeved. \u00a0 I wore these shirts<\/span> <\/a>as my base layer.\u00a0 I took three pairs of these leggings<\/a><\/span> and three pairs of wool socks<\/span>.<\/a>\u00a0 As you know, I do laundry or send it out when we travel so I don’t have to take so much stuff, and I used these DIY laundry sheets<\/span><\/a> to do my laundry.\u00a0 I used two of my biking jackets (one was rain proof) for warmth because they are very light weight but warm, and wore this hat<\/a><\/span> for sun protection.\u00a0 I also had water proof pants to wear over my clothes on the rainy day.\u00a0 I had a good pair of hiking boots, but I left them in Spain on purpose.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

(Stamping my Camino “passport.”)<\/em><\/p>\n

What is the Camino passport?<\/h2>\n

The passport is a little booklet that hikers keep with them the entire time.\u00a0 They get it stamped two to three times daily by their hotel, restaurants, and churches.\u00a0 The stamps are dated, and they prove that we hiked the trail.\u00a0 When we arrived in Santiago, we showed the passport to some officials, and they gave us a certificate.\u00a0 You have to walk at least 100 kilometers to qualify for a certificate, and the passport verifies how far we walked.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

(There were water fountains along the way with drinkable water. Sometimes they contained wine!)<\/em><\/p>\n

Why did you do it?<\/h2>\n

I did the hike to spend time with my husband, and I am always up for a challenge and an adventure.\u00a0 Mike did the hike because the bicycle trip that he had hoped to do was cancelled.\u00a0 Many people do the El Camino de Santiago as a religious pilgrimage because that is why it started hundreds of years ago.\u00a0\u00a0 It had a resurgence in popularity in the 1990’s and thousands of people do the different routes each year.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

(A popular rest stop.)<\/em><\/p>\n

Would you recommend it?<\/h2>\n

I would recommend it to anyone who is physically fit enough to do it and who isn’t high maintenance.\u00a0 There is no room for high maintenance on this trip.\u00a0 You have to be in good walking shape, and if you plan to stay in hostels, then you need to be able to carry your pack on your back.\u00a0 It is a great way to meet new people, learn about their countries through the conversations you have while walking, see new things, get fresh air and exercise, and get in touch with your inner thoughts.\u00a0 They say the Camino changes you.\u00a0 I did make some decisions about my life and how I want to live it, and now I am trying to keep my promises to myself.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/h2>\n

(Every hiker leaves a special rock at the foot of this cross.\u00a0 I left a rock from my childhood home, and Mike’s rock came from the lawn of his elementary school and church.)<\/em><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Did you get lost?<\/h2>\n

The trail is marked with yellow arrows or shells in various forms.\u00a0 Sometimes they were on official looking posts, but mostly they were painted on walls, signs, sidewalks, trees, buildings, fences, and roads.\u00a0 I guess a person could get lost, but that would be because they were not paying attention.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

(The trail passed by many, many churches so that pilgrims had the opportunity to stop and pray and reflect.\u00a0 There was always an evening mass that we could attend.)<\/em><\/p>\n

Would you do it again?<\/h2>\n

Yes, and we are.\u00a0 Next year we plan to do the Portugal route.\u00a0 Since we did this hike in the fall, we will do our next hike in the spring to get a different perspective.\u00a0 I need to start looking for a new pair of hiking boots. Yikes!<\/p>\n

Take care.<\/p>\n

Affiliate links used at no additional cost to you.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I am leaving today for a week in Paris.\u00a0 This is my gift to me for making it on the El Camino de Santiago.\u00a0 I thought that we better share with you the second post about that trip before I leave on this one.\u00a0 And by the way, I hope to check in on our […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/the2seasons.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/43073"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/the2seasons.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/the2seasons.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/the2seasons.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/the2seasons.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=43073"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"http:\/\/the2seasons.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/43073\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":43274,"href":"http:\/\/the2seasons.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/43073\/revisions\/43274"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/the2seasons.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=43073"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/the2seasons.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=43073"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/the2seasons.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=43073"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}