A question that many first-time pilgrims ask themselves is whether they should do the journey alone or accompanied, where the idea of doing the journey without company seems challenging to them, but doing it with company seems restrictive.
It is important to understand that the decision to do it with one or more people, whether a partner, friends, family, or strangers, will affect how to plan and enjoy the experience.
In this article, I will cover some common questions, including the advantages and disadvantages of each choice, as well as the factors you should consider when choosing companions or companions.
The purest experience
The Camino was (and still is), primarily, a personal introspection experience, and in its purest form, should only begin ALONE.
Nevertheless, in recent times, the experience of the road has been changing and people do it for all kinds of reasons, including sporting challenge, cheap vacations, or for posing or status, so if introspection is not sought, it can be done with companions.
Now, starting the Camino alone does not imply that it is done alone because we will meet a lot of people along the way and it ends up being a communal experience, where one meets and lives with strangers from all over the world.
There is the possibility that you find yourself making the path completely alone, if you choose a secondary way or if you walk outside of season, (or both), but with the growing popularity of the path, this is becoming increasingly rare…
What are the advantages and disadvantages of doing it alone or accompanied?
Personally, I have made several paths alone and several paths accompanied, I can say that both options have certain advantages.
If you do it only, you only have to worry about yourself: you can walk until you get tired, eat when you want, etcetera and you will also be more open to meeting people.
This is preferable for popular ways, such as the French, the primitive, and the Portuguese, to give some examples.
On the other hand, doing it accompanied may also have its advantages.One can share tasks such as planning the day, buying food, cooking, washing the dishes, (and if one has confidence) washing the clothes or sharing a washing machine well, which makes the logistics more bearable.
But, on the other hand you have to be more attentive to your companion and their needs and limitations and it is most likely that you will not meet people in the same measure as if you had only done so.
Furthermore coordinating with another person makes the planning more difficult and you have to consider many factors; for example, find common dates to make the journey, be in similar physical condition, have a similar idea of the experience they want to have.
It seems important to make clear the expectations that each one has and to define rules of coexistence from early on.
The idea of having an experience with other people is that everyone has a good time and that the relationship between the people remains the same or improves.
Nevertheless, doing so accompanied me seems an excellent option for less traveled ways, such as the Madrid way, the Aragonese way, the inner Basque way, and the way of San Salvador.
Another good reason for doing it accompanied is if you do it by bicycle, since it is very difficult to coincide with other pilgrims.
With how many people should do it?
If you want to make the journey accompanied and minimize the drama, my advice is to reduce the amount of people to the minimum and that it be very close and of extreme trust.
Furthermore, while you do it with more people, you will interact less with other pilgrims, and you will lose the communal experience of the road.
With more than 5 people in the group, it is normal that the group interacts only with each other and with no one else; and it considerably complicates the logistics of getting a place, since it is not the same, getting a bed for 1 person than for 8, or it increases the cost, since it has to reserve private hostels in each location, in advance.
If your intention is to make a group trip and not interact with other pilgrims, perhaps a better alternative is to make one of the less developed paths, such as the Forgotten Way or the Camiño do Mar, where there are very few pilgrim hostels (or none) and it is necessary to sleep each night in rural houses or hotels, which can prove very expensive and discouraging for solitary pilgrims.
Then in a separate category, there are groups organized by parishes, which have support trucks that carry the backpacks, as well as coffee and breakfast, and which use private accommodations to stay.
It is possible to do that with children?
In my opinion, the Camino is not for children, although I have seen children who have had a very good time.
To do the Camino with children, one must have certain extra considerations.
As a father or guardian, you have to have an idea of what distance the creature can walk without getting bad-tempered and plan accordingly.
That may involve making short stages, and/or reserving places in private hostels, to guarantee a place, which takes away spontaneity from the journey, in addition to increasing the costs….
Because therefore, for those people who want to make the path with children I would recommend choosing ONLY the routes with a lot of infrastructure, and with stages short and of little difficulty, for example, the French Way and the Portuguese Way.
And there is one last important topic to consider:
the Archbishopric of Santiago does not grant the Compostela to young children who have not received the communion.
It is possible to do that with older people?
To do it with older people, you have to have similar considerations that you do when doing it with children.
On the other hand, a lot of older people have much more free time than young people, so they prefer to do it in shorter stages and starting very far from Santiago, and it’s quite common to see that older people enjoy it more and suffer less than people with more problems.
With whom to do it?
It is most normal to see couples and groups of 2 or 3 friends.
Personally I have done it alone and in couple.
Nevertheless I have seen:
* Father and son (adults)
* Father and daughters (girls of 11 and 13)
* Brothers
* Grandmother and granddaughter
* Complete families (father, mother and young children)
* And groups of friends of up to 8 people.
I am a young girl alone. Is the way safe?
And finally, if you are a young single girl and you are wondering if the path is safe, I would say that the path is as safe and probably safer than a medium-sized city.
That does not mean that things do not happen; all things that can happen in a city, also happen on the way.
The greatest risk to personal safety on the road is not crimes, but traffic accidents, which are the cause of the vast majority of deaths each year.
Furthermore, there is a police force dedicated to monitoring the Camino, especially the French way, and they were seen a lot between Logroño and Burgos.
More than that, it is probable that you will find dudes who try to hook up with you all the time.