Hiking The Famous Camino de Santiago Part 5: I Get Rolling Along

OK, from my previous columns you’ve got your logistics and your gear all set for your Camino de Santiago adventure!  Now you can look over my shoulder and see what a typical Camino hike is like.  This month I will cover my arrival at Sarria, the first leg, and my planned route. In the future I will discuss completing the hike, secrets of how to see the famous swinging Botafumeiro, and how to extend your trip out to the coast to see the miraculous 1000-year-old stone vessel that carried St. James to Spain.

Arriving in Sarria – and a National Disaster

Of the 300,000+ pilgrims who walk the Camino Francés, about 30% start at Sarria, a town in eastern Galicia that is about 116 kilometers (kms, 72 miles) east of Santiago de Compostela.  Only about 12% are hardy souls who hike all the 500 miles from St. Jean Pied-de-Port in SW France, at the base of the Pyrenees.

At 74 years old, I asked my knees what they preferred, and they were both loud and clear: 72 miles or less!  So, after arriving by plane in Santiago and spending a few days there, I took a bus over to Sarria, and stayed in a nice hotel, on the third floor.  Mistake.

I arrived on my birthday, and leaving my room to celebrate at a local pastry shop, I noticed the elevator was not working.  I walked down to the lobby and saw a crowd gathered around the bar, watching TV and talking excitedly.  I figured it was just a soccer game, but it seemed to be local news. In my broken Spanish I asked what was up.  A local said in perfect English, “There is a massive power outage across all of Spain and Portugal.  Noone knows the cause or how long it will last – it could be weeks!” I asked why the TV was working, and he said, “The hotel has a generator that runs a few lights and the TV, but not the elevators or any major appliances.”

We were in trouble, and so was my hike.

The outage killed the trains (all electric in Spain), subways, lights, Internet, electronic payment systems, refrigeration, and even power generation systems like wind turbines and solar farms (which contribute a massive 42% of the power in Spain).  Trains, subway cars and elevators all across the country just stopped dead, and thousands of people had to be rescued.

I later learned that the outage also affected all of Morocco and parts of southern France.  Tens of millions of people were affected.

I rushed out to stock up on peanut butter bars, and found a couple of open shops who took my scarce cash.

After ten hours of panic, and going up and down the stairs to my room (good training for the hills!) the power suddenly came back on.  Big sigh of relief.  I speculated that Putin and his spies caused the outage as a warning to NATO, but Spanish authorities claimed that it was just a mysterious cascading voltage surge that created a giant 15 gigawatt drop in power in just 12 seconds.  Hmmm…

Shaken and very stirred, the next day I walked down the stairs (I didn’t trust the supposedly working elevator) to explore the town and scope out the hike.  Following Camino signs, I missed a turn left up a long flight of stairs, and wandered around the town, rather lost.

This adventure was not starting out well.

The Morgade Stop – and Start for Portomarin

I studied my detailed Mapy.com e-map and spotted the stairs. I reminded myself that the elevation gain chart showed a huge elevation gain in the first few kilometers outside of Sarria, and that I had decided to skip that first day hump and really start hiking at the tiny village of Morgade, about 102 kilometers from Santiago on the Camino. This tactic would still allow me to hike over 100 kilometers on the trail, and thus qualify for the highly desirable Compostela certificate.

I took a taxi to Morgade (my knees thanked me) and checked in at the Alburgue Casa Morgade. For 55 Euros (about $65USD) I was able to stay in a very nice private room, en-suite, with stone walls designed to last 500 years, two single beds, a window, heating, and hot water.  I had made the reservation on Booking.com five months ago. I could have stayed in the barracks part of the alburgue for a quarter of the price, but was not keen on snoring and possible bedbugs.  Dinner and breakfast were not included in the price, but were filling and not expensive.  This typical alburgue had a shop with Camino souveniers and hiking items, a lounge and dining room with a communal TV, a helpful staff, and lots of pilgrims, all keen to talk about the recent power outage.

The next morning I (finally) got going.  A wave of pilgrims started very early, but I had planned for a reasonable 11 km (7 mile) hike, and so started at 9 am.  The early May weather was perfect: intermittant sun and clouds, and about 55 F degrees, rising later to 62 F.  The hills were very rolly and scenic, and everything was green and lush, reminding me of Ireland.

By starting later than most, I found that I had the trail mostly to myself, and started humming and then singing some of my favorite Irish walking songs – The Rocky Road to Dublin, Rambles of Spring, and my own Ukraine war version of a classic Irish liberation song, The Merry Ukrainian Ploughboy. The path varied from narrow paved lanes with virtually no traffic to dirt paths with occasional puddles to gravel-dirt trails beside stone walls and green fields and through dense forests.

In two kms I reached the trail marker in a small village which stated that I was exactly 100,000 km from Santiago!  Hmmm, I had not signed up for that!  But then I recalled that wacky EU notation, using commas instead of decimal points.  I only had 100.000 kms to go.  Whew!

The hills were numerous but not steep, and after about 3.5 hours and a few rest stops I reached the long bridge over the Mino River, with the lovely town of Portomarin on the far side.  Apparently just for me, the local populace had laid on large kayak race, which started under the bridge just as I walked across toward my first hiking stop!  Thanks!

My Planned Route

On the slides below you can see the route I planned, months in advance, by careful study of my maps and guidebooks. My goal was to hike 5 to a maximum of 9 miles per day; get private, preferably en-suite accommodation each night in alburgues, AirBnBs or small hotels; not spend wildly; and take about 10 days to go the 72 miles, with a 20 pound day pack.  If I was to do this all over again, I would have added a rest day or two along the way, just in case of injury or sickness. Hardy, younger hikers doing the entire 500-mile Camino often work up to 20 or more miles per day, carrying a 40-pound pack.  I knew that was not for me.  But I invite you to try!

Buen Camino!

This piece is a follow-up to last month’s article on Camino de Santiago gear, and my earlier Camino articles.  For these pieces see:

1. https://www.mymcmedia.org/hiking-the-famous-camino-de-santiago-part-1-logistics/
2. https://www.mymcmedia.org/hiking-the-camino-de-santiago-blisters-feet-and-training/
3. https://www.mymcmedia.org/hiking-the-famous-camino-de-santiago-part-3/
4. https://www.mymcmedia.org/hiking-the-famous-camino-de-santiago-dont-forget-do-forget-this/
5. https://www.mymcmedia.org/blog-top-tips-for-tackling-el-camino-de-santiago-part-1/
6. https://www.mymcmedia.org/blog-el-camino-de-santiago-part-2-regional-highlights/

1. Arriving at Sarria on my birthday, my big present was a massive power outage covering all of Spain, Portugal and Morocco, and part of France. Hey, I didn’t do it!
2. A modern pilgrim on Camino, dressed in medieval garb. Note the gourd to hold water and the broad-brimmed hat with the shell of St. James.
3. My route on the Camino Francés for 10 days in May 2025, showing the stops with blue dots. The elevation gain and loss is shown at the bottom in red.  Note the big gain right outside of Sarria.
4. My stops on the Camino, with mileage, accommodations and costs. I averaged seven miles a day, with a range of five to nine miles.
5. My first morning on Camino, with my alburgue (rest house or hostel) at Morgade. Note the Japanese hikers and the sign on the right for “Sello de Credentials” – stamping available for the Pilgrim’s Credential.
6. My typical first night accommodation at Morgade, a private en suite room. Note the solid stone construction and my two packs.  I carried the red one, weighing 20 pounds with water, and had the green one transported each night by the Pilbeo firm.  I did not stay in the adjacent barracks part of the alburgue.
7. The only horse riders I saw on the Camino. These may be pilgrims, who must ride 100 kms to get a Campostela certificate. But they may just be locals, since they are not carrying much gear.
8. Entering Portomarin, crossing one of many rivers and streams in Galicia. This was apparently the start of a kayak race laid on just for me!  The racers started beside the bridge, paddled furiously north for about a mile, then dashed back.
9. A pilgrim praying along the Camino. I only saw this happen once – he just stopped in the middle of nowhere and started praying.