After losing my third toenail and other continuing foot problems and melting in the Spanish sun, I have quit the camino in Avila. Here are my thoughts on this camino and my experience.
First, it should not be considered a pilgrimage route. You should think of it as a hiking trail, the GR-239. If I were to do it over (actually a possibility), I would camp along the way and ignore the "stages" set out by the guide. That way you could do between 15-18 miles a day instead of the way too long stages that are set up with the guide.
The trail between Xativa and Avila is beautiful and is the portion that I would do again. It's probably a little less than 300 miles and could be done in 18-20 days making it a great backpacking trip. The last part between Cebreros and Avila is maybe the most beautiful part of Spain that I have seen and should be divided into two days hiking with plenty of camping opportunities.
My equipment held up well. I would still try to lose weight from my pack. My shoes were an issue. Even though they were the same model of Asics trail runners that I wore in France last year, they were not extra-wide size which makes a difference I think.
I would look at a smart phone GPS app. Maybe rent a phone or something. I would investigate camera options also. The Olympus micro 4/3 was good but kind of clunky to use. The ipod was a disaster with bad photos. I wish it worked as it should but Apple products are just not good, at least for me.
I am going to rethink pilgrimage routes in general. While I thought that it would be a great way to walk staying in hotels at night with places to eat, in reality it is not very satisfying and in Spain quite aggravating. I think more wilderness hikes are better. My next hike in Spain will probably be across the Pyrenees. The long-distance trails of France and Spain are nice and beautiful to walk on but create too many issues to deal with.
I am in Perigueux, France now and will make my way north to catch a boat in Bremerhaven, Germany around June 29. Plan on staying in Amsterdam for a week or so. I hope to make a more extensive post on equipment and the logistics of the hike later on.
A couple of things to add. I am taking back my endorsement of booking.com. Not very reliable to say the least. Also, I stopped in San Sebastian for a day. While I am not a fan of tapas (and have been quite derisive of the tapas craze) the exception is in San Sebastian. They actually do it right. The way it is set out is that if you look down the river towards the sea, on the left is the Parte Vieja. This is the hip, young, party area. There are a few blocks that have the best tapas places and they are packed. I actually did not eat there because it was crowded and intimidating for a single person that doesn't speak the language, but what I saw of the food, it looked great. However, on the right side of the river is the Gros barrio. This is a much more casual and less-crowded area and has just as good tapas and probably more economical. Here again there are only a couple of blocks with the best places so easy to find a decent place. So my suggestion is to ignore the tapas thing until you get to San Sebastian, which may be the neatest town I have ever been to.
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