Camino Inglés UK - post walk thoughts

It’s a week since we finished our Reading to Southampton “Camino” so there’s been time to reflect on it all.

In short it was absolutely great. We were fortunate with the weather undoubtedly, but the conditions underfoot were nevertheless tough at times. Was it better than just a standard walk in the UK? I wouldn’t want to say definitively either way; however, there were two factors that made it feel more special than just a normal walk. Firstly, the walking from “A to B over several days” nature of it made it feel different. Of course, you can do that on any long-distance path such as the Ridgeway/Thames Path/Cotswold way etc. The second factor was the “Camino touches” (oooh that sounds a bit risqué misses – titter ye not!). By that I mean the Camino style way markers and the stamps in the Credencial Passport.

In a peculiar way, the logistical planning was equally as hard as the walk itself. To make the walking distances doable each day we were limited to the places where we could stop overnight. Some of those places had little or no accommodation within 2 kilometres of the actual route. AirBnB was more limited than usual as many property owners will only book for a minimum of 2 nights (understandable, I guess). A case in point was the first leg from Reading to Mortimer. There are no pubs there with accommodation, seemingly no available AirBnB’s, and the nearest hotel was a golf/country club 3 miles away and charging c£190 for a night. The logical solution therefore would be to get the train/bus back to Reading. Far from ideal! Hence us just going back home after that leg.

                                         Air BnB - Alresford                            Hotel in Winchester

Our general experience with accommodation on this route was that there was not a lot, and what was nearby was fairly pricey. By fairly pricey, I mean not much change (if any) out of £100 for just the room only. That, in itself, means it’s not a cheap 5 days. I’d estimate that you could 5 days on one of the Spanish Camino’s for about 30-50% of the cost (excluding flights).

Due to the nature of the route (i.e. largely north to south, and not passing through many big towns) the public transport was limited to non-existent in places. That was prevalent for the section between Mortimer and New Alresford. However, the public transport links at the Southampton/Winchester/ New Alresford end were excellent. That helped massively at the end to pick up our car from Alresford. The magic of the much vaunted No.64 Winchester to Alton service!

Whilst walking we met just one other person (Sue from Egham) who was doing the “Camino”. However, judging by conversations with people in the pubs that had Credencial stamps it is getting much busier since the route has had new way markers. From reading visitors’ books in churches, I’d estimate there were c30 people per week walking the route. I suspect that it will only continue to get busier. On that note, I have to say how enthusiastic the pub landlords, café owners, bar staff etc. were about route. Whilst I remember, OS maps have recently been updated so the route now appears as “St. James’ Way”.

The paths were reasonably well way marked. Occasionally the “Camino” way markers weren’t there, so we had to refer to the book. I use the OS App, and had mapped each day’s route out, and saved them to my phone. That helped massively. The paths were generally good, although there were places where they were very muddy or even flooded. I personally wouldn’t try the sections of this route between Winchester and the edge of Southampton in winter or very early spring, unless there had been a sustained period of very dry weather. There are long stretches where there is a river on one side of the path and a stream on the other – these must be virtually unusable after prolonged periods of wet weather.

And that is about it. Don’t be put off by the challenges I’ve mentioned above. It really is a beautiful walk through some quintessentially English countryside, towns and villages. Don’t be put off by Reading or Southampton at either end. The route through those places is much better than you might imagine.

Buen Camino

Ps. I’ve been thinking about the people element of the Camino. But before I go into that, some background on the Camino rules.

Well, to be blunt, there are no rules; you can pretty much do a Camino how you like, provided you either walk, ride a bike or ride a horse. I am a member of one Facebook Camino group. On this group people share their experiences/photos etc, but it is mostly a forum for asking questions about doing a Camino. Unfortunately, there are an incredibly high number of people (mostly Americans, of course!) who ask ridiculous questions like “are there places with hot water in Spain”, “do they have ATM’s”, ”can you get a mobile phone signal” etc. etc. FFS! However, most of the questions are “can I do xxx”, “what happens if I do y”. Invariably the answer to such questions is “It’s your Camino, you can do whatever you like, there are no rules”. There are, of course purists who think you must walk every inch of the route, carry all your baggage yourself, and stay in dormitory style accommodation. Some believe you should travel free of modern-world distractions such as mobile phone, cameras etc. But the bottom line is, it’s each to their own. Ultimately, it’s up to you. Do what you like.

So back to the “people” strand. There are many who seek solitude along the way and are happy to have minimal interaction with other pilgrims. But for me a really special part is meeting all kinds of people fleetingly along the way. Sometimes you just chat for a few minutes, some you eat a meal with, others you meet again and again. These meetings are so enlightening. You meet all sorts, from all places, and you get to learn stuff about them, where they’re from, what they’ve done etc etc. That’s what’s priceless. To cut to the quick, that was something this Camino really lacked. As much as Cate is great company she doesn’t inject a different perspective such as the Waterford Wanderers, Toothless Teemu from Tampere, The Carlow Colleens or the Prison Service PT Instructor from Redditch (a man whose wisdom I still quote regularly**). So if you want a social whirl, or to be part of a bizarre travelling circus go to Spain for a Camino, or perhaps do one of the busier long distance paths in the UK.

 

**This particular bloke we met back in 2019 en route between Fromista and Carrion de Los Condes. Somehow we ended up in conversation with him, his friend, and two English women who were teachers. At some point retirement was mentioned, and he commented how much he loved it, although his wife (who was not with him in Spain) was still working. He had clearly become acclimatised to retirement and she (his wife) had not got used to his more relaxed lifestyle. He told of a conversation they had one day when she came in from work. Apologies for the language, but it’s a conversation that I found hilarious, and contains a brilliant riposte:-

 

Wife – “have you done very much today?”

Husband – “No. I’ve done fuck all”

Wife – “but you said that yesterday?”

Husband – “I know. But there’s a lot of it to be done!”