We originally planned for Camino2026 to begin on May 1. However, on November 6, 2025, our grandson, Mac, shared that he and Anna had become engaged and asked that we save May 22 for their planned wedding.
So, we tentatively set May 24 as our departure date for Camino2026 and decided to start our walk in Pamplona as we did in 2025.
And, because of the ever increasing popularity of the Camino Frances, we decided to reserve each night’s lodging before leaving for Spain. Subsequently, we began the tedious process on November 18, 2025 with our first contact being via email with a hard-to-get albergue in the small village of Cirauqui.
Once we successfully secured this first reservation, we plugged it into our tentative itinerary (a spreadsheet based on Camino2025) and proceeded to fill-in other accommodations, giving priority to the hard-to-book ones. We completed the last of the 49 total bookings on April 18. We used (1)Booking.com, (2) email, (3) Whatapp and (4) available property websites to secure the reservations.
In parallel with our booking process, we began gathering the items we would each need for our 7-week trek and displayed them on our guest bedroom bed. We added to and subtracted from our respective collections until we were satisfied we were each left with only “essentials”.
On May 11, we packed our respective backpacks and flight carryons/ daypacks to verify that there was room for everything and that it was comfortably transportable.
Last year, we used Correos, the Spanish postal service, to transport our backpacks to and from each daily destinations. The service was very reliable and much less expensive than the other transport services we used on previous caminos. However, once in Spain, it was difficult to pay at their website, requiring a visit to a major office in Pamplona, delaying our walk to our next destination. We also struggled finding someone to print our itinerary from the Correos website for the bag tags and then looking for materials for securely attaching the tags to our backpacks.
So, with the Camino 2026 itinerary completed and each night’s lodging reserved, we were able to do all the “front end” prep work for backpack (mochila) transport from the comfort of our home, benefiting from a superior internet signal, color printer and “golf bag name tags”, easily purchased from Amazon.
Finally, since we need to take trekking poles, scissors and a pocket swiss-army knife with us, carrying them in our fanny pack or carryon pack is not an option given TSA regulations for our flights. Thus, we put these items into our backpacks, which we check. To keep our checked backpacks dry and safe from handling and/or mishandling by airline and airport handlers and automated equipment… we found a lightweight (11oz), inexpensive ($5.00) plastic, zippered duffle bag at IKEA. It’s called FRAKTA.
We expected the FRAKTA to be disposable, but it has held up now for 3 caminos going to and from Spain. It appears to be able to make the journey for Camino2026 too. Once we arrive in Spain, we fold it and stuff it in the section between the back support and hydration bladder and accept the added weight. But with its low cost it could be discarded once in Spain to save the extra 11oz weight to carry. By using the transport service, weight is no longer an issue for us.
Larry, our generous friend, neighbor and ardent follower of our blog, has offered to give us a ride to GSP on Sunday morning, so unless we’ve forgotten something, we’re ready to embark on Camino 2026.
Jimandi 