With a Baby and a Toddler on the Camino Francés

In March 2014 a family with two small children – Mathilda (6 months) and Paulien (3 years) – made a nine-day pilgrimage with a pram and a baby carrier from Ponferrada to Santiago de Compostela. With that they completed the Camino Francés, which they had walked with Paulien between Burgos and Ponferrada in 2012.

In what follows I’ll just write a short summary of our Camino with the whole family.

Setting off in Ponferrada

In March 2014 we set off:

Mathilda (6 months), Paulien (3), my husband Michaël and I went to Spain to finish the way we had started in 2012 with just Paulien. Back then we walked from Burgos to Ponferrada. The preparations took about 2 weeks. The pram had to be made roadworthy, enough bottle milk had to be calculated, and nappies and supplies for medical emergencies had to be bought.

Having arrived in Ponferrada (after a 24-hour drive), we spent the night in a nice hotel so that we could start our first stage on 3 March 2014.

For me it was my fourth time on the way altogether. I had already walked the route (Burgos–Finisterre) in August/September 2009. Michaël had been along three times, Paulien twice, and for Mathilda it was, of course, the first time.

After a few initial difficulties, off we walked, through wind and rain.

Depending on the surface, the pram was pulled or pushed, and we all had great fun. At around 4 pm we reached our first albergue, where we also met most of the people with whom we would spend our evenings from then on, cooking together and so on. It was simply great! And it stayed that way!

Of course, when you walk as a family you have to answer lots of questions and you often get funny looks, but that’s to be expected!

The whole way went much more easily than expected.

How the children joined in

The children were 100% on board: they usually woke up in the morning at the same time as the other pilgrims (between 7 and 8 am). If others were still asleep, either my husband or I would grab Mathilda and quietly go outside to give her her breakfast bottle. As a rule, this went completely unnoticed by the others.

My husband carried Mathilda in the baby carrier and I pushed Pauli in the pram. Michaël also had a small backpack on his back, whereas I carried the big one.

The girls always enjoyed the breaks.

In the evenings, after dinner and a little wine for the grown-ups, the little ones went to bed too (around 10 pm), and this also always went off quietly. We really hadn’t expected that at all.

After only nine days we (sadly) already arrived in Santiago de Compostela.

Looking back, I can say that for me personally it really was the most beautiful Camino I’ve done. Now we’re already planning the next one. This time, though, the journey will last a whole month.

As mentioned above, we’re happy to answer any questions that may come up about such a wondrous journey.

The route in Camino Ninja

You’ll find the family’s whole way from Burgos via Ponferrada to Santiago with stages, map and accommodation in Camino Ninja: Camino Francés.