Camino de Santiago Walk

Mrs Gail Bowen from Wetherby travelled to Galicia in 2010

This was our first holiday with Headwater, and we were a bit concerned about the plethora of information we had received (from Headwater) about the holiday, plus a bit worried about the heat due to it being the height of Summer.

Needless worries - what we were provided with by Headwater was first class. Really useful maps and a very informative book, as well as useful notes.

We had a lovely hotel in Leon, the starting point for our holiday, with a personal guided tour provided by a lovely young woman who was incredibly knowledgeable, personable and interesting - I cannot recommend her too highly. There was no need to worry about finding the path - it is hardly possible to miss it (except when you have to walk through a town, then it can get a bit elusive).

All of the transport worked beautifully - to our surprise - and with a couple of exceptions, we were welcomed very warmly at all of the accommodation, all of which was of the highest quality. Even where the welcome was a bit iffy, the accommodation was good.

We loved the walking, the views, the friendliness of our fellow pilgrims who we kept meeting up with. It was a very special holiday - we felt it did us a lot of good, physically, mentally, socially and spiritually - and we did not want it to end.

One of the days, one of us had a bug, which was a bit of a problem. However, the 'emergency' number we were provided with worked like magic and everything was sorted out. We felt very looked after by the local agent and Headwater, who contacted us a couple of times from the UK to make sure we were OK and that everything was working out well. Very impressed.

Communication was interesting - our Spanish is poor, but even worse was the English of most (but not all) of our hoteliers - but it made little difference, we managed by using French, German, notes, pictures, gestures and signing. The Casa de los Somoza was a particularly special spot - the food was amazing, but even better, our hostess (with whom we were unable to communicate apart from gesture and signing and a few words from our dictionary) very kindly organised a taxi to take us to a lovely local romanesque chapel (and back again) which had beautiful wall paintings. She was determined that we would not be overcharged by the taxi driver, and that our visit was a success, which it was.

We were met with many kindness and much understanding at many other of our hotels, some of which were just fabulous. Food was excellent everywhere - and en route, it was always easy to find somewhere to have a snack and/or a drink.

I sort of wish we had never done this holiday, just so that we could do it again this year! Highly recommended.

Review this holiday

If you've travelled on this holiday we'd
love to hear from you!

Simply email your comments to reviews@Headwater.com