What are the best overnight or day stops along the Camino de Santiago walk?

I'VE BANKED ENOUGH LONG SERVICE LEAVE TO WALK THE CAMINO DE SANTIAGO IN MAY-JUNE. WITH TOWNS EVERY FEW KILOMETRES, THERE ARE MANY OPTIONS FOR OVERNIGHT STOPS. ANY ADVICE FOR WHICH TOWNS WOULD MAKE THE BEST OVERNIGHT OR DAY STOPS? C. CHALLENGER, BEAUMARIS

The pilgrims who first walked the trail were more concerned with getting to their destination rather than threading together wonderful scenery and atmospheric villages. Much of the scenery and many of the villages along the way are agricultural, where utility takes precedence over beauty.

There are exceptions, and one of the nicest sections of the Camino starts from St Jean Pied de Port in the Pyrenees of southern France and crosses the border to Roncesvalles and on to Pamplona, and then to Santiago de Compostela.

For most pilgrims, where to stay is dictated by the pace they walk at. Nothing kills a good walk quite like a heavy pack and Jacotrans (www.jacotrans.com) has a luggage transfer service that can pick up your gear each morning and drop it off at your next overnight stop.

On the plus side, the Camino is very social. You can stay and eat at very low cost and, except for the distance involved, it's not a particularly tough walk – and for many, it's spiritually transformative. On the minus side, 99 per cent of the walking is on roads or even busy highways, where the hum of the modern world, including traffic and agricultural machinery, drowns out the sounds of nature and it's a river of gold for many commercial enterprises along the way.

The Camino (www.thecamino.com.au) is a wonderful resource written by an Australian couple and aimed at walkers who want to organise their own trip.