LIVE from the Camino Counting pilgrims on the Norte AGAIN

[Umwandert]

Last May I walked the first part of the Norte in the opposite direction, from Santander to Irun. Since I only had two weeks and couldn't reach Santiago anyway, I wanted to swim against the tide, especially since the most beautiful stages were between Bilbao and Irun, which I enjoyed a lot at the end of my reverse camino.

The disadvantage: no in-depth social encounters because I never met anyone again. The advantage: I had the camino to myself in the mornings and evenings; I met most pilgrims around lunchtime. And I enjoyed counting the pilgrims, mostly, but not always, in silence ("Hello, you're my number 115" – "Oh, that's a nice number"). In the end, there were 882 pilgrims in total.

Now I'm returning to the Norte as a pilgrim version of my favorite Sesame Street character, Count von Count (unfortunately without the cape and thunder). I start next week, on April 30 directly at Asturias airport, from there it's only a few hundred meters to the camino. In about two weeks I'll be walking comfortably east to Santander. I will post my progress and pilgrimage numbers here. I think this might be a good indication of how busy the Norte is at the moment.

So if any of you are walking the Norte in Cantabria or Asturias in the first half of May, keep your eyes peeled. If you see a very tall pilgrim dressed all in olive green, you are being counted! Feel free to say hello to me. Last year, for example, I had the great honor of counting forum mod @trecile between Markina and Bolibar.

 

[Luka]

You might happen to count me as a pilgrim, while I am not. I will be walking the Sanabrés half May and am having most of my training walks on (parts of) the Norte. However I prefer to avoid the Norte's asphalt where I can.

To add my grain of salt: I stayed in albergue La Xana in La Caridad on Saturday night and we were 8 in the albergue. Both walking days I met about 5/6 pilgrims on the road (walking in the same direction as I did, that is).

Buen Camino!

 

[trecile]

Last year, for example, I had the great honor of counting forum mod @trecile between Markina and Bolibar.

I loved watching for you and meeting you last year!

 

[JerryStroebele]

At the end of October and the end of our Camino Aragonés my French son in law and I walked the Camino Frances backwards from Obános to Saint Jean Pied-de-Port. Several helpful local people pointed out that we were going the wrong way. Some oncoming people were baffled. Our daily pilgrim count changed from 5 or 6 on a big day on the Aragonés to well over a hundred on the Frances. Buen Casino

 

[Umwandert]

You might happen to count me as a pilgrim, while I am not. I will be walking the Sanabrés half May and am having most of my training walks on (parts of) the Norte. However I prefer to avoid the Norte's asphalt where I can.

Hi Luka, are you walking with a full bagpack for training? Then you certainly will be counted! I will try to walk all the coastal alternatives of the Norte in reverse too, which might be challenging. I use Buen Camino App and thankfully some of them are included there.

I loved watching for you and meeting you last year!

It was an honor and a pleasure! My first non-virtual contact with a forum member.

At the end of October and the end of our Camino Aragonés my French son in law and I walked the Camino Frances backwards from Obános to Saint Jean Pied-de-Port. Several helpful local people pointed out that we were going the wrong way. Some oncoming people were baffled.

So far that had not happened to me. And I have walked Muxia-Finisterre-Santiago (which technically is not a reverse camino), the first part of the Norte (Irun-Santander) and the Camino Estrecho (Algeciras-Puerto Real) in reverse. But I was asked other things by pilgrims. If I may quote myself from my first post about reverse walking:

(...) That means in the last 4 days of my camino 675 pilgrims came towards me! No wonder I felt like a bobblehead, constantly greeting people. On my last two days I met pilgrims almost every few minutes. I also encountered huge groups, for example I passed around 80 portuguese-speaking pilgrims at a parking lot close to A Zas. They just got their briefing by a guide.

Of course I always said hello and buen camino. Once I was chatting near Mount Aro with an American, who asked me about Olveiroa. I told him what I knew and added “You are my number 125 of the day”. He said he liked that number. But at the end I got tired by the huge number of encounters and then just smiled and raised my hand for a greeting. I have learned that a reverse pilgrim can be very beneficial for those who walk in the other direction. I answered questions about topography (“How many climbs tills Muxia?”) or upcoming services (“How far away is the nearest bar?”). When I walked on my last day I came upon a group of Brazilians. A girl stopped and asked me for help. She had accidentally taken her room key from a hotel in Negreira. Of course I offered her to return her key (after all the hotel was right on the camino).

I am excited to see what will happen on my next reverse camino, which will start next week!

 

[lagalag]

Hello, cycling the Camino del Norte at this very moment. I'm with my son who's 18 years old and started our journey in Hendaye. We are now in Santander and reading your post while charting our best way to Santimlana del Mar and figuring out if our favorite albergue there is open this off season. Yes, we've done this part twice before when we are still a family of 4, two young boys of 10 and 13 the last time we did it. (Plus a dog).
Last year, we lost our eldest at the ripe age of 21. Weeks before he left us, he told me he would like to do another camino with me and his brother. Now, we hope to make it to Campostela on the anniversary of his passing to realise his wish. We know he's with us all along the way.

 

[Luka]

Hi Luka, are you walking with a full bagpack for training? Then you certainly will be counted! I will try to walk all the coastal alternatives of the Norte in reverse too, which might be challenging. I use Buen Camino App and thankfully some of them are included there.

At the moment yes. Good luck with the alternatives! Wikiloc could be helpful as well.

 

[Chris Aston]

You might happen to count me as a pilgrim, while I am not. I will be walking the Sanabrés half May and am having most of my training walks on (parts of) the Norte. However I prefer to avoid the Norte's asphalt where I can.

To add my grain of salt: I stayed in albergue La Xana in La Caridad on Saturday night and we were 8 in the albergue. Both walking days I met about 5/6 pilgrims on the road (walking in the same direction as I did, that is).

Buen Camino!

I was in the same albergue on Monday 22nd and there were only 6 of us, including myself.

 

[Umwandert]

First day: Now in Aviles

I had imagined it would be so nice, fresh off the plane and straight onto the camino in glorious weather. But when I left Asturias airport at 1pm today, I was greeted by pouring rain. So I had to put on my rain poncho straight away. I covered the half stage to Aviles in just under four hours, taking the alternative route via the really unremarkable seaside resort of Salinas.



The sea was grey and the tide was low. So was my mood. The nice café I knew from my Camino Norte in 2022 was closed for the public. So I had just a gloomy break with an apple and energy bar on the edge of Salinas. The rain never completely stopped, but in the last hour it was at least reduced to a drizzle.

And here is my first count:
Day 1 (30/4): Asturias Airport - Aviles (via Salinas): 6 pilgrims plus 2 reverse pilgrims(!)

Of course, this is not yet very meaningful, because I was walking on the Camino only in the afternoon, when most of the pilgrims had certainly already passed. To my great surprise, in the very first hour, I met two pilgrims who, like me, were also walking eastwards, but who had probably already turned in before Aviles today, as I didn't see them again later. According to them, the weather will stay bad for another three days(!). That will be quite a difficult start...



I'm staying in a small hotel today as I had an online course in the evening. The pilgrim albergues will come later, and I'll report on the number of pilgrims here too. Stay tuned.

 

[Umwandert]

Second Day: Now in Gijon

The weather was much better today! I took my time in the morning because I wanted to get the stamps from the Tourist Information (opens 10am, rather ugly) and the Centro Niermayer (opens 10.30am, wonderful stamp). Luckily the rain had stopped and the sun was shining, at least sometimes. In Aviles, an elderly man with a dog ran after me because he thought I was going in the wrong direction. I then introduced myself as a reverse pilgrim. Today's route first led along the river and then came the first heavy industry facilities.



This stage is often described as the ugliest of the entire Camino Norte and I can see why, as there were kilometres along a busy road sandwiched between the huge ArcelorMittal plant and the highway. The middle section is better and mostly on field and forest paths, before industrial plants await again on the outskirts of Gijon (pictured above). It took me almost 2 hours from the Gijon town sign to the eastern centre of the city.

Count of the day:
Day 2: Aviles - Gijon: 41 pilgrims

I met pilgrim #1 after just 4km, an athletic man in shorts. The first ten pilgrims were all male. The female pilgrims (about a third of today's count) seemed to be more relaxed, I only met them in the afternoon. Most of the pilgrims were hiking alone, there were a few couples and a group of six cheerful French pilgrims. Pilgrim #38 recommended the coastal alternative before Santander, which has also been described here by @peregrina2000. The last pilgrim of the day (#41) was wearing a ski mask with a slit just for the eyes, as if he had just robbed a bank. Left me a bit disturbed.



I'm taking a break tomorrow in Gijon and will report back on Friday. Then I walk to Villaviciosa, and judging by the altitude profile of the stage, it will be very strenuous. Stay tuned.

 

[Umwandert]

Third day: now in Villaviciosa

After a rest day in Gijon, I started early and was ready to go by 8am. But the Buen Camino app, which I rely on as a reverse pilgrim, suddenly didn't work. It always closed again as soon as I clicked on it. I had read about such problems here. I then found a pilgrim's stage on wikiloc, which also included the alternative route (less tarmac!) through Gijon.



The weather was cloudy all day with a few rays of sunshine and light drizzle from time to time. Today's stage is classified by gronze as difficult (level 4 out of 5) due to a large hill in the middle (around 680 metres of ascent of the whole stage). Some of the forest paths were quite muddy. I took breaks every hour this time, the last 8 kilometres in particular dragged on endlessly (3 km extra due to crossing over and under two national motorways). I reached the albergue in Villaviciosa at 4:45pm and got the last bed there (28 places)! Maybe I'll have to make a reservation from now on, because now I'll met also the future Primitivo pilgrims who will leave the Norte from Villaviciosa and walk to Oviedo.

Count of the day:
Day 3: Gijon - Villaviciosa: 59 pilgrims and 2 pilgrim dogs

I met all the pilgrims between 11am and 3.30pm. This time, four of the first five were female, but the gender ratio was balanced today. Pilgrim #2 had a dog with her, as did the last pilgrim #59. I met pilgrim #41 at the highest point of the route after around 18 kilometres. I saw most of them together at the El Curbiellu bar, which is just before the big climb (from my point of view). I arrived at noon and a dozen thirsty pilgrims were already waiting for the bar to open. According to the impression of some German pilgrims, the Norte seems quite busy these days.



Tomorrow I will head to the coast. Colunga (17 km) seems a bit too close for me, let's see where I end up. I expect the number of pilgrims to increase. Stay tuned.