Dog decisions on Norte

[DearKat]

Hey folks,
Looking to hear from Pawrents who have done Camino with a dog. I looked for a dog topic thread this is close as I can find?

We've staged to Bilbao on Norte from St Jean de Luz. As I was told before it was extremely difficult on this route both terrain, length, elevation and accommodation. It's the accommodation getting me down the most. We've wild camped twice, slept rough once and the other two nights well... Irun Albergue allowed us their car park... a Mendata one their garden. At least I got a shower there. I think last night squatting in an old food truck getting soaked at 1am as a thunderstorm hit is my limit.

Time to make a decision.

I'm wondering if provisions get easier on stage 2 of Norte towards Santander or if its smarter at this point to say I've done 170KM of Norte. Drop South and pick up the Frances to Leon?

The dogs loving life but myself it's a challenge to walk so far and have no shower and only snacks to take to a tent. No kitchens or meals. I've showered at a hostel in Bilbao and the shorts I commuted in are HANGING OFF. I feel like I'm missing out on Albergue comraderie and cheer too.

Try another Norte stage or drop South to Frances?

 

[MinaKamina]

Hello DearKat, not quite sure if I get your question. Did you PLAN your camino, or do you simply see what happens and what (if anything) may be available? With dogs (how many?) this will be difficult.
To travel with dogs, you need to look outside the albergue system. Private rooms and AirBNB that allow dogs will be better options. This comes with a price tag of course.

If you feel you are missing out on meals, showers and camaraderie in albergues, you may ask yourself how many pilgrims will be happy to see your dogs. Perhaps it is better to bring the dogs home and start over on your own another time.

I wish you luck, this must be a very difficult situation. Whatever you do, make a good plan first so you have a place to stay with the dogs, a warm meal and a shower each day.

 

[DearKat]

Hello DearKat, not quite sure if I get your question. Did you PLAN your camino, or do you simply see what happens and what (if anything) may be available? With dogs (how many?) this will be difficult.
To travel with dogs, you need to look outside the albergue system. Private rooms and AirBNB that allow dogs will be better options. This comes with a price tag of course.

If you feel you are missing out on meals, showers and camaraderie in albergues, you may ask yourself how many pilgrims will be happy to see your dogs. Perhaps it is better to bring the dogs home and start over on your own another time.

I wish you luck, this must be a very difficult situation. Whatever you do, make a good plan first so you have a place to stay with the dogs, a warm meal and a shower each day.

You cannot book albergues ahead. What route did you take with your dog? I looked on Airbnb of course but none for stage 1

 

[trecile]

You cannot book albergues ahead. What route did you take with your dog? I looked on Airbnb of course but none for stage 1

You can book many private albergues ahead.

I agree with @MinaKamina that you need to do a lot of planning if you want to walk the Camino with a dog.

 

[Rick of Rick and Peg]

I looked for a dog topic thread

You can use the following webpage to search for threads that have been tagged with various topics of interest.

https://www.caminodesantiago.me/community/tags/

Dogs & other animals is listed among the popular topics. That will bring you to the following page.

https://www.caminodesantiago.me/community/tags/dogs-other-animals/

 

[DearKat]

I'm not sure the dog accommodation excel has no options for Norte. The ones that do list as dog friendly on Expedia Booking and Google actually mean they have a dog. They do not accept dogs. This has happened four times no refund booking ahead.

You can book many private albergues ahead.

I agree with @MinaKamina that you need to do a lot of planning if you want to walk the Camino with a dog.

 

[MinaKamina]

You cannot book albergues ahead. What route did you take with your dog? I looked on Airbnb of course but none for stage 1

Here is the list with dog friendly accomodation that @LavanyaLea made for the CF:

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1Pzj5yNW9m0I52tb9MdF4OwyKx9rGp0Knor8p6dIf4Vc/edit#gid=0

Thread here, this is the best and most complete overview of preparation that I've seen for walking with a dog:

https://www.caminodesantiago.me/community/threads/fuji’s-first-camino-camino-with-a-dog.75407/

 

[henrythedog]

Many more options on the Frances. I agree that the ‘Fuji’ thread is excellent.

 

[xin loi]

In May I frequently saw a woman with her dog on the primitivo. No Albergue allowed her to keep the dog inside so she slept in her tent in the yard with her dog. Know they made it to lugo and assume they made it to Santiago.

On the Norte in 2019, I did not see anyone finish with their dog. Norte is TOUGH and dogs are NOT as strong as humans for day after day walking. In the Army , our infantry walked the dogs into the ground.

 

[Anamiri]

Hey folks,
Looking to hear from Pawrents who have done Camino with a dog. I looked for a dog topic thread this is close as I can find?

We've staged to Bilbao on Norte from St Jean de Luz. As I was told before it was extremely difficult on this route both terrain, length, elevation and accommodation. It's the accommodation getting me down the most. We've wild camped twice, slept rough once and the other two nights well... Irun Albergue allowed us their car park... a Mendata one their garden. At least I got a shower there. I think last night squatting in an old food truck getting soaked at 1am as a thunderstorm hit is my limit.

Time to make a decision.

I'm wondering if provisions get easier on stage 2 of Norte towards Santander or if its smarter at this point to say I've done 170KM of Norte. Drop South and pick up the Frances to Leon?

The dogs loving life but myself it's a challenge to walk so far and have no shower and only snacks to take to a tent. No kitchens or meals. I've showered at a hostel in Bilbao and the shorts I commuted in are HANGING OFF. I feel like I'm missing out on Albergue comraderie and cheer too.

Try another Norte stage or drop South to Frances?

I dont think the Frances is either, especially in the prior to Sarria stages.
In 2016 we walked for a few days with a woman and her 2 dogs.
It was very difficult for her, being dog lovers, and seeing her distress, we helped as much as we could, but she and her dogs were stressed and eventually left the Camino and went home in Logrono.
On later Caminos we met people again with dogs, but they had preplanned (and walked only from Sarria) every night.

 

[LavanyaLea]

Hi @DearKat, I'm sorry to hear you're having such a tough time on del Norte!

You're right, of all the caminos on my spreadsheet, the list isn't very complete on del Norte. I put the information there from the APACA website. As far as personal stories (I do troll social media for any news of dogs on the camino), there is 1 Spanish couple who did the Norte with their dog, they have written about it here:

Hacer el Camino de Santiago con Perro | El viaje me hizo a mí

Te contamos todo lo necesario para hacer el Camino de Santiago con Perro y además te mostramos algunos alojamientos donde lo aceptarán.

elviajemehizoami.com

Although they started from Mondonedo. The spreadsheet looks better for del Norte from Soto de Luina onwards.

What I tend to do, is make reservation either on Booking.com or directly with the albergues. Some albergues ask us to confirm the day before/day of arriving that we are still arriving on that date. When I had to change dates, albergues were very accommodating too, as long as they are not fully booked. But they did allow me to change dates, even when it cannot be moved according to Booking.

When calling albergues, ask what their arrangement is. For example, on the Primitivo, David/Bodenaya allows dogs in the albergue but only in the lobby/entradas, not into the bedrooms. But Fontenonaya does allow dogs in the bedrooms. The Spanish couple on del Norte sometimes had to leave their dog in the bike shed or horse stables.

If you do decide to switch to Frances, then I know quite a few perregrinos who have made it all the way from Roncesvalles to Santiago. On Instagram they're @diarioperrogrino and @turismocanino (and they do write where they have stayed etc). Merce (@turismocanino) has even published 2 guides on Camino Frances/general dog trips in Spain.

 

[LavanyaLea]

From Bilbao (sourced from Buen Camino, not yet confirmed with the albergues):
- Bilbao: Albergue Akelarre +34944057713 info@bilbaoakelarrehostel.com www.bilbaoakelarrehostel.com
- Portugalete: Pension Santa Maria +34944722489 hostalsantamaria@gmail.com hostal-santamaria.es
- Castro Urdialez:?
- Laredo: Albergue Casa de la Trinidad +34618000831 +34942606600 alberguecasadelatrinidad@gmail.com
Camping Playa del Regaton (this looks VERY good) +34942606995 recepcion@campingplayaregaton.com https://campingplayaregaton.com/
- Guemes: Posada Valle de Guemes +34609480553 + 34942621074
info@valledeguemes.com
www.valledeguemes.com
- Santander: Plaza Pombo B&B +34942212950 info@plazapombo.com www.plazapombo.com
- Santillana del Mar: Albergue el Convento +34693816528 elconventosantillana@gmail.com
Albergue el Pico de Santillana +34655583096 surfelpico@gmail.com www.elpicodesantillana.com
- Comillas:?
- Colombres (Gronze): stop at Unquera (2.4km before Colombres) Albergue de Bustio (donativo) +34607812610 Maria Luz Puertas alberguedebustio@gmail.com
- Llanes:?
- Ribadesella: Hotel El Pagadín. Pando. Ribadesella. Asturias. (6km after Ribadesella in San Esteban de Leces)
- Colunga: Hotel Mar del Sueve +34985852111 +34650982913 info@mardelsueve.com www.mardelsueve.com
- Villaviciosa: stop at La Campa (7km after Villaviciosa) Hotel 3 Alpacas - via booking.com
- Gijon: Balenax Pension +34 984294895 hola@balenaxpension.com balenaxpension.com

... then can link up to Oviedo for the Primitivo. Full list of albergues on the primitivo is on the Google spreadsheet...

- Aviles: Hostal Puente Azud +34985550177 hostalpuenteazud@gmail.com www.hostalpuenteazud.com
- Muros de Nalon: Albergue Carving Surf School +34658941351 +34649841208 info@carvingsurfschool.com www.carvingsurfschool.com
Apartamentos La Flor +34658869576 +34985583106

... after that, from Soto de Luina onwards it's already on the spreadsheet.

 

[LTfit]

Lots of information given by others so I'll just give my 2 cents based on a short Camino I did with my previous dog.

Back in 2016 I walked one week on the Norte. I did it more as an experiment as I was already in Spain. Before setting out I decided that if it became too cumbersome we would just stop. We ended up walking from Santillana del Mar to Gijón.

My dog did great (it was October so not warm) but finding accommodations that were both reasonable in price and accepted dogs was a daily challenge. I would call around one day in advance, something that I had never done on any other Camino (obviously situation has changed since Corona). One advantage I had is that my dog was small which I always mentioned on the phone. Because of this, a few places accepted us when they normally don't.

We stopped in Gijón as it has a train station getting me back to Barreda, a short walk back to Santillana.

I met a few other pilgrims with dogs but they had a tent. That is really the only way to go to avoid a lot of hassle but not my idea of fun (extra weight, etc).

Good luck whatever you decide.

 

[DearKat]

Thanks all.

We staged Bilbao and then took a blabla to Andorra. Halfway through the GPR here and then moving onto GR10 Pyrénées French and possibly Francigena. It's super dog friendly here so I'm glad we switched to refuges and the mountains

GR10 and Francigena also have pilgrim passports.