Hi I'm Anne and I'll be walking my 3rd Camino this year!

[AMNAUSA]

My husband (78) and I (66) will be walking the Camino del Norte in September. We have walked the "Frances" route twice 2006 & 2007 and we loved it. Has anyone done both the Camino Frances and the Camino del Norte? If so would you recommend the Camino del Norte?

 

[peregrina2000]

Hi, Anne,

Lucky you! I walked the Norte last summer after several times on the Frances and it was beautiful. Lots of coastal walking, lots of pretty (touristy) towns, great weather. I think you will love it. If you go to the "Camino del Norte" section of this forum, you'll see lots of posts there that deal with different aspects of the route. I started one entitled "My pictures from the norte" which has a bunch of entries that deal with some of the things you asked about.

The main difference is that there are fewer albergues on the norte and less of a Camino feel. But we did wind up walking with a couple of different bunches of people for good chunks of our camino. We probably met a total of 30 people, many Germans, some French, Swiss, Canadians, Brazilians, Norwegians, but no others from the USA. We stayed in hotels a lot more on this route, and were frequently in towns with no albergues so there wasn't the same sense as on the Frances. But we met people who planned their stages much more carefully than we did, and they were able to pretty much stay exclusively in albergues. The best guidebook is in German, the one we had was much inferior. But luckily we met a lot of Germans and were able to get advice from them!

I would walk the Norte again in a heartbeat -- if only I had the time. I probably will do it again sometime, if I'm lucky.

What time of year are you planning to go? We walked in May and it was great becuase the summer tourists had not yet arrived yet the weather was very nice. We somehow lucked out because the people who were a day or two ahead of us and a day or two behind us had lots of rain, but we really only had two or three days, and only one of them was one of those relentless neverending rains that soaks you to the bone.

There are fewer people on this forum who have walked on the Norte, but I got lots of great advice here last year before I went, so you should feel free to ask a lot of questions. Buen camino! Laurie

 

[Arn]

Hi Anne and Husband...welcome to the Class of 2008!

As Laurie mentioned...there's bunches of info on the Norte thread and as always..."it's not the Way that you walk...it's the walk along the Way"

Check the Calendar at the bottom of the page to see who may be walking the Milky Way with you.

Buen Camino,
Arn

 

[Dawn of a new Day]

Camino norte great to do once

Hi, I walked the camino norte last year in may. Lots of rain, and asphalt walking. Alot of the albergues are not open, so it was necessary to make a call to be let in. I had 10 days walking on my own (not by choice) no others around. the first 2 weeks i only encountered french and spanish, and there was 6 nights where i was all alone in the albergue. The true camino starts in galicia.Don't expect a cafe con leche at 6am!!! be prepared with food and water. The camino usually goes past the outside of town and not thru.
I would do a section again, however i would do the cF again before the norte. i will do the via de la plata in sept.this year.
dawn

 

[MermaidLilli]

Read this last post and I am seeing a lot of people making plans to walk the Via de la Plata in their future. I am walking it in May, wish more of you were. Come on. let's walk!
Hasta la Via, Baby

 

[peregrina2000]

Hi, Lilli,
I'm one of those who's dreaming about the Vdlp. I'm hoping that the Camino gods will smile kindly on me and that next spring it will be possible. How did you decide on a departure date? I had been thinking that May would be kind of late in terms of the southern heat. Are you walking from Sevilla? Laurie

 

[MermaidLilli]

Hi Laurie,
Yes, I start in Sevilla the first days of May. I amfrom Florida and am not a freezing cold lover, so figured that it would be cool at the start and as I walk north the spring will move north with me, I know that the mountains will still be cold, like they were in the Camino Frances last year in August and September. At least that is what I am hoping for.... weather fickle as it can be you never know. Today's weather: Minimum 4 degrees, maximum 19 degrees in Sevilla.
Minimum -3 degrees, maximum 14 degrees in Salamanca.
Could be perfect for some peregrinos, but those minimums sound cold to me.
Here's the link:
http://groups.msn.com/ElCaminoSantiago/ ... Plata.msnw
brrrr,
Lillian

 

[crackmrmac]

Hi Lillian, I see you're on-line.
I thoroughly enjoyed your photos with music on youtube link.
Thanks.

Brian.

 

[AMNAUSA]

Thanks everyone for the information - I'm new to this and did not see the Camino Norte thread until later. I am so looking forward to returning to Spain and the Camino and if we don't like the Norte route or the weather is too cold and wet we will just hop on a bus and go back to the Frances.

Buen Camino to all Peregrinos who are now setting off on this wonderful trip.