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A winter slideshow

Kialoa3

Active Member
This past January my wife Robin and I walked the Camino Ignaciano. We never saw another pilgrim (other than CF pilgrims heading westbound from Logroño) for the 27 days we walked. It is a solitary but stunning walk full of challenges and contrasts, but strangely compelling. View the slideshow and see what awaits you. Fair warning, viewing this show could result in the purchase of an airfare. Enjoy.

 
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Lovely. It's too late for the plane tickets though; departure is in 23 hours. We'll be walking out of Loyola in a couple of days. I might not show my wife the video though. She may say that we no longer need to walk it after watching your Camino! Thanks much for your blog, photos & video. It's helped us get ready.
 
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Lovely. It's too late for the plane tickets though; departure is in 23 hours. We'll be walking out of Loyola in a couple of days. I might not show my wife the video though. She may say that we no longer need to walk it after watching your Camino! Thanks much for your blog, photos & video. It's helped us get ready.

Michael, have a great time on the Ignaciano. Can't wait to read your blog posts. Have fun.

John
 
Bravo! What wonderful slides and sounds make up your show!
What route will you two next follow?

Margaret

Hard to say Margaret, but come 2016 we will be Camino bound once again. We will just have to see where the Spirit leads us. Always fascinating.
 
Absolutely beautiful. Thank you so much for sharing these stunning photos of this little-know pilgrimage route. So many incredible places to see and experience in this world!
 
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Bala, April & May are good months to walk this route if you prefer flowers to snow. :D Walking in the snow does look enticing in Kialoa's video though.
 
Michael, April & May must be beautiful. I am most definitely not a snow person, but Kialoa's video made me feel like winter was the ideal time to be out. I can only imagine what it would be like in weather I actually enjoy!
 
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Wow. You've put together a fabulous collection. Congratulations! A lot of them look freezing, but beautiful.
Thank you
Annie
 
It is my understanding that in 2014 only 201 pilgrims completed this camino. When you contrast that to the numbers arriving in Santiago you begin to understand that this route is truly in its infancy. So if you do not mind a bit of solitude, and paying a bit more for accommodation (fewer albergues), then I would say give it a go. My guess is you won't be disappointed. Glad you are enjoying the slideshow. Robin and I certainly enjoyed making it. It was a wonderful journey.
 
Kiloa3



My wife and I are veterans of the Camino Frances and the Camino Portugues and we are contemplating El Camino Ignaciano for 2016. We are seniors (I am 72) and like you, we are Canadians (we are used to hiking on snow) . I have a couple of questions:

1) It seems some of the stages are very long. We can manage 25 km, more than that is too long. Did you manage to split stages?, how?
2) We can handle 5 cm of snow and temperatures down to -10 C, how deep snow did you find in January and how low were the temperatures?
3) Did you need thermal underwear? Winter jackets? We walked the Camino Frances in March, some snow, temperatures down to -2 or -3 C, we did not have winter coats, we managed with light fleeces and rain jackets. Did you have heavy winter jackets?

Any other special considerations for a January of February pilgrimage?

Thanks
 
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Hi Gil,

In answer to your questions.
1. Yes, we modified certain stages as necessary to find accommodation or to shorten the distance. We typically arranged for a taxi to meet us and take us to wherever we needed to go (sometimes it was a train). Typically it was because there was no lodging available but occasionally we simply called it quits because we did not to walk 20 (or so) miles. It certainly is a cost but was well worth it when we felt the need to put the brakes on. We always found taxi, train or bus schedules readily available either by chatting up locals or going online.

2. The snow was never over the tops of our mid height boots, and the temps never dropped much below freezing when we were walking. That being said in winter months anything is possible. You could have blizzard conditions and sub freezing temperatures. There are sections of this route where you will definitely be alone. If you are under prepared you will be assuming a certain level of risk that could come back to haunt you. The best advice is to always be informed regarding the weather. Talk to the locals before setting out on potentially dangerous sections (Basque Country) and be ready to lay over if the forecasted conditions look unfavorable. Seemingly straightforward hikes can become a nightmare when you run out of visibility, daylight and the snow is deepening around you. But with proper precautions the route is doable anytime of the year, but perhaps not on the very day you might want to do it. There are always weather events that will close any trail. Just be cautious and understand your limitations, and don't push your luck.

3. I used a hard shell jacket with merino wool sub layers. I also had a very lightweight down jacket that could have been used as an additional layer, but I never needed it. I did not use long underwear bottoms. No need.

Happy planning and buen camino,
John
 
Hi Gil,

In answer to your questions.
1. Yes, we modified certain stages as necessary to find accommodation or to shorten the distance. We typically arranged for a taxi to meet us and take us to wherever we needed to go (sometimes it was a train). Typically it was because there was no lodging available but occasionally we simply called it quits because we did not to walk 20 (or so) miles. It certainly is a cost but was well worth it when we felt the need to put the brakes on. We always found taxi, train or bus schedules readily available either by chatting up locals or going online.

2. The snow was never over the tops of our mid height boots, and the temps never dropped much below freezing when we were walking. That being said in winter months anything is possible. You could have blizzard conditions and sub freezing temperatures. There are sections of this route where you will definitely be alone. If you are under prepared you will be assuming a certain level of risk that could come back to haunt you. The best advice is to always be informed regarding the weather. Talk to the locals before setting out on potentially dangerous sections (Basque Country) and be ready to lay over if the forecasted conditions look unfavorable. Seemingly straightforward hikes can become a nightmare when you run out of visibility, daylight and the snow is deepening around you. But with proper precautions the route is doable anytime of the year, but perhaps not on the very day you might want to do it. There are always weather events that will close any trail. Just be cautious and understand your limitations, and don't push your luck.

3. I used a hard shell jacket with merino wool sub layers. I also had a very lightweight down jacket that could have been used as an additional layer, but I never needed it. I did not use long underwear bottoms. No need.

Happy planning and buen camino,
John
John:

Thank you very much for your reply.
We are thinking February -March or October -November. Good thing, we have time. We had to split several stages in the Camino Portugues, specially between Lisboa and Porto. That also gave us some experience as pilgrims in areas where people are not used to pilgrims. We have another advantage, both, my wife and I are fluent is Spanish.
Thanks again

Gil
 
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