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We will arrive the 12th in Madrid. Try to get our credentials at the Santiago-church and then stay one night in Madrid.
Yes, then is best to just want and decide when your there. Hope she'll be ok by then for walking.
Buen camino
I did the first stretch last october, and I have the stayed in some other donativos:
Just before Bilbao (st Martin): Doce Tribus. Bed, communal meal and breakfast. Quite new rooms. Separated by gender.
Markina-Xemein: convento padres carmelitas. Just beds (no bunks) and you can make tea and coffee.
Just walked that stretch. It was busy (I think also because the holiday weekend foot Spain) en a problem with beds. Especially after Markina, because Gernika albergue is closed, the albergue before Gernika was closed for holiday/winter. So the one after Gernika, putted extra tents in the garden...
Thank you Dave for this update. I'm walking the Norte now and have read your earlier notes about this. I'm now in Deba, so was thinking which route to take. Because its the firsttime on the Norte, I think I'll follow that instead of the coastal.
Today I did the GR121, it was very beautiful, but...
Maybe. I'll start from Irun next saturday.
I'm also a solo walking woman, from the Netherlands. I don't know yet how and how much I'll walk. I have printed the last updates and alternative routes David wrote earlier this year, I think of following those.
So maybe we see each other.
On the via de la plata in Oliva de Plasencia.
We saw in the evening a group of ladies sitting together on a square and making these. So yes, its a great thing for the community.
Oh, don't sit on the bench when it has rained 🤣
Did walk from Ponferrada last year at that time. No problem on beds or food. Quit a lot of people, but not crowdy. Yes we had rain, but raintrousers and a poncho kept us dry enough.
We walked there in may this year.
First stretch was great, you can walk al along the river. But after about 10km you get on the roads that were used for building the highway. But at the end it was a beautiful walk again.
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