The Future Path

[MARSKA]

Hola todos! Well, I leave for MAD in a week for Camino #2 ... YES!? To be honest, I'm unsure.
I'm looking for advice regarding a starting point - SJPDP, Roncevalles, Pamplona or Tiebas - and some encouragement.

Looking at the weather forecast, it looks like rain pretty much all across northern Spain for at least a week to 10 days beginning 4/9. Of course, the higher one goes the colder it is.

I had 2 weeks of walking in rain all day, everyday, last fall. The temps were fairly warm but I admit I was totally fed up with the rain. This April it seems the daily high temps won't hit the 60's until May with rain forecasted over half of the days I will be walking. Please don't give me grief - I know I'm a bit of a wimp when it comes to walking wet and cold. And a complete wimp in the hot sun.

On the other hand I met some of the most wonderful people ever and had a beautiful, if not profound, social experience.

I started in SJPDP on my last camino based largely on the advice of forum members and solidified by the advice of a local pastor. The advice was right-on IMO. Within a day or two I had met 5 extraordinary women (one of whom was diagnosed with breast cancer after returning and is not doing well. Very, very sad and please pray for Teresa). One saved me. One is climbing Kilaminjaro this fall and has endured trauma yet still shares lots of joy and smiles. One very young and extremely gifted young woman walked with her mother (Teresa). One is the most encouraging, nurturing, joyous individual I've ever met. One is the most courageous person in the world.

I'm trying to CONTROL both the FUTURE weather and FUTURE social contacts. How crazy is that? Help me (LOL). I think I've answered my own question.

 

[arkron]

My Camino starts today. The last two weeks, I constantly looked at the weather forecasts. It changed every day: it will be rainy, it will be hot, it will be sunny and stormy, it will be cold.
Don’t let weather forecasts keep you away. It will be exactly the weather it’s supposed to be. And it won’t care about forecasts. Because it’s April.
Also, there are different weather models, one of them (the iPhone App) notoriously doesn’t predict correctly. Don’t base your weather musings on that one!

 

[Leila99]

Hi @MARSKA, I'm also leaving in a week from Pamplona via MAD on the CF. Our paths (posts) seem to cross. I was looking at the weather forecast with apprehension and I am happy to read (thanks @arkron ) that the weather app is not good: so either it is going to be sunny or the app is wrong I cannot postpone my start and trust in the camino. As a sun-devotee I may struggle with the rain but I am sure it will work out in the end. A good way to lower my control vibes, which for me can only be positive (see previous posts on managing my expectations on my expectations )) Wish you a buen camino and we'll probably meet on the way !

 

[Peterexpatkiwi]

@MARSKA , no advice - just wanted to say I get it. I have a love-hate relationship with rain. I absolutely love it when I'm warm and dry indoors; my garden loves it and the environment ( especially in Spain) desperately needs it.
But when I'm walking..... . UGG. Naturally I deal with it if I have to but I freely understand your lack of desire to start off in it. Especially following on from last year.

So all I can do is wish you good luck, and Buen Camino.

 

[Kiwi-family]

@MARSKA would you be comfortable deciding when you arrive? I haven't looked at weather forecasts, but now that you tell me the first ten days might be wet, I'll be so glad to be holed up in the monastery at Alloz for a week;-)

 

[good_old_shoes]

That far in advance the weather can not be predicted for sure.

But from what I see, the tendency is for temperatures to go up compared to what they're right now, which is at least something!

Spring weather is a bit unpredictable, overall. You'll have to take it as it is, anyway, so, try not to worry too much.

But I totally understand. I will walk in spring this year, too, after several summer Caminos with sun, sun, and more sun plus heat.

I learned to love the heat and am a bit unsure how well I will cope with lots of rain and colder temperatures.

But usually, once the walking starts, all the worries tend to go away and I enjoy it as it is. For me, the worst part is "before".

Just keep your positive attitude and adapt to what the Camino throws at you. Maybe it will be a Camino of short walking days and lots of coffee stops to get out of the rain. Maybe weather is better than expected. It will certainly be a different Camino than the first, but I see that as a good thing. Wouldn't it be boring if it would be always the same?

Wish you a happy second Camino!

(I'll be on my 5th Francés, soon. Rain or no rain. I've decided that a rainy Camino is better than no Camino!)

 

[Leila99]

a rainy Camino is better than no Camino!

I want to put it on a sticker on my backpack

 

[arkron]

Hi @MARSKA, I'm also leaving in a week from Pamplona via MAD on the CF. Our paths (posts) seem to cross. I was looking at the weather forecast with apprehension and I am happy to read (thanks @arkron ) that the weather app is not good: so either it is going to be sunny or the app is wrong I cannot postpone my start and trust in the camino. As a sun-devotee I may struggle with the rain but I am sure it will work out in the end. A good way to lower my control vibes, which for me can only be positive (see previous posts on managing my expectations on my expectations )) Wish you a buen camino and we'll probably meet on the way !

Always remember: Rain is just fluid sunshine!

 

[arkron]

As an encouraging heads-up: this is live from SJPP as taken two hours ago. The weather app predicted rainy weather this afternoon, and now I’m sitting right at the river and enjoying a can of beer.

 

[MARSKA]

@MARSKA would you be comfortable deciding when you arrive? I haven't looked at weather forecasts, but now that you tell me the first ten days might be wet, I'll be so glad to be holed up in the monastery at Alloz for a week;-)

I think I will do just that - decide when I arrive. And you will probably be the first to know at breakfast!

 

[MARSKA]

View attachment 167155
As an encouraging heads-up: this is live from SJPP as taken two hours ago. The weather app predicted rainy weather this afternoon, and now I’m sitting right at the river and enjoying a can of beer.

Beautiful!!!!!

 

[MARSKA]

A rainy Camino is better than no Camino.
Rain is just fluid sunshine

A rainy Camino is better than no Camino.
Rain is just fluid sunshine

A rainy Camino is better than no Camino.
Rain is just fluid sunshine

A rainy Camino is better than no Camino.
Rain is just fluid sunshine

 

[lt56ny]

A rainy Camino is better than no Camino.
Rain is just fluid sunshine

A rainy Camino is better than no Camino.
Rain is just fluid sunshine

A rainy Camino is better than no Camino.
Rain is just fluid sunshine

A rainy Camino is better than no Camino.
Rain is just fluid sunshine

You answered your own question. Happy to hear it.
Last November I walked on the Coastal Portugues. I had walked two other camino before I arrived Porto. The rain started the day I left on the bus from Leon to get to Porto and it was torrential. EVERY single day the rain was intense and it rained for most of the day. There were days when I was off the coast in the hills that I was walking in 5 or 6 inches, or more of running water. My feet were soaking wet within about 15 minutes of leaving. The third day as I was walking by the beach in a howling wind and horizontal rain, I thought, yes the weather sucks but where would I rather be. Of course the answer was no where else. This year I will do the Aragones again, then the Madrid and finally give the coastal another crack. Hope to do the Espiritual Variante and finish with one of my favorite little caminos to Muxia)H. opefully the weather will be better and the views more dramatic as often there was such dark and low moving clouds or foggy conditions. But even if the weather sucks, where would we both rather be?

 

[CWBuff]

I'm trying to CONTROL both the FUTURE weather and FUTURE social contacts.

To paraphrase a line from a very famous US 1970s sitcom which we can re-title her "The Camino Bunch"

MARKSA! MARSKA! MARSKA!

 

[MARSKA]

Hi @MARSKA, I'm also leaving in a week from Pamplona via MAD on the CF. Our paths (posts) seem to cross. I was looking at the weather forecast with apprehension and I am happy to read (thanks @arkron ) that the weather app is not good: so either it is going to be sunny or the app is wrong I cannot postpone my start and trust in the camino. As a sun-devotee I may struggle with the rain but I am sure it will work out in the end. A good way to lower my control vibes, which for me can only be positive (see previous posts on managing my expectations on my expectations )) Wish you a buen camino and we'll probably meet on the way !

@Leila99 : I hope we do meet! Buen Camino!

 

[Valerie J]

You answered your own question. Happy to hear it.
Last November I walked on the Coastal Portugues. I had walked two other camino before I arrived Porto. The rain started the day I left on the bus from Leon to get to Porto and it was torrential. EVERY single day the rain was intense and it rained for most of the day. There were days when I was off the coast in the hills that I was walking in 5 or 6 inches, or more of running water. My feet were soaking wet within about 15 minutes of leaving. The third day as I was walking by the beach in a howling wind and horizontal rain, I thought, yes the weather sucks but where would I rather be. Of course the answer was no where else. This year I will do the Aragones again, then the Madrid and finally give the coastal another crack. Hope to do the Espiritual Variante and finish with one of my favorite little caminos to Muxia)H. opefully the weather will be better and the views more dramatic as often there was such dark and low moving clouds or foggy conditions. But even if the weather sucks, where would we both rather be?

I walked through those storms on the Portuguese Coastal last November too! It was crazy ! But the spirits of the people walking were amazing - a lot of laughs still! Now I'm on the Via de la Plata, almost at Zamora, and have been wading through flooded arroyos .it's still amazing and wonderful to be here.

 

[lt56ny]

I walked through those storms on the Portuguese Coastal last November too! It was crazy ! But the spirits of the people walking were amazing - a lot of laughs still! Now I'm on the Via de la Plata, almost at Zamora, and have been wading through flooded arroyos .it's still amazing and wonderful to be here.

You are so right about the laughter. Even though there weren't alot of people that were in the albergues that I stayed in at night. The rain, without a doubt was a common and strong bond of laughs and a little bit of whining which was more for laughs than complaints.
I walked the VDLP in 2021. I started in late October. I remember walking through those arroyos and thinking that they wouldn't be fun to walk through during a rainy spring. But like we both feel, where would you rather be!!!!! Buen Camino