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I agree with you 100%! I would have been tempted to grab my camera and ask someone to take a photo of her and me. Then I would have asked her, “Who appointed you Constable of Pure Camino Rules?”
I had the same experience while walking in Portugal. I would explain I didn’t speak much Portugués but Spanish yes. Communication was never an issue, not even over the phone. In addition, many people in Portugal speak some English, so language barrier isn’t a huge problem.
You can check online to see if there are any national or regional holidays or 3-day weekends and plan to start during a different week. One of the things I’ve noticed every spring on Camino forums is people worrying about crowds. This always seems to happen around Easter and also the 1st of May...
In terms of strenuous vs less strenuous, I wouldn’t recommend the Primitivo or Salvador. You could, however, head up to the northern coast — you probably have time to walk from somewhere just west of Bilbao but would need to calculate daily mileage.
The other suggestion someone already made...
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