Another Consideration for October/November Pilgrims

[scruffy1]

Here in Jerusalem the sun goes down boom, no warning no fascinating and long drawn out show of clouds and light - sunset at 1815 and quickly dark. I will be flying into Bilbao very soon, many things there I want to see and only one day to do it, Santiago Cathedral for the first sello, but also the Guggenheim Museum, the Belle Arts Museum, some time to just Bilbao around and was worried that the daylight hours were perhaps too short for all my plans. The Google Guru immediately brought comfort, sunset in Bilbao is 1945! Plenty of time!! Then I cast my eye on the time for sunrise! Again, here in Jerusalem, sunrise, no long affair, 0630 suns up and life begins.Sunrise in Bilbao 0815!!! What??!? And rising later every day by one minute. Fine, leaving home and family, recognized environment and surroundings, for a foreign country, a different time zone, a different language but it seems almost like a different planet, one where they seem to have a different sun and moon!! Noontime, here the sun at its zenith 1200 and a bit, 1400 there! And you people are worried about jetlag? It may be the least of your problems as the whole day is shifted by two hours! More for our mares and Kiwis from down under. I usually have no problem adjusting, allow the sun to set my pace but I have met quite a few people who experience difficulties. So forewarned is forearmed, simply something else to consider when planning.

 

[GreatDane]

My home is on the 46th parallel north, my house sits at the bottom of a rise to the west so this time of year the sun "sets" at 6:27 pm but gets dim a lot earlier than that. If I were say in Leon, the sun sets today at 7:55 pm. I'd much rather have the light in the evening than in the morning!!! YMMV

 

[november_moon]

Yes, the sun rises and sets "later" in Spain. The issue is just that Spain is in the far west of a very wide time zone. It's time zone starts on the eastern border of Poland, which means that when the sun is coming up in Spain at 8:15, its also 8:15 in eastern Poland, where the sun has been up for an hour and a half already. This kind if thing always happens in areas with very wide time zones. Imagine how strange it must be in China, which is extremely wide and only has 1 time zone.

 

[peregrina2000]

Well, scruffy, let's start with the tidbit that Franco wanted Spain to be on the same time zone as Germany, so that explains some of the mess. I have only walked once on a Camino in the fall, but I remember that it was dark in Pola de Lena at 8 am. That's kind of crazy.

BTW, if you have only one day in Bilbao, my advice would be to enjoy the Guggenheim from the outside and then go to Bellas Artes. I went inside the Guggenheim once but never again -- it was the sunflowers dipped in lead that did it for me.

 

[Wokabaut_Meri]

Here in Jerusalem the sun goes down boom, no warning no fascinating and long drawn out show of clouds and light - sunset at 1815 and quickly dark. I will be flying into Bilbao very soon, many things there I want to see and only one day to do it, Santiago Cathedral for the first sello, but also the Guggenheim Museum, the Belle Arts Museum, some time to just Bilbao around and was worried that the daylight hours were perhaps too short for all my plans. The Google Guru immediately brought comfort, sunset in Bilbao is 1945! Plenty of time!! Then I cast my eye on the time for sunrise! Again, here in Jerusalem, sunrise, no long affair, 0630 suns up and life begins.Sunrise in Bilbao 0815!!! What??!? And rising later every day by one minute. Fine, leaving home and family, recognized environment and surroundings, for a foreign country, a different time zone, a different language but it seems almost like a different planet, one where they seem to have a different sun and moon!! Noontime, here the sun at its zenith 1200 and a bit, 1400 there! And you people are worried about jetlag? It may be the least of your problems as the whole day is shifted by two hours! More for our mares and Kiwis from down under. I usually have no problem adjusting, allow the sun to set my pace but I have met quite a few people who experience difficulties. So forewarned is forearmed, simply something else to consider when planning.

Sound advice. We experienced the opposite in having more hours of sunlight than expected, even going to sleep in daylight. Still suffering now here in South Australia, 4 months post Camino, into spring and still nowhere near the 15 hours of Spanish sunlight which we enjoyed each day in April and May. Jet lag doesn't come close.

 

[Wokabaut_Meri]

Yes, the sun rises and sets "later" in Spain. The issue is just that Spain is in the far west of a very wide time zone. It's time zone starts on the eastern border of Poland, which means that when the sun is coming up in Spain at 8:15, its also 8:15 in eastern Poland, where the sun has been up for an hour and a half already. This kind if thing always happens in areas with very wide time zones. Imagine how strange it must be in China, which is extremely wide and only has 1 time zone.

Sure is strange in China. We were in Tibet for some months and everything official was mandated in Beijing time (utterly ridiculous) while the locals operated their days on Nepali time 2-3 hours adrift.

 

[jsalt]

Then I cast my eye on the time for sunrise!

And in October the albergues still toss you out at 8am into the pitch dark! That improves on the last Sunday in October when the clocks are put back one hour, but it's not long before it's dark again at 8am.

 

[scruffy1]

Well, scruffy, let's start with the tidbit that Franco wanted Spain to be on the same time zone as Germany, so that explains some of the mess. I have only walked once on a Camino in the fall, but I remember that it was dark in Pola de Lena at 8 am. That's kind of crazy.

BTW, if you have only one day in Bilbao, my advice would be to enjoy the Guggenheim from the outside and then go to Bellas Artes. I went inside the Guggenheim once but never again -- it was the sunflowers dipped in lead that did it for me.

Hadn't even thought about going into the Guggenheim - like all modern museums, the good bits were picked up long ago by the existing curators and there is not really much left to put on the walls, leaded roses sounds not too bad considering some things I have seen. There is an artsy-fartsy 5****** hotel, the Silk Gran Domin which has both a restaurant and a cafe/bar overlooking the museum, to eat there would require another mortgage on the house but to sip the beverage of my choice late afternoon in the cafe/bar seems to be a good idea.

 

[sharon w]

Am in Bilbao now. The Belles Artes Museum is wonderful. Free on Wednesdays. The art in the Guggenheim exhibitions reminds me of preschool work. However, the structure of the Guggenheim is very impressive.
If you start walking between 7.30 and 8 there is enough light to see way markings.

 

[scruffy1]

Am in Bilbao now. The Belles Artes Museum is wonderful. Free on Wednesdays. The art in the Guggenheim exhibitions reminds me of preschool work. However, the structure of the Guggenheim is very impressive.
If you start walking between 7.30 and 8 there is enough light to see way markings.

Thanks!

 

[Anemone del Camino]

The Gug's exhibits are a disaster, yet modern art can be so interesting. perhaps poor audios, poor,educational material.

As for Franco, wouldn't be interisting to,have a study on the relationship betwwen his regime and the Camino? So,we can understand where and what we are walking by? Not for me to do, or I would not sleep at night considering my family's ties to the civil war but for others with more moderate views,perhaps.

 

[Christian Hiriart]

The Guggenheim is in my bucket list, I love to see the building which is one of Frank Gahry's best.

Chris

 

[Anniesantiago]

Am in Bilbao now. The Belles Artes Museum is wonderful. Free on Wednesdays. The art in the Guggenheim exhibitions reminds me of preschool work. However, the structure of the Guggenheim is very impressive.
If you start walking between 7.30 and 8 there is enough light to see way markings.

Yes! I enjoyed the Bella Artes much more than the Guggenheim. I did enjoy seeing the OUTSIDE of the Guggenheim though!

 

[MTtoCamino]

Skruffy

I want a picture of you on the spider

 

[JohnnieWalker]

I loved Bilbao - enjoy Scruffy. You make a very serious point about winter walking. I discovered this on my very first Camino when I started from Sevilla on 2 January. Sometimes if the route was obvious it was magical to start before dawn and walk under the stars. But by January dusk was 6.30 or 7 pm. When planning stages daylight hours need to be taken into account.

 

[alexwalker]

Hmmmm.... Scruffy, IMHO, you're spoiled by the climate at the low latitudes of Jerusalem. Here is what it may look like in the more Northern latitudes:

Winter without sun for 2 months:



Midsummer night, at midnight: 2 months with sun up 24 hours:



Autumn: Normal:



Returning back to another winter:



All seasons are slowly sliding into light/darkness up here far North. Hope you enjoy this, old fellow pilgrim.