April 2012 Camino- Frances or Norte?

[Sedona2012]

I am planning my second Camino after completing the Camino Frances October 2012. I have the ability to go anytime from March 1st 2013 but need to return no later than May 6th.

If I did a trip in April would you veterans of the Camino recommend Frances or Norte during April? I am fit enough I believe for the Norte route and after walking part of the Portuguese route I am more accustom to more challenges.

Buen Camino
Bobbie

 

[Tia Valeria]

If you are starting early in the year will you maybe have snow on the early stages of the Francés? Also you have already walked that Camino.

On the Norte, being near the coast, the weather may be better and you do not have to go through the mountains until later. You can follow the Norte the whole way or go through Oviedo and either continue the Norte or go onto the Primitivo. The latter would depend on the threat of snow as there are high passes beyond Tineo, but you do not have to make a final decision until after Bodenaya as you can turn up to the Norte again at El Espin.
Buen Camino

 

[Sedona2012]

Hi Tia -

Thank you so much for the help. The Norte is the Camino I long to complete and so glad to hear it is the better choice for April. Any decent guidebooks for the Norte?

Buen Camino,

Bobbie

If you are starting early in the year will you maybe have snow on the early stages of the Francés? Also you have already walked that Camino.

On the Norte, being near the coast, the weather may be better and you do not have to go through the mountains until later. You can follow the Norte the whole way or go through Oviedo and either continue the Norte or go onto the Primitivo. The latter would depend on the threat of snow as there are high passes beyond Tineo, but you do not have to make a final decision until after Bodenaya as you can turn up to the Norte again at El Espin.
Buen Camino

 

[Tia Valeria]

Hola Bobbie,
We use the CSJ guides which have not only good directions and distances but also lists of albergues and alternative accomodation.
http://www.csj.org.uk/acatalog/The_CSJ_Bookshop_Pilgrim_Guides_to_Spain_23.html
If you scroll down the page you will find 'Los Caminos del Norte A' Rutas de la Costa (1 and 2) and also F - for the Primitivo. (Terry says that turning north at El Espin back to the Norte involves a lot of road walking)
There are updates on-line and a new book due out but probably not soon enough for you. An e-mail to the CSJ office might help you.
It is given on the website http://www.csj.org.uk/index.htm under 'contact us' at the bottom right of the first page.

If you like an online guide and can read Spanish then http://www.gronze.com/ is useful. It lists albergues, but is not as good for alternative accomodation as the CSJ guides.

 

[MikeJS]

I used this guide that is provided for free by the Spanish Tourist Board - http://tourism.euskadi.net/contenidos/i ... INGLES.pdf. They also produce a separate booklet that lists the Albergues but I do not have a link to it. There are copies of the accommodation guide on the forum somewhere but better to pick up an updated guide from the tourist offices. Personally, I thought the CSJ guides were a waste of money and threw mine away about 5 days into the walk. I found them far too wordy with very limited mapping info. If you have a smart phone then there were times when google maps was my friend! Especially when the route (or I) got a little confused.

 

[Sedona2012]

Thanks Mike for the help!

I used this guide that is provided for free by the Spanish Tourist Board - http://tourism.euskadi.net/contenidos/i ... INGLES.pdf. They also produce a separate booklet that lists the Albergues but I do not have a link to it. There are copies of the accommodation guide on the forum somewhere but better to pick up an updated guide from the tourist offices. Personally, I thought the CSJ guides were a waste of money and threw mine away about 5 days into the walk. I found them far too wordy with very limited mapping info. If you have a smart phone then there were times when google maps was my friend! Especially when the route (or I) got a little confused.

 

[MikeJS]

I should have mentioned that like most ‘guides’ it has a few errors and it misses a few things. However, as long as you check at each albergue you can normally catch up on the latest changes. In fact even the latest version of the accommodation guide that i used which was published by th tourist board had a few albergues listed that had been closed for years and missed a few that had recently opened.