Availability of accommodation on Camino del Norte in October

[AJGuillaume]

Hello,
This is my first post... I am planning my Camino for 2018. My wife and I will be starting in Geneva mid-June 2018, walking through to Le Puy-en Velay, then to Irun. We are walking an average of 15km per day, and would arrive in Irun on 2 September. Our intention is to then walk the Camino del Norte, and we would arrive at Villaviciosa on 3 October. We are still debating whether to continue the Norte, or to come down via the Primitivo, and one of the questions that may be important is whether there would still be accommodation available in October on the Norte (from Gijon westwards), or whether it would be wiser to take the Primitivo as there may be more pilgrims, and therefore more accommodation available.
Any advice/suggestions/ideas? Thank you in advance
Andrew

 

[grayland]

Welcome to the forum!

Wow...a very impressive walk. Hopefully, your schedule has some injury/rest days built in.
I have walked the Norte in mid September and into October. It was quite busy on all stages.
We did not divert to the Primitivo on that Camino and continued on the Norte.
We did not encounter any accomondation that was closed in October past Gijon.

The portion of the Norte past the Primitivo continued to have many pilgrims.
I did the Primitivo at a different time of the year.

 

[peregrina2000]

Hello,
This is my first post... I am planning my Camino for 2018. My wife and I will be starting in Geneva mid-June 2018, walking through to Le Puy-en Velay, then to Irun. We are walking an average of 15km per day, and would arrive in Irun on 2 September. Our intention is to then walk the Camino del Norte, and we would arrive at Villaviciosa on 3 October. We are still debating whether to continue the Norte, or to come down via the Primitivo, and one of the questions that may be important is whether there would still be accommodation available in October on the Norte (from Gijon westwards), or whether it would be wiser to take the Primitivo as there may be more pilgrims, and therefore more accommodation available.
Any advice/suggestions/ideas? Thank you in advance
Andrew

Hi, Andrew, let me echo Grayland's welcome. Sounds like a great camino. I think that you should leave your decision till you are closer to Villaviciosa. In part, it may depend on the people you have met and which route they are taking, or maybe coastal weather is in a stubborn persistent bad weather (or good weather) pattern, or maybe you will have had your fill of beautiful ocean views (many of which you have to leave the Camino for, but I have a thread that tries to help you do that https://www.caminodesantiago.me/community/threads/coastal-alternatives-to-the-nortes-asphalt.49578/)

I walked the Primitivo once in October and found that albergues were all open, but I would imagine the same would be true on the Norte. I was just on the Norte this year, ten years after my first Norte, and was surprised at how many lovely new albergues there are west of Gijon. Lots of posts in the Norte sub-forum for more information, but O Xistral, Casa Carmina, Reposo de Andayon, Albergue Tu Casa, and La Recoral de Priesca are a few that jump to mind as having raised the standard with their absolutely terrific albergues.

Buen camino, Laurie

p.s. Are you planning to walk from SJPP to Irun? There are some recent posts on the GR10 that have put that on my wish list as well!

 

[AJGuillaume]

Thank you Grayland and Laurie for your replies.
We have decided we will divert from Villaviciosa down to Oviedo, and then come back up to the coastal route at Aviles.
Laurie, we're leaving GR65 at Arthez de Béarn, and following the river to Bayonne, and then down the coast to Irun, not going to SJPdP.
We're checking all your alternatives to the asphalt: thank you for your work!
Cheers
Andrew

 

[peregrina2000]

Thank you Grayland and Laurie for your replies.
We have decided we will divert from Villaviciosa down to Oviedo, and then come back up to the coastal route at Aviles.
Laurie, we're leaving GR65 at Arthez de Béarn, and following the river to Bayonne, and then down the coast to Irun, not going to SJPdP.
We're checking all your alternatives to the asphalt: thank you for your work!
Cheers
Andrew

^
Just a heads up to say that there are great ways to divide up many of those coastal alternatives into two shorter days, in keeping with your wish to keep to around 15 km. And I would be happy to help you do that -- Colunga, La Isla, Nueva, Pendueles, Liendo, etc are all places that are not typical "stage ending places" but would work awfully well if you wanted to tackle some of these coastal alternatives without having a 38 km day! Buen camino, Laurie

 

[AJGuillaume]

Thanks Laurie!
We have used the Buen Camino app to work out stages, with our longest day being 22km, but an average of just under 15km per day.
I'll admit that we try to give ourselves a decent night's sleep at hotels (I am a very light sleeper!), So many of our stops are at towns where we have availability of a bedroom, not a dormitory. That said, there are many stops at albergues.
Thanks for the suggestions: we still have some work in planning our walk, so we'll check these out.
Cheers
Andrew