Baztan or Vasco or Del Norte help

[Walden]

Hi guys, I put a post up way back in April asking for routes from Bayonne, and some amazing people pointed us to the Voie de la Neve. We walked from Biarritz to St Jean, it was amazing.

So, having learned about the Baztan we booked to walk this week, for a week, to Pamplona. Anyway, with everything being so busy I just got pre-planning stops and gites etc.

Problem... Our first stop in Ustaritz has no accomadation available, having checked Booking.com etc (Using Gronze listings) and our second stop recommended by Nuala from her helpful post, in Espellette and Souraide, has nothing either. I read the Gite in Espellette is permanently closed? and Booking.com says all Gronze's suggested places are booked out too. I emailed two places and both replied saying they are full.

It must be a very touristy area as there seems to be no accomadation.


So now, I'm trying to sort plan B
As I've walked to Ustaritz on the Voie de la Neve, I'm thinking we could get a bus from Bayoone to Ustaritz and begin our walk from there. That would end us up in Urdax in the Monastery for night one, followed by Boroetta for night two. Overall though this way would have us in Pamplona a day early. We could walk on to Puente de la Reine I suppose for another day, before taking a bus back to Bilbao for our flight home?

Plan C is to walk froom Biarritz airport to Irun, then proceed on the del Norte towards San Sebastian, but we walked the del Norte two years ago, so that's going over old ground.

Plan D is to walk to Irun, then hop on the Vasco interior, although I know nothing about it, having just spotted it exists last night.


Any helpful pilgrims willing to provide ideas/advice please? Yes, I'm aware thats a lot of info...imagine my poor brain...overthinking is a nightmare.


Many thanks for all the helpful comments everyone.

 

[Kiwi-family]

Plan B sounds great! I’m a Baztan fan and love the novelty of new routes. So glad you did La Voie de la Neve - so pretty. Baztan compares favourably with that one.

 

[VNwalking]

How many days do you have, @Walden?
Because that would be one deciding factor.
I loved the Baztan, and I loved the Vasco too, so it would be a hard decision.
The Baztan is relatively short, and even shorter without that first day. So I'd lean towards the Vasco: it has more variety. But only if you have 8 days.

Three recent accounts of this camino, to give you a sense of what it is like:
@sabine and I recently walked the Via de Bayona (the same as the Vasco until it parts company with it about 2 days short of Santo Domingo). Here are our impressions:

https://www.caminodesantiago.me/community/threads/two-peregrinas-on-the-vasco.62276/

@peregrina2000 walked the Vasco proper, with some variants at the beginning. Here is her threads about that: https://www.caminodesantiago.me/community/threads/laurie-and-alun-on-the-vasco.62616/

And @Bad Pilgrim's journey:

https://www.caminodesantiago.me/community/threads/bad-pilgrim-on-the-vasco-july-2019.63365/

And @peregrino_tom 's spreadsheet (Edit: from 2015) was incredibly useful:

https://www.caminodesantiago.me/community/threads/vasco-del-interior-impressions-and-photos.35951/

Burn camino, wherever you go!

 

[Walden]

I'm back in work Tue 27th (schoolteacher ), so we've a short trip, 5 days walking, so Baztan was our plan. I am surprised it's so booked out seeing it's a lesser known camino.

I think we will get the St. Jean train out to Ustaritz that morning, we land at 10 am,so we could get to Ustaritz and then a soft 20km to the monastery in Urdax. My partner also likes the idea of walking on from Pamplona to Puente, on that extra day that we've gained by skipping the walk to Espellette. So I think we may go for that. Thanks for the links, I'll get reading.

The advice is always so helpful. The Voie de la Neve was my favourite camino out of all them, and all thanks to the replies we got last time.

 

[VNwalking]

Ah, yes, not enough time for the Vasco.
Your plan sounds fine.
One other option would be to go off-piste a bit.
On the last day of the Baztan, instead of going into Pamplona, walk over the hill from Sorauren to Zabaldika on the Frances and stay in the albergue there, walking into Pamplona the next day - and instead of following the Frances, there is a very nice riverside walk into Pamplona that you can join in Arre - a little longer but nicer.

 

[Walden]

Ah, yes, not enough time for the Vasco.
Your plan sounds fine.
One other option would be to go off-piste a bit.
On the last day of the Baztan, instead of going into Pamplona, walk over the hill from Sorauren to Zabaldika on the Frances and stay in the albergue there, walking into Pamplona the next day - and instead of following the Frances, there is a very nice riverside walk into Pamplona that you can join in Arre - a little longer but nicer.

Oh, I like the sound of that I love slightly off radar ideas. Thanks so much.

 

[Walden]

although, taking the Vasco down to Vitoria would put us in a nice place to finish. Vitoria looks lovely, like Burgos maybe. My gut feeling is to leave the Vasco to the next half term holiday though, maybe Oct or Easter.

 

[VNwalking]

Here's the bit across to the albergue in Zabaldika:

And I don't know why more people don't walk the river route. Here's a brief direction to it:

My suggestions: Walking into Pamplona, about the point there are some silver disks marking the path, there is another wooden walkway going left. Follow the walkway to a lovely walk into town along the river. (When it ends, just follow the walls around to the right until you find a road going into the old city.

 

[VNwalking]

VItoria is very very nice. A good idea, in fact.
I've posted photos here in the media section of both if you want to get a sense of them:
Vasco/Via de Bayona: https://www.caminodesantiago.me/community/camino-photos/albums/vasco-via-de-bayonna-2019.382/
Baztanes: https://www.caminodesantiago.me/community/camino-photos/albums/baztanes-and-frances-may-2017.303/

 

[Walden]

my partner has decided that the Vasco will be held so that we can do the whole thing in April. Looks like we are heading the direction of Pamplona..... here we come. Thanks so much for your help. I think Vitoria looks amazing, but maybe best to keep it as something to look forward to.

 

[Camino Chrissy]

How many days do you have, @Walden?
Because that would be one deciding factor.
I loved the Baztan, and I loved the Vasco too, so it would be a hard decision.
The Baztan is relatively short, and even shorter without that first day. So I'd lean towards the Vasco: it has more variety. But only if you have 8 days.

Three recent accounts of this camino, to give you a sense of what it is like:
@sabine and I recently walked the Via de Bayona (the same as the Vasco until it parts company with it about 2 days short of Santo Domingo). Here are our impressions:

https://www.caminodesantiago.me/community/threads/two-peregrinas-on-the-vasco.62276/

@peregrina2000 walked the Vasco proper, with some variants at the beginning. Here is her threads about that: https://www.caminodesantiago.me/community/threads/laurie-and-alun-on-the-vasco.62616/

And @Bad Pilgrim's journey:

https://www.caminodesantiago.me/community/threads/bad-pilgrim-on-the-vasco-july-2019.63365/

And @peregrino_tom 's spreadsheet (Edit: from 2015) was incredibly useful:

https://www.caminodesantiago.me/community/threads/vasco-del-interior-impressions-and-photos.35951/

Burn camino, wherever you go!

VN, you are amazing!

 

[Walden]

Agreed Chrissy.

 

[VNwalking]

Awww, no. Amazing members there are but I'm not one of them. But I do love these caminos and am happy to pay forward the help I've gotten here!