Camino Catalan in November

[lt56ny]

I have been trying to decide what Camino to walk this year. I may have to start walking in mid November. I was originally thinking of doing the Aragones to the Frances. Now I am thinking of starting in Montserrat and then taking the Ebro. I read some earlier posts especially from @peregrina2000 who said that going up to the Aragones is much prettier but with those elevations I see in Gronze in late November I do not think it is wise.
I looked at the website for the Montserrat Monastery and it seems the weather in mid November should be fine. I do not mind the cold. It is only heavy snow I worry about. I plan to go all the way to Logrono and on to Santiago. I know what to expect on the Frances.
From looking at Gronze and other sites it seems that the albergues stay open all year so I should have accommodations.
Hoping that anyone who has walked this route can give me some insight walking during this time of year. If you think this is a really dumb idea please let me know so I can rethink this. I have walked 6 caminos and about 6,000K so it is not my first rodeo!
I know it will be solitary and I am ok with that. Once I get to Logrono I am sure I will meet pilgrims even in December.
Please let me know if there is anything to watch out for or on the positive any places I should stay or cathedrals etc I should not miss.
Any input would be most appreciated.
Thanks.

 

[Bombero]

I have been trying to decide what Camino to walk this year. I may have to start walking in mid November. I was originally thinking of doing the Aragones to the Frances. Now I am thinking of starting in Montserrat and then taking the Ebro. I read some earlier posts especially from @peregrina2000 who said that going up to the Aragones is much prettier but with those elevations I see in Gronze in late November I do not think it is wise.
I looked at the website for the Montserrat Monastery and it seems the weather in mid November should be fine. I do not mind the cold. It is only heavy snow I worry about. I plan to go all the way to Logrono and on to Santiago. I know what to expect on the Frances.
From looking at Gronze and other sites it seems that the albergues stay open all year so I should have accommodations.
Hoping that anyone who has walked this route can give me some insight walking during this time of year. If you think this is a really dumb idea please let me know so I can rethink this. I have walked 6 caminos and about 6,000K so it is not my first rodeo!
I know it will be solitary and I am ok with that. Once I get to Logrono I am sure I will meet pilgrims even in December.
Please let me know if there is anything to watch out for or on the positive any places I should stay or cathedrals etc I should not miss.
Any input would be most appreciated.
Thanks.

We walked Camino Catalan in February 2012. It was -8C when we left Montserrat but clear and sunny so didn't "feel" too cold. I lost my notes from the walk but here are my photos for inspiration https://pamnjeff.com/caminocatalan/
There was one very long stage of about 50k that we bussed and a bit of transport to and back when no accommodation was available. We saw no other pilgrims. El Camino Catalán de Santiago desde Montserrat (in Spanish) by Joan Fiol Boada as the guide book.

 

[jungleboy]

@Rick of Rick and Peg walked it in autumn and can give more details, but one thing he mentioned to me was that the fields were all brown and that affected his experience.

 

[Rick of Rick and Peg]

@Rick of Rick and Peg walked it in autumn and can give more details, but one thing he mentioned to me was that the fields were all brown and that affected his experience.

But since the meseta will be too that's not an issue for this trip.

Peg and I are on a trip and using cellular data which don't always have. I want to write up some about my Caminos Catalan and Aragonese so stay tuned.

 

[Rick of Rick and Peg]

Threads dealing with the Catalan can be found here:

https://www.caminodesantiago.me/community/forums/cami-catalan-cami-st-jaume.105/

Laurie has this there:

https://www.caminodesantiago.me/community/threads/camino-catal%C3%A1n-from-montserrat-through-huesca.36443/

A cooperative effort at documenting the Catalan is:

https://www.caminodesantiago.me/community/threads/virtual-planning-thread-caminos-girona-catal%C3%A1n-and-aragon%C3%A9s-part-2-montserrat-santa-cilia.71223/

The two highlights of the Camino Catalan are at the two ends, Monserrat and San Juan de la Peña. It took me 3 days to walk from Barcelona to Monserrat and another 15 to end up on the Aragonese and that last day included San Juan. Gronze gives this one day less because they have Estación Peña at the end of a stage but I didn't see any lodging so I shortened a couple of stages to pass it by.

Because of the scarcity of lodging you are likely to follow the Gronze stages pretty closely.

See what @mspath, an architectural historian, had to say about San Juan de la Peña:

https://www.caminodesantiago.me/community/threads/question-for-a-winter-camino-for-dry-feet.73578/#post-1006516

I still intend to write more but this is enough for me now.

 

[lt56ny]

We walked Camino Catalan in February 2012. It was -8C when we left Montserrat but clear and sunny so didn't "feel" too cold. I lost my notes from the walk but here are my photos for inspiration https://pamnjeff.com/caminocatalan/
There was one very long stage of about 50k that we bussed and a bit of transport to and back when no accommodation was available. We saw no other pilgrims. El Camino Catalán de Santiago desde Montserrat (in Spanish) by Joan Fiol Boada as the guide book.

I can handle cold much better than hot. In 2019 I was walking in December and it was about -3 or 4C some mornings. It never bothered me. I guess you are ok with those temperatures also. I have noticed that long stage of 38k. I cannot walk that. When I get close to it I will see where and how far I need to bus to make my walk doable. Thanks

 

[lt56ny]

Threads dealing with the Catalan can be found here:

https://www.caminodesantiago.me/community/forums/cami-catalan-cami-st-jaume.105/

Laurie has this there:

https://www.caminodesantiago.me/community/threads/camino-catal%C3%A1n-from-montserrat-through-huesca.36443/

A cooperative effort at documenting the Catalan is:

https://www.caminodesantiago.me/community/threads/virtual-planning-thread-caminos-girona-catal%C3%A1n-and-aragon%C3%A9s-part-2-montserrat-santa-cilia.71223/

The two highlights of the Camino Catalan are at the two ends, Monserrat and San Juan de la Peña. It took me 3 days to walk from Barcelona to Monserrat and another 15 to end up on the Aragonese and that last day included San Juan. Gronze gives this one day less because they have Estación Peña at the end of a stage but I didn't see any lodging so I shortened a couple of stages to pass it by.

Because of the scarcity of lodging you are likely to follow the Gronze stages pretty closely.

See what @mspath, an architectural historian, had to say about San Juan de la Peña:

https://www.caminodesantiago.me/community/threads/question-for-a-winter-camino-for-dry-feet.73578/#post-1006516

I still intend to write more but this is enough for me now.

Thanks so much for all this information Ric. I have written to Laurie. She is visiting family now and we will talk next week.

@Rick of Rick and Peg walked it in autumn and can give more details, but one thing he mentioned to me was that the fields were all brown and that affected his experience.

But since the meseta will be too that's not an issue for this trip.

Thanks for the concern Jungleboy but as Rick says it will be pretty brown on the Meseta.
That is one of the the tradeoffs of walking late fall/winter. I accept that and there is other beauty and for me a good tradeoff from the heat and the crowds.
There is a wealth of information here and look forward to reading it all. I do hope you write some more. This is the fun part as we watch the calendar waiting to return to our caminos.