Camino del Norte 4/29/22 start

[MaryStella]

We will be starting our Camino in Irun and are very excited. Hoping for good weather and not too much rain. Hope to meet some of you on the Camino!
We are flying from JFK to Barcelona, then a few hours later will fly to San Sebastián. Then will bus or taxi to Irun. I wonder if we will need an additional Covid test before flying to San Sebastián?

 

[Former member 91017]

Welcome Mary Stella;
As of right now, no you won’t need a test to get from Barcelona to Irun. Generally the trend is toward keeping tests for people who need them because “in transit positivity rates” have been so low that mandatory testing was pulling tests away from community use (for people who were actually sick). Will that trend change? I don’t see how it could right now with the variants we have, with their general expression in the population, and with the inability of a single test to tell us much. The technology os testing is unlikely to change in the next month….
*COULD* policy change? Sure. But my comments here are meant to take some worry out of the situation for you.
Me? I’m taking 5 pre-loaded tests with me, and 2 telehealth tests (in case they are required again for my particular arrangements. Right now I don’t need them, but I‘m a ‘better safe than sorry’ sort). You might look into such tests (telehealth RT-LAMP is what you want to look for). But if you can tolerate a “wait and see” approach, using current requirements as your benchmark… well that’s fine too.
I am to arrive first of the month on the Norte. And by the time you are starting out I will be coming into my final days heading S/SW into Santiago.
If you would like, send me a DM and I will try to keep you posted on places that are open, closed, thriving, soggy (I have seen mud trails on camino that nearly sucked my boots off my feet!)
Buen camino,
Faye

 

[MaryStella]

Welcome Mary Stella;
As of right now, no you won’t need a test to get from Barcelona to Irun. Generally the trend is toward keeping tests for people who need them because “in transit positivity rates” have been so low that mandatory testing was pulling tests away from community use (for people who were actually sick). Will that trend change? I don’t see how it could right now with the variants we have, with their general expression in the population, and with the inability of a single test to tell us much. The technology os testing is unlikely to change in the next month….
*COULD* policy change? Sure. But my comments here are meant to take some worry out of the situation for you.
Me? I’m taking 5 pre-loaded tests with me, and 2 telehealth tests (in case they are required again for my particular arrangements. Right now I don’t need them, but I‘m a ‘better safe than sorry’ sort). You might look into such tests (telehealth RT-LAMP is what you want to look for). But if you can tolerate a “wait and see” approach, using current requirements as your benchmark… well that’s fine too.
I am to arrive first of the month on the Norte. And by the time you are starting out I will be coming into my final days heading S/SW into Santiago.
If you would like, send me a DM and I will try to keep you posted on places that are open, closed, thriving, soggy (I have seen mud trails on camino that nearly sucked my boots off my feet!)
Buen camino,
Faye

Thank you so much for the information!

 

[trecile]

The San Sebastián Airport is actually in Hondarribia, right next to Irun.
I think that you can walk from the airport right to the Camino.
On this map the dark blue line is the Camino.

 

[trecile]

Post #5 in this thread describes how to walk to the Camino from the airport. There are probably more threads/posts from people who have actually done it.

https://www.caminodesantiago.me/community/threads/camino-del-norte.65918/#post-812233

 

[MaryStella]

The San Sebastián Airport is actually in Hondarribia, right next to Irun.
I think that you can walk from the airport right to the Camino.
On this map the dark blue line is the Camino.
View attachment 119927

Thanks this is helpful!

 

[smp]

Welcome Mary Stella;
As of right now, no you won’t need a test to get from Barcelona to Irun. Generally the trend is toward keeping tests for people who need them because “in transit positivity rates” have been so low that mandatory testing was pulling tests away from community use (for people who were actually sick). Will that trend change? I don’t see how it could right now with the variants we have, with their general expression in the population, and with the inability of a single test to tell us much. The technology os testing is unlikely to change in the next month….
*COULD* policy change? Sure. But my comments here are meant to take some worry out of the situation for you.
Me? I’m taking 5 pre-loaded tests with me, and 2 telehealth tests (in case they are required again for my particular arrangements. Right now I don’t need them, but I‘m a ‘better safe than sorry’ sort). You might look into such tests (telehealth RT-LAMP is what you want to look for). But if you can tolerate a “wait and see” approach, using current requirements as your benchmark… well that’s fine too.
I am to arrive first of the month on the Norte. And by the time you are starting out I will be coming into my final days heading S/SW into Santiago.
If you would like, send me a DM and I will try to keep you posted on places that are open, closed, thriving, soggy (I have seen mud trails on camino that nearly sucked my boots off my feet!)
Buen camino,
Faye

I am also interested in any info you have along the way as all going well, I will be walking from Irun, towards the end of May. I don't know how to send you a DM Thank you.

 

[Former member 91017]

I am also interested in any info you have along the way as all going well, I will be walking from Irun, towards the end of May. I don't know how to send you a DM Thank you.

Hi there! Mouse over my bug "F" green circle; you will see a "start conversation" option. Click that.
Hope you will have a great walk.

 

[smp]

The San Sebastián Airport is actually in Hondarribia, right next to Irun.
I think that you can walk from the airport right to the Camino.
On this map the dark blue line is the Camino.
View attachment 119927

This is great, thanks so much!

 

[david2882]

Hi Mary
I also will be walking out of Irun on the 29th. I hope to see you on the trail.

 

[MaryStella]

Hi Mary
I also will be walking out of Irun on the 29th. I hope to see you on the trail.

I hope to see you, there will be 3 of us walking!

 

[Former member 99290]

If you have time Hondarribia is well worth a visit even just for a few hours. In fact you can begin the Norte from either Irun or Hondarribia. It is waymarked from both towns and the paths merge within the first few kms. The first time we were on the Norte, we arrived in Irun, and walked over to Hondarribia in the afternoon then back to Irun for overnight. The next two times, we stayed in Hondarribia and started from there.

 

[annmte]

My plan is to start from Hondarribia on the 28th - hope to run into you at some point along the way, @MaryStella and @david2882. It's not long now!