michal.don
Member
- Time of past OR future Camino
- Camino del Norte 2022, Camino Francés - April 2024
Hello everybody,
after a couple of years thinking about it, I finally made the decision to go on my first camino. I'm not a big fan of hot weather and large gatherings of people, so after a bit of researching I opted for the Camino del Norte from Bilbao (to wherever I can walk before my legs/back/anything else hurt too badly ) starting on the 8th of October. I've read a couple of posts here about people walking the same route at similar time in a year and generally having a good time, so I hope it was not too much of a stupid decision on my part.
I'm not the kind of person that does things on a whim without thinking about them thoroughly and doing their research (with both the good aspects and bad aspects of the fact). I bought a guidebook for the Norte, installed the Buen Camino app and read through the Gronze website. I looked at the map, learnt about the alternative parts of the route, studied where some of the albergues are, which parts of the trail are considered difficult. But there are things one can not learn from any of that, which is why I'm asking around here
So, my first question, and I'm aware there probably isn't an exact answer to this:
Should I expect meeting a lot of pilgrims on my way, or is it more probable that I will be the only one/one of a few people walking there at this time of the year? It seems to me there are not a lot of albergues, at least in the first part of my journey between Bilbao and Gijón, and the ones that are there aren't very large, some of them have around 15 beds. As they often are the only albergues for quite a bit of walking in either direction, I suppose majority of the pilgrims in the area will use them. And I've read a bit about the "bed race", which doesn't sound like a fun thing to me and I would like to avoid that, if possible. I know some of the albergues offer the possibility to make a reservation, which leads to my second question:
Do most of the hospitaleros/hospitaleras speak English? As you can probably tell by now, English in not my first language, I'm trying to learn a bit of Spanish, but I really don't think I'll be able to make a phonecall in Spanish in a couple of months. If the route is busy, I'll probably try to reserve accomodation where possible, so I'm curious about that one.
I have quite a bit of time before I'm going, so for the time being I'm trying to prepare myself. I'm breaking in my new shoes, experimenting with various clothing on my hikes, doing a bit of training, some reading, and a whole lot of overthinking, probably So, one last question (for the time being), an open-ended one:
Do you have a tip that I should not overlook for this specific route and time of the year? For exaple packing a warmer set of clothes? Or on the contrary, not packing one? Is a part of the route harder than it seems, and I should definitely reserve more time for it? Do you know a place/town/beautiful albergue that I definitely should not miss? Or a place that is on the route, but is not worth visiting at all and I should skip it? A restaurant with a meal just so great that my camino would not be complete if I did not try it?
I'll be very grateful for any insight and experiences from the Norte, or any other camino.
Thanks,
Michal.don
after a couple of years thinking about it, I finally made the decision to go on my first camino. I'm not a big fan of hot weather and large gatherings of people, so after a bit of researching I opted for the Camino del Norte from Bilbao (to wherever I can walk before my legs/back/anything else hurt too badly ) starting on the 8th of October. I've read a couple of posts here about people walking the same route at similar time in a year and generally having a good time, so I hope it was not too much of a stupid decision on my part.
I'm not the kind of person that does things on a whim without thinking about them thoroughly and doing their research (with both the good aspects and bad aspects of the fact). I bought a guidebook for the Norte, installed the Buen Camino app and read through the Gronze website. I looked at the map, learnt about the alternative parts of the route, studied where some of the albergues are, which parts of the trail are considered difficult. But there are things one can not learn from any of that, which is why I'm asking around here
So, my first question, and I'm aware there probably isn't an exact answer to this:
Should I expect meeting a lot of pilgrims on my way, or is it more probable that I will be the only one/one of a few people walking there at this time of the year? It seems to me there are not a lot of albergues, at least in the first part of my journey between Bilbao and Gijón, and the ones that are there aren't very large, some of them have around 15 beds. As they often are the only albergues for quite a bit of walking in either direction, I suppose majority of the pilgrims in the area will use them. And I've read a bit about the "bed race", which doesn't sound like a fun thing to me and I would like to avoid that, if possible. I know some of the albergues offer the possibility to make a reservation, which leads to my second question:
Do most of the hospitaleros/hospitaleras speak English? As you can probably tell by now, English in not my first language, I'm trying to learn a bit of Spanish, but I really don't think I'll be able to make a phonecall in Spanish in a couple of months. If the route is busy, I'll probably try to reserve accomodation where possible, so I'm curious about that one.
I have quite a bit of time before I'm going, so for the time being I'm trying to prepare myself. I'm breaking in my new shoes, experimenting with various clothing on my hikes, doing a bit of training, some reading, and a whole lot of overthinking, probably So, one last question (for the time being), an open-ended one:
Do you have a tip that I should not overlook for this specific route and time of the year? For exaple packing a warmer set of clothes? Or on the contrary, not packing one? Is a part of the route harder than it seems, and I should definitely reserve more time for it? Do you know a place/town/beautiful albergue that I definitely should not miss? Or a place that is on the route, but is not worth visiting at all and I should skip it? A restaurant with a meal just so great that my camino would not be complete if I did not try it?
I'll be very grateful for any insight and experiences from the Norte, or any other camino.
Thanks,
Michal.don