Camino Frances July/August

[Deleted member 397]

I'm planning to walk from Le Puy to SDC in late june-late august. Last year I walked the VDLP and found it much less frequented than the CF apparently is. My question is: who has walked the CF in july/august and is it as bad as figures seem to indicate. There were about 80,000 on the CF and less than 5,00 on the VDLP. Given that the VDLP is 250kms longer that means for every 1 person on the VDLP there are 15-18 on the CF!
Am I still likely to find it enjoyable given this overwhelming mass of people competing for beds by midday when on the VDLP I was often on my own in the albergues?

 

[Ulysse]

I walked the Camino Francès in sept and found it was quite busy, especially on week ends as many Spaniards arrive to walk during that periods. Mondays to Fridays were somewhat acceptable. Nonetheless I did get to find the odd refuge where there was just a few people. I even managed to get the odd room where I was by myself.

When you get to Sarria (the last 100 km) things change and go from a quiet back country road to an expressway in New Jersey, near New York. Lots of peopple, noisy and you meet the "rush for the refuge" groups.

My cousin and I, in 2006, re-arranged our schedule to arrive at non regular stops to get some quiet and pleasure in our walk to Santiago. Also the mad rains and winds in Galicia kept a lot of people away, although quite a large number of people were still present. I imagine that July and August have to be very unpleasant if you like some solitude.