Cycling St Jean to Leon - May or September?

[popslave76]

Hello - last year, with the help of lots of fantastic advice from people on this forum, I cycled Leon to Santiago. It was one of the best experiences of my life... it must have been because now i have the bug.

So now I want to do the first two thirds, ie St Jean to Leon. But a couple of questions first...

1. because of other commitments it looks like it will be mid May or mid September? Any advice on which i should choose? I'd like to be able to get into the albergues without too much stress so does anyone know which is less busy? I was also very very lucky with the weather indeed last time around (sun nearly the whole way) so which is likely to be nicer meteorologically speaking?

2. i took the Camino at an easy pace last time, only did about 65km a day. I think i'd like to do roughly the same this time, so should i be allowing myself around 9 days to do this? anyone got any great suggestions on itinerary?

i look forward to the usual fantastic help you get on here...

Jaime

 

[newfydog]

If you like the first trip you'll like this one too---I think Pamplona- Leon is one of the best segments. We've done it twice, both times in September. Both trips we saw mud ruts left over from spring, but our trip was mostly dry.

My wife saw a sign "Santiago 400km" and said "oh no! We have to slow down or it will be over in days. We imposed a 50 km average and spent the afternoons hiking around various sites along the way. There are a lot of hills through that section, and little pavement, so planning a long trip is worthwhile.

 

[popslave76]

Thanks Newfydog. So, you'd recommend September would you? Did you stay in albergues though? I was wondering how busy they are at that time of year?

And any weather insights?

Also, anyone else have any thoughts? Anyone done it in May and had a fine old time?