Hello everyone!
I'm planning to do my first camino on the norte, and I'm a little freaked out
I have a couple of questions, and although some of them have been answered before on the forum, it'd still be nice to hear it "directly" answered to me
The main thing I'm concerned about, is the accommodation. I hear the frances is already having massive amounts of people, is it gonna be a problem on the norte too? I want to start in the middle of June, and it'd be nice to stay in albergues as much as I can. Related to this, I'm planning on spending around 650-700 euros (excluding the traveling costs), is it gonna be doable?
I'm a little shy and introverted person. I'm sure I'm gonna enjoy walking alone for the most part, but I don't want to be very lonely. Does anyone have experience traveling like this?
I'm also looking forward to seeing some caves. Are there any must see sea caves in the norte ?
Well, any other personal tips would be appreciated. This is kind of a big step for me, I've never hiked or walked alone for more than a few days. But I'm very drawn to this idea, and I feel like this is something I have to do.
Thank you for the help
Well since everyone addressed your other questions so well, I'll comment on the caves part....
There are the popular "altamira caves", a half hour walk from Santillana del Mar, it is a guided tour of caves with paleolithic art, however only open for tours on certain days/times of the week, very limited and when we were passing through we totally missed it. So bummed! When we go back to Spain for our honeymoon we plan on making a visit. Also the tour's are only in Spanish.
As far as public accessible caves on beaches, in Playa de Poo, the beach opens up (at a lower tide) and is almost an L shape, when you go out to the left there were a few caves, one actually went in quite a ways, be careful though, very slippery....
Also, in Pendueles (which by the way, hands down best hostel there, donation, and includes meals and laundry service done by the hospitalero, its called "aves de paso") Anyway... the beach in Pendueles reportedly has some incredible caves, but only accessible at low tide, which of course we missed, we went at high tide, still a very cool beach.
The "bufones de arenillas", somewhere around Llanes (you cannot miss it, the trail goes right past them), are fascinating as well, look them up. Basically openings from the sea to the ground, in high tide waves will cause a blowhole effect up to 20 feet high, we were there at low tide, did not see 20 foot geysers, but they are pretty amazing to see and hear, a very ominous loud roar...
In Castro Urdiales I remember a mini beach cave.
We enjoy the sea caves as well, it was our mission, no matter how tired, to get to the beach, for us that was the most rewarding part of the trip, especially after a long day of hard work. You'll find if you take the effort to walk along the beach and explore a little (and it is an effort when your feet are throbbing like they do on the camino), you will find a cave here and there. Always ask the hospitalero, if there is something to be seen they will usually know about it.
Well, Buen Camino