How's the camino in September?

[Rae2607]

Hello.
I would love to do my first trip on the Camino Frances in September (2013) so that I can celebrate my birthday whilst walking, but I recently looked at another pilgrim's photos taken in September, and quite honeslty the first half looked quite brown and dull at times. I know the experience isn't all about what the fields and trees look like around you - I just thought I should ask if anyone else out there has done the Camino in September and what you thought about the scenery compared to another time of year (perhaps May?). If I start the first of September, what would the weather and scenery be like?

Thanks to you all!

 

[Deleted member 3000]

September is great. The crowds decrease a bit, and the weather moderates. Grapes are harvested. Trees still have leaves. Hunting season opens, so watch and listen for the gunshots. I am not aware of anyone having been shot, but I have been startled a couple of times.

 

[kokolo]

In its own way it is gorgeous in September and October. It is not just brown: The earth and fields are hundreds of shades of brown and gold and red and beige, dotted with highlights of various greens and yellows of the leaves of the trees and vineyards. Most of the time the sky was a brilliant contrasting blue. The miracle is how the color pallette keeps changing every few days, and it changes throughout the day as the sun and clouds move across the sky. The dried grasses and flowers catch the light and glow. It is somehow profoundly restful. It is a more subtle kind of beauty.
In addition, it is harvest time, and in places there are delicious figs, almonds, chestnuts, walnuts, apples, plums, grapes. The peppers are ripe and as you walk through the small towns you see them drying everywhere and can smell them being roasted.
The drying cornstalks rustle in the wind, the ripening chestnuts plop irregularly on the ground and roll downhill, the dried acorns crunch underfoot.
The year I walked there were only a few days with any rain. In Galacia & the Pyranees it lasted for a day or more, but in between were rare brief morning showers, with an afternoon storm thrown in. The temperature was perfect for walking, not too hot. In the last half of October, towards the end of the meseta and in the Cantabrican mountains (before the clouds and rain of Galacia) there was frost in the morning, but it was warm in the afternoons. Light layers were great.
The best thing, at any time of year, is that on foot you have the time to notice, savor and appreciate what is around you every moment of every day.

 

[sillydoll]

I love the Camino anytime of the year. But, there is nothing that beats a spring walk on the Camino for scenery!
Everything is green, the wheat, corn, barley, asparagus - and the wildflowers are spectacular, like walking through an English country garden. The large white and black European stork are all on their nests on top of every church tower and steeple, or on specially constructed poles with a cup-cages at the top for the purpose of nest building.
But, besides an abundance of cherries (delicious varieties of cherries) there isn't much fruit to be had. All of those come in September, including the big plump blackberries on the brambles alongside the paths all the way from Frances to Santiago.
I walked in June and in early September last year and was struck by the difference in landscape in just two months.
One year I walked in late September/October and must admit that I found the bleak, dusty, sunbleached landscape especially on the meseta when even the dried sunflowers have been cut and only stalks remain, a little monotonous.

 

[+@^^]

what beautiful prose kokolo
i walked the vdlp over the same period as you describe
and it is exactly as you say
the earth giving up the fruits of her labour
it is only the unfortunate few who will see the brownness of the fields and take another route
starting in late 30deg temps, with clear and cooler days inbetween, and ending 6 weeks later in brisk moist waether suited me well
.
thank you
you let me remember it so well

 

[Olivares]

The Meseta in October (2013) was breathtaking.

 

[Guillermo]

September was great! Got a couple raining days at the beginning over the Pyrenees that made me stronger and humbled me fast. September still very much like summer, the weather was unique, being able to enjoy some wild flowers and berries. The trees changing different shades of colors...even the mountains are given a unique appearance with the fall colors. By the way, we were able to eat wild berries, grapes and delicious figs