If you saw few pilgrims...?

[shefollowsshells]

I keep reading things like, "I only saw 15 other pilgrims on the route..." etc... when I read about the Norte ...
I wonder...what are your evening like then?
Are these auberges open for just one pilgrim a night? Are you eating and enjoying a glass of vino (or two) solo?

I'm not afraid of walking by myself as much as I fear no nightly interaction...

Can you share your evenings on a less populated route?
I know Steeltown pilgrim walked around April...anyothers Norte April walkers?
My flight is booked so April is what I am confined to.

thanks in advance,
Neve

 

[grayland]

I walked the VdlP in August this year. Due to the extreme heat there were no other pilgrims from Seville to Salamanca. There may have been some but I never saw or interacted with them.
After Salamanca there were other Pilgrims all the way to Santiago.

Yes...I was alone in the albergues and at dinner unless I found a non- pilgrim to talk with.

It does get a bit lonely.

 

[jirit]

My wife and I walked the via Francigena through Italy and we met 7 other pilgrims during the 7 weeks it took us. There were only a few places we actually shared accommodation with other pilgrims and most other days we were mostly by ourselves.

However when we did get to met somebody and even better share the night with them, it was a special occasion

 

[peregrina2000]

I keep reading things like, "I only saw 15 other pilgrims on the route..." etc... when I read about the Norte ...
I wonder...what are your evening like then?
Are these auberges open for just one pilgrim a night? Are you eating and enjoying a glass of vino (or two) solo?

I'm not afraid of walking by myself as much as I fear no nightly interaction...

Can you share your evenings on a less populated route?
I know Steeltown pilgrim walked around April...anyothers Norte April walkers?
My flight is booked so April is what I am confined to.

thanks in advance,
Neve

Hi, Neve,
I walked the Norte many years ago, in 2006, walking in May, but there were plenty of pilgrims. Most of the Caminos have increased in numbers dramatically since then. I don't think the Norte will be empty next April. I think you will have company if you want it and can be alone if you don't want company. I was frequently walking alone and not in sight of other pilgrims but there was always company at night. I don't think you have to worry about being alone in albergues in April. Buen camino, Laurie

 

[Theatregal]

I walked the Primitivo this past late July to mid August. I saw very few pilgrims (compared to the Frances) during the day but oddly, the albergues were almost always full each evening.

 

[Stephen Nicholls]

April to June can be wonderful months on the caminos ... spring is there with wild flowers in abundance. My guess would be that there will not be many pilgrims in April, until you get to the magic 100 kms from Santiago, then there will probably be more.
I personally prefer a bit of solitude, and always walk on my own: but evenings and maybe at bars en route, THAT'S when I love to meet up with other pilgrims and have company.... my "camino family".
Neve - please let us all know how you get on. Next year I walk the camino Ingles, but I'm thinking of the North route in 2015 ...
Blessings from a grey, wet Suffolk.

 

[unadara]

Hi Neve
http://unascamino2011.wordpress.com/2012/04/ This is description of walking in April (not too long)
The Norte following the frances is a very good plan. I started 22nd Apr ? (have a look at my blog under my signature)..it rained a lot, th Alberque in Irun was full (48?) there is an overflow room also. On the way..1st day I walked on and off with 6 others. 2 I had met at Dublin Airport (to Biarritz), that is common from Ireland to meet on a flight. We got on very well and I walked most days with one of these women and at breaks, night time we met many more. (6 or 8)?. Into May the weather improved and there were many more on the Way. You need full waterproofs, waterproof BOOTS (see my photos), much of the trail was flooded, you can choose to take the road but you don't get many signs (diversio?). There may not be great drying at night , keep a very watertight bag of clothes for changing into. Other threads here have advice about drying clothes or putting them on damp next day. In the alberque in Irun you can pick up a guide and alberque list. Note where there are Monasteries, Convents, avoid Juvenil Hostals at weekends, almost always full in advance. If you need further specific advice please ask. It is a wonderful route, through rain, mud, sea views (sea swims are not very common, it is very cold for normal persons, i swim all year round and enjoyed the chances I got).
Enjoy anticipating.
Buen Camino

 

[piogaw]

I walked the VdlP in August this year. Due to the extreme heat there were no other pilgrims from Seville to Salamanca. There may have been some but I never saw or interacted with them.
After Salamanca there were other Pilgrims all the way to Santiago.

Yes...I was alone in the albergues and at dinner unless I found a non- pilgrim to talk with.

It does get a bit lonely.

hello grayland,

i walked the vdlp at the start of february this year from sevilla to santiago. i actually met only 6 peregrinos for the whole walk. most of the time my companions on the route are the horses, the cows, the iberico pigs, the ewes and the bulls on the fincas. this walk is the opposite of the summer camino, with extreme cold, rains, strong winds, and even snow on the ground. many of the traditional stages were water-logged and unpassable, streams were overflowing with no passable crossing except to take off your boots. from salamanca to santiago, i walked from time to time with 1 other peregrino.

yes, it does get very lonely, especially if you are the only peregrino in the albergue. however it is an enjoyable camino for me. no problem with finding a bed if you can find an albergue that is opened.

 

[AubreyL]

I keep reading things like, "I only saw 15 other pilgrims on the route..." etc... when I read about the Norte ...
I wonder...what are your evening like then?
Are these auberges open for just one pilgrim a night? Are you eating and enjoying a glass of vino (or two) solo?

I'm not afraid of walking by myself as much as I fear no nightly interaction...

Can you share your evenings on a less populated route?
I know Steeltown pilgrim walked around April...anyothers Norte April walkers?
My flight is booked so April is what I am confined to.

thanks in advance,
Neve

I did the Norte in March/April 2013, some of it with Steeltown Pilgrim and other people here on the forum. Hi Tom!!

Before my trip I was worried that I'd be sleeping in empty albergues. Fortunately that was not the case. Some albergues were filled almost to capacity, while others housed just a few pilgrims. When I arrived in Soto de Luiña I appeared the be the only pilgrim staying in the school. I had just gotten used to the idea of spending a night all alone in an old school when two Austrian women showed up. Phew! In my experience, there was always the option for nightly interaction with other pilgrims. I usually preferred to walk on my own during the day, but if you like walking with others, I'm sure you'd have no problem finding other pilgrims. And, not to worry, albergues will open for one person.

 

[shefollowsshells]

http://unascamino2011.wordpress.com/2012/04/ This is description of walking in April (not too long)

I am starting to think I a wimp...man you hit some hard conditions...
your pictures are Wonderful!
I go back and forth with this decision. The flight is booked...I am 100% doing a Camino BUT honestly worry about being solo in such rain etc...

Thank you for your wonderful blog!

 

[KiwiNomad06]

Neve, A friend of mine has just finished walking a 'combo' route that included parts of the Vezelay route- where he saw hardly any other pilgrims- and the Norte- where it did seem like he met up with a few others, though not a lot. Maybe it has a bit to do with 'timing' and luck how many you meet on these routes, but he met enough to have a "Camino family" that he had a photo with in Santiago.

Last year I walked the Cluny route in France -north of the Le Puy route. I met about seven people the entire time, and they all walked faster than me, so I mostly only saw them for a brief time. I did find the loneliness hard. Mostly during the days I never met a single other walker. Quite a few evenings I was completely alone, locked in a gite where the owner/'responsable' didn't live. The most memorable of these evenings was in a place called Montverdun where I spent the night all locked safely inside the thick walls of a former monastery on the top of a little "pic". Despite my misgivings, no monk ghosts appeared to haunt my sleep! One night I did have the company of two very nice men, a Dutchman and a Frenchman, in the lovely gite in La-Chapelle-en-Lafaye near the peak of Montarcher. I was very glad to meet them, but they had a different 'comfort' level from me, and I found their setting on the radiators far too hot for me to sleep!!! The hardest night was my last before Le Puy, in a place called St-Paulien. I was the only one on one floor of a rather large modern block., which appeared to have been built to cater for school groups. Very comfortable and modern inside, with beautiful shower facilities etc- but an awful grey exterior, like a prison. I was told to 'lock myself in' and got the impression I was not entirely safe from some of the men on another floor. Eeeek! Despite the comfort, I couldn't wait to leave there- and I was so so happy to be warmly welcomed by the Amis of St Jacques into their friendly gite in Le Puy the next night.

Yes, the loneliness was quite hard, and I don't think I would have managed it on my first Camino- but the whole walk was a memorable one, and I am very glad I walked the route.
Margaret

 

[unadara]

Neve
Gerard said about switching routes if weather or lack of people goes against you, he is right. Remember these Caminos in Spain are populated, have good transport links, alternative routes for you if you want to go South. But, my first Camino Sep/Oct was a heat wave and I suffered, despite rain and mud on the Norte I relished the memories I would have of a "different" Camino, went on to do Madrid route Sep of 2012 and that was very isolated (one day NO food-very little water) and few English speakers. I loved it too...You have the will to walk the Way...

 

[Steeltown Pilgrim]

I should have added, that although you meet far less pilgrims, such circumstance leads to bonding that feels more natural and much easier--the connections, for me, seemed a bit stronger.

 

[JabbaPapa]

On my Way from Paris in 1994, I met exactly ZERO other pilgrims until reaching SJPP

On my Way from Monaco to Rome in 2000, I met a cyclist on his way to Santiago on my very first day. I was happy to convince him that wearing his scallop shell rather than keeping it in his backpack was necessary, not something to be "ashamed" of. I met maybe a couple dozen other pilgrims total before reaching the Vatican, and the possibility of meeting others was a daily matter.

On my Way from Monaco to Santiago in 2005, the first pilgrim I met was in the Bouches-du-Rhône, another cyclist, but overall from Monaco to SJPP I met about a dozen other foot pilgrims total -- though if I added all of the non-foot/non-cyclist pilgrims to Lourdes to this count, it would become quite populous.

Practically though, the numbers of pilgrims you'll meet following any of the less-trodden Ways are quite unpredictable.

To answer your question, actually the most difficult experience I've ever had was when I left the Arles Way at Castres towards Lourdes, because the real possibility of bumping into the other foot pilgrims, whether friends, acquaintances, or strangers, was replaced with the reality of two whole weeks of unlikelihood of meeting even one. That was the hardest experience of solitude I've ever endured as a Santiago pilgrim -- to have bonded with your fellow pilgrims and then to find yourself alone again was a very hard experience. Lourdes was a pilgrim's oasis for me, and I stayed there two and a half days -- though honestly the loneliness is the same both day and night ; it is just as hard walking as resting.

 

[Anne100]

Once or twice on the Primitivo I stayed in an albergue by myself. I can't imagine an albergue turning away a pilgrim if they're open, just because you're the only one there, I don't think you need to worry about that.

 

[peregrino_tom]

I set out on the first half of the Norte at the end of March - same day as Aubrey (Hi Aubrey!!), but we didn't meet each other for nearly a week.

That first week was quite busy as a lot of Spanish/Latin people choose to walk 'holy week' leading up to Easter, and an Irun-Bilbao jaunt fits that time period quite nicely. I see Easter is three weeks later this year on the 18 April so I'd expect that week before to be busy on the stretch with many albergues quite full.
Between Bilbao and Santander it was mixed with two nights alone and plenty of people around on others, such as Guemes and Santander which were pretty full. After Santander I experienced a gradual drop off in numbers. Of the three nights: Colombres, Llanes and Ribadasella, the first was alone and the next two with one other person. The albergues each had minimal staffing, only in Colombres was there someone sleeping elsewhere in the large block. But there were a few other pilgrims around, it's just that they'd opted to stay at different places. I think that often people, especially in small groups, had chosen to book places at private albergues whereas I was always going for the municipal albergue or youth hostel.
I think it's pot luck as to whether there will be many or few people each evening - people start and finish at lots of different points along the way, particularly Bilbao, Santander, Villaviciosa, Gijon etc., and some decide to jump on a bus or the Feve every now and again, so you might go ahead and lose track of them for a few days and suddenly and illogically (from a walking point of view) there they are again sitting reading a book when you arrive at an albergue...

So to actually answer the question - there were few places to cook in the places where I was either by myself or with one other. Where there was someone else we'd usually decide to go and find a pilgrim menu (and a glass of wine!) together. Otherwise there were a couple of evenings eating alone in a bar or restaurant. But that can sometimes lead to excellent encounters with friendly locals. Being a peregrino definitely gives you extra leeway to open a conversation or be talked to.

 

[Steeltown Pilgrim]

I did the Norte in March/April 2013, some of it with Steeltown Pilgrim and other people here on the forum. Hi Tom!!

Before my trip I was worried that I'd be sleeping in empty albergues. Fortunately that was not the case. Some albergues were filled almost to capacity, while others housed just a few pilgrims. When I arrived in Soto de Luiña I appeared the be the only pilgrim staying in the school. I had just gotten used to the idea of spending a night all alone in an old school when two Austrian women showed up. Phew! In my experience, there was always the option for nightly interaction with other pilgrims. I usually preferred to walk on my own during the day, but if you like walking with others, I'm sure you'd have no problem finding other pilgrims. And, not to worry, albergues will open for one person.

Hi Aubrey!!!