Is there a best time to go to avoid crowds, bad weather?

Re: Weather, room at the hostels etc

CallieWyne said:

I heard that there's been an influx of young people

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according to official stats for last year, some 22% of compostela claimers were aged 16-25, and a further 5% were 7-15. I don't think these %ages have changed much over the years, though numbers in general have gone up enormously. The no in May last year was more than the entire year as recently as 1994. One thing people often forget is that many large groups, particularly of Spaniards, walk the final stages. When I last walked the Camino Frances I passed a school party just before Santiago which was probably larger than the no of people I had seen on the entire rest of the Camino. This is particularly true of school/college holidays and the long weekends Spaniards call 'bridges'. The 100km which is all you need for a compostela is an easy long-weekend walk.

CallieWyne said:

there isn't much room for the true pilrim who arrives later.

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true pilgrims are old people who arrive late? Only 5% of compostela claimers stated they had no religious/spiritual motivation for their journey, though I have found that people mean widely different things by 'spiritual'. Only a small %age are conventionally pious, going to mass every day for example.