January 2020 Start Date

Hello everyone! Longtime lurker first time poster.

I’m here with a pretty basic question, but I wanted to run it by everyone here before I did anything irreversible, e.g., buy plane tickets. I’m looking to hike the Camino Frances from St. Jean this January. I have a fairly firm end date on February 4th because I need to be back in the States by February 6th. I’m in good shape so I’m pretty confident that I can do this, but I’m also willing to take buses and whatnot to make up time if things like weather don’t break my way.

With this in mind, I want to start as early as possible. Right now, my plan is to get to St. Jean January 6th, spend the night there, and start walking January 7th. I’m doing this because I’ve read here and elsewhere that albergues won’t be open until January 7th in Spain because of holidays. So, the questions: does this start date seem reasonable? Could I start earlier? Should I start later? Would I be the only pilgrim on the trail if I do this? Is there anything I’m not taking into account here? Banal questions, I know, but I’m kinda getting skittish staring at flight dates and I want to double-check.

Also, a shoutout to all my other winter walkers. I'm looking forward to meeting you all on the trail. Thanks for the help everyone!

falcon269 said:

I met only about 12 pilgrims in two weeks in January, so it will be somewhat solitary. Only major stops had open albergues.

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Yeah, I imagined as much. Thanks for the info!

NorthernLight said:

I would double check the info on whether albergues and hostals are closed until the 7th, as that seems odd.

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Thanks for letting me know. I did some digging and it seems like there are some albergues open prior to 1/7. And, yeah, I've come across that website before. Very useful!