Based on this year’s spring, which is of course no predictor of next year’s spring, we were very lucky that we set April 11 as our meet up day in Almería. It had literally been raining every day for a long long time. Our arrival broke that cycle.
Over the next 32 days of walking, which brought me to Salamanca, I had one twenty minute hailstorm and no other rainfall. Temps were not bad at all (but now I always have to add — not bad at all, unless you are like
@alaskadiver and can’t stand temps over 15 C.). Is there a reason that mid April to mid May is not a possibility?
During that timeframe, the Mozárabe is NOT a solitary camino, and the Almería Association is incredible (shout out to Verónica and Mercedes especially). They were shuttling inflatable matresses up and down the camino to take care of the bubble and there are also very affordable casas rurales (frequently four of us got two or three bedroom apts for under 100 €).
I had also been to the major cities, some as many as four or five times, but walking in is always a special treat. And it takes the pressure off to see the big attractions. In Granada this year, for instance,
@amancio took me to visit the mihab right next to the cathedral. I had never been there and it was a short dose of amazing moorish architecture without the crowds and the waits. And Almería has opened a tour of the Civil War shelters which is oh so worth the visit, and something you can get on line ahead of time (they sell out always). Plus a nice hilltop castle. Bet you haven’t visited Moclín, Alcalá la Real, Guádix — and a few others great stops, so you would be covering a lot of new territory.
I know there is divided opinion on the mozárabe (which reminds me, I should set up a thread for this year’s mozárabe mob to weigh in with opinions so you can get a more balanced opinion.
I personally would wait till you had time to walk out your door and start walking to Santiago rather than start in Porto. The routing and accommodations on the route from Lisbon are changing and improving every year.
So, I didn’t vote, but that’s not because I don’t have opinions!!! Buen camino, Laurie