Norte with short stages

[Bertram]

My wife and I are planning to start the Norte next year, we're not sure which month yet. Both of us did the Frances and found out that mainly due to physical problems our daily limit is at 20 km, which is fine on the Frances.

Now we are wondering if it would be possible to do the Norte with such short stages. On the Frances we took regular "resting days" where we just did 12 km or so. We even did a 7 km- stage, due to illness.

Are 15 km stages realistic on the Norte?

 

[SYates]

Have a look at

http://www.gronze.com/camino-norte
and
http://caminodesantiago.consumer.es/los-caminos-de-santiago/del-norte/

And play around with the options/stages In the end, only you can know if it is feasible for you!

Buen Camino, SY

 

[Castilian]

Some parts of the route that might be a problem:

Between Deba and Markina, if you stay overnight at the albergue on the ermita del Calvario, you have roughly 20 kms next day to Markina but part of it isn't plain what could be a problem for you.

The albergue in Pobeña seems to be seasonal. From Pobeña to Castro Urdiales, it's more than 20 kms. Alternatives: use non-albergue accommodation or take a bus from Ontón to Castro Urdiales (and take a bus back next day to continue your camino. No idea if they'll alow you to spend to nights at the albergue in Castro Urdiales though). I don't know how much traffic will have the road N-634 nowadays but if it was little, to walk straight from Ontón to Mioño on the berm of the N-634 might be an option to consider (ask locally about how much traffic has the road and ask too about the speed of cars on that road to get a rough picture) that way you avoid the detour that makes the camino and could probably go all the way from Pobeña to Castro Urdiales on the day.

From Villaviciosa to Deva (close to Gijón), it's roughly 20 kms too.

From Gijón to Avilés it's more than 20 kms but you can commute to Aviles from Trasona or Tabaza (and go back next day to continue your camino).

From Souto de Luiña to Cadavedo it's more than 20 kms too but you can break it using non-albergue accommodation.

 

[Anemone del Camino]

I have only walked theNorte from San Sebastian to Llanes, and did look for shorter days, but short was low 20-23km a day, and even then it was tough.

While the Norte has seen a lot of Camino development lately, it is still limited when it comes to albergues and other overnight options. This is even more the case outside outside of June to October.

If the Frances was a physical challenge, please do study guides for the Norte carefully.

What you may have to do is rely on taxis to go back and forth and do half etapas: leave your pack in the morning in the albergue, walk x number of km, take a taxi back to the albergue, The next morning have a taxi take you to where you stopped the day before and coml,ete the etapa. But this will take planning as you will not be passing by cafe after bar after cafe from where to call a taxi and may have to decide on a meeting point and time the evening before.

Super tough daus are the first out out of Irun, the day from Deba to Markina, (there is a bus stop in Munitibar to break up the day from Markina to Gernika).

Again, get a good guide (if you read Spanish, I really recommend the ine by Editorial Buen Camino) and try to see how you can break up etapas. Look into hotels, pensiones since albergues are still relatively few and far between (but since you would be sharing a room the cost would not be much higher than staying in albergues and juveniles).

It's a beautiful Camino well worth the extra planning.

 

[spursfan]

The Norte is very different and more challenging than the Frances - finding accomodation will be a problem (especially outside June-Aug) but my worry would be ending up in the middle of nowhere at the limit of your distance

Others have suggested a Camino by taxi but that really seems a contradiction in terms - why not do the Frances again

 

[Anemone del Camino]

@surfspan, I did not suggest a Camino by taxi, just using one to go back and forth between a bed and where one ended the day before. This is commonly done where etapas are too long to be done in a single day. Every step of the Camino can still be walked.

 

[spursfan]

@surfspan, I did not suggest a Camino by taxi, just using one to go back and forth between a bed and where one ended the day before. This is commonly done where etapas are too long to be done in a single day. Every step of the Camino can still be walked.

I do appreciate that - but again the relative remoteness of some parts of the Norte makes sorting out taxis more difficult - my point is that the choice will be between walking the Norte with added stress and the familiar Frances where the infrastructure is so much better - I just think that they would be better advised to err on the side of caution and still enjoy their Camino

 

[backpack45scb]

We had an injury to deal with, so had a similar limitation in 2015. Anything over 20 km was a problem. I'm including a link to our Google spreadsheet for our daily plan. This was done before we started, so not exactly what we ended up doing. There are several days of 24 or over. On those we would shorten the distance by taking public transport to the edge of town, or in a few cases, arrange for a taxi to meet us in the morning and drop us at the first point that was within 20 km of our destination. https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1R_k5E5W7g0_xCof65RtMrCFx70F89G7qsi20bU8Ujz4/edit?usp=sharing