Shoes for the Norte route in June and July.

[Chevychase]

What shoes should we wear on the Norte route in June and July? Light boots, trail runners or hiking sandals? We start in Irun mid June and finish late July. We have completed the Frances and the Portuguese but this was in April and May so we had cool weather then. We are from Zululand so we will be okay with the heat. Thanks for the forum.

 

[Setanta88]

What shoes should we wear on the Norte route in June and July? Light boots, trail runners or hiking sandals? We start in Irun mid June and finish late July. We have completed the Frances and the Portuguese but this was in April and May so we had cool weather then. We are from Zululand so we will be okay with the heat. Thanks for the forum.

We have just finished part of Del Norte from Bilbao to Santander (4 days @ 34km per day). We derived our own route primarily along the coast. I would highly recommend sturdy but lightweight hiking boots for many parts. There are sections that involve walking alond road also, which is where we switched to trail runners. (we carried 9kg each with 2 pairs each). Depending what weather you do get, sections along the coast require sure footed Ness but mostly OK. One thing I would recommend are hiking poles... Not so much for hiking (we rarely use them), but we did have multiple encounters with dogs that we had to ward off.

 

[Kanga]

I am very surprised about the dogs @Setanta88 - maybe the locals have become complacent during Covid and are not tying up their dogs. When we walked the Norte we did not have a single encounter with an unfriendly dog. Those that barked or looked aggressive were always tied up or enclosed.

I would expect June and July to be hot.

I wore good hiking sandals all the way on the Norte, and they were fine. We did have a few days of intense rain, and I particularly remember one day of relentless deep mud (up a mountain, with logging trucks churning up the path) but I sloshed through in my sandals with waterproof socks for warmth, and washed the mud off at the end of the day.

 

[Ali@59]

When I walked the Norte I had one encounter with two dogs, the small terrier was snapping at my ankles and the other one had the most ferocious bark but had no teeth, they stopped as soon as I passed by the yard they were obviously protecting

 

[pinkwadingbird]

I walked the Norte mid-May to late June in hiking sandals and was happy with my choice.

 

[lt56ny]

I have walked the Norte in October and November, Irun-Santiago. I have also walked 5 other caminos. First I would say to each his own, your feet are pretty personal. I have always walked in Trail Runners and I use Toms slippers as my albergue and nighttime shoes. I would completely disagree with a previous pilgrim who said to walk in boots. I am a huge klutz and have walked in rain, sleet, ice storms and snow. If it is really bad use your poles to steady yourself and take your time. It can be hot in the summer and there is alot of road walking if you don't know the variants. I think you are asking for big blisters with boots. Also my very unscientific research about blisters in 6,000K of Camino walking tells me that by far more people get more blisters and more severe blisters with boots than with Sandals or trail runners. This is not backwoods hiking in really rugged terrain it is the Camino.

 

[JerryStroebele]

I have also walked the del Norte in October and November (wet, wet, wet) and 5 other Caminos but not 6000 km.. It may be more in my mind than on the end of my leg, but for the del Norte and the Primitivo I prefer the security of ankle support with (very light) boots, plus the mud protection. (But I am an old, overweight man.) However, on our first Camino my wife bought Keen sandals in Gijon and ditched her expensive Lowas -- because of an infected blister that she got after 3 weeks walking blister free. And I do carry one pole. Each to her and his own. Buen Camino