Solo Trip on CF from Leon: Planning Guide - Weather question

[vkimble]

Hello! I am Veronica from California, USA and I am planning my first solo trip along the CF, starting from Leon this September. I am looking for insight about the weather and how much rain (if any) I could expect.

 

[Walkerooni]

Google searches can show you average temperatures and rainfall for pretty much any city, region, or country.

 

[trecile]

Google searches can show you average temperatures and rainfall for pretty much any city, region, or country.

WeatherSpark is a good site for this

Castille and León Climate, Weather By Month, Average Temperature (Spain) - Weather Spark

weatherspark.com

 

[vkimble]

WeatherSpark is a good site for this

Castille and León Climate, Weather By Month, Average Temperature (Spain) - Weather Spark

weatherspark.com

Thank you. great website!

 

[MARSKA]

Hello! I am Veronica from California, USA and I am planning my first solo trip along the CF, starting from Leon this September. I am looking for insight about the weather and how much rain (if any) I could expect.

Hi Veronica! Welcome! I'm walking my first Camino in Sept/Oct from St. Jean. I had a lot of weather questions, too. When in Sept do you start and how long are you walking?

I love Weatherspark and here is another good weather site-
Time and Date

Climate & Weather Averages in Villoría de Órbigo, León, Spain

Climate data and weather averages in Villoría de Órbigo

www.timeanddate.com

September Climate & Weather Averages in Leon​

High Temp: 73 °F
Low Temp: 50 °F
Mean Temp: 62 °F
Precipitation: 0.42"
Humidity: 60%
Dew Point: 48 °F
Wind: 6 mph
Pressure: 30.06 "Hg
Visibility: 12 mi

The closer you get to Oct the wetter it becomes.

 

[vkimble]

Hi Veronica! Welcome! I'm walking my first Camino in Sept/Oct from St. Jean. I had a lot of weather questions, too. When in Sept do you start and how long are you walking?

I love Weatherspark and here is another good weather site-
Time and Date

Climate & Weather Averages in Villoría de Órbigo, León, Spain

Climate data and weather averages in Villoría de Órbigo

www.timeanddate.com

September Climate & Weather Averages in Leon​

High Temp: 73 °F
Low Temp: 50 °F
Mean Temp: 62 °F
Precipitation: 0.42"
Humidity: 60%
Dew Point: 48 °F
Wind: 6 mph
Pressure: 30.06 "Hg
Visibility: 12 mi

The closer you get to Oct the wetter it becomes.

Hola! I plan to begin from Leon, my start date I hope to be Sept 18th (give or take 1 day). I am trying to estimate how many Km to walk on average per day still...

 

[Turga]

ELTiempo.es is also a very good weather-app.

Just remember that no matter how much you research the weather, you may be in for some surprises.

Buen Camino!

 

[vkimble]

ELTiempo.es is also a very good weather-app.

Just remember that no matter how much you research the weather, you may be in for some surprises.

Buen Camino!

Thank you. Sounds like no matter what prepare for cold and rain, even if it is September...

 

[trecile]

Thank you. Sounds like no matter what prepare for cold and rain, even if it is September...

Absolutely. The coldest day on my summer 2017 Camino was at O Cebreiro in August. I hadn't brought gloves so I wore my socks as mittens.

 

[Walkerooni]

Or, as on my 2018 May-June CF, you could run into 7-10 days where it is 40C by noon. My feet got wet once, in a downpour on the day before I finished. Nobody can predict what you are in for, so embrace whatever comes.

 

[MARSKA]

Hola! I plan to begin from Leon, my start date I hope to be Sept 18th (give or take 1 day). I am trying to estimate how many Km to walk on average per day still...

Do you have an "end" date or is that open? Just however long it takes?

 

[vkimble]

Do you have an "end" date or is that open? Just however long it takes?

I am closely watching and reading to decide when to begin my walk. As I am now seeing how crowded May is on the CF, I am thinking to push my start date back to last week of September and plan for a 15 day walk with 2-3 travel days getting to Leon and returning from Santiago. I am trying to gage how late in September I should plan... What is unclear to me is as a traveler from Leon (not start from SJPP) will I be as heavily impacted by the pilgrims starting in SJPP that will start their journeys in early September. I am trying to time it right as I do not wish to have to pre-book my stays.

 

[MARSKA]

I hear ya! I went back and forth on a start date as well. In the end it was the cost of airfare being higher or lower between dates when the expected weather is cooler. The cost of airfare was a huge factor for me, but it may not be for you.

Like you, I do not want to pre-book.

I am sharing my thoughts with you, vkimble, but I am NOT experienced on the Camino Frances. Please keep that in mind.

From my research Leon to Sarria should be fine in late Sept,, but keep in mind there are some very small villages and longer distances in that stretch. Sarria and beyond you will probably need to book. I doubt that starting a week earlier or later will significantly alter the situation from Sarria to SDC,

But perhaps some experienced Pilgrims will chime in!

I have spent many, many hours in research on this and other Camino forums as well as pouring over helpful books and online resources. Personally, I feel confident I can "wing it" from Cizur Menor (west of Pamplona) to Sarria.

I can control my start date.
I can control where and when I take breaks & where I stop for the night.
I can chose to take alternate or variant paths.
I can walk slower (although maybe not faster!).
If I find myself in a "wave" I can swim out of it.

I can't control how few or how many people are on Camino Frances, or where they sleep.

I wish you well! Happy planning, mi amiga!

 

[David Tallan]

I am closely watching and reading to decide when to begin my walk. As I am now seeing how crowded May is on the CF, I am thinking to push my start date back to last week of September and plan for a 15 day walk with 2-3 travel days getting to Leon and returning from Santiago. I am trying to gage how late in September I should plan... What is unclear to me is as a traveler from Leon (not start from SJPP) will I be as heavily impacted by the pilgrims starting in SJPP that will start their journeys in early September. I am trying to time it right as I do not wish to have to pre-book my stays.

I'm sorry to say that I think there is a definite risk in a late September start in Leon of joining up with that peak group of early walkers who started in SJPP in early September. It likely won't be as bad as it would be a few weeks earlier in SJPP. Partly because not everyone will necessarily make it all the way to Leon. And partly because Leon, as a reasonably large sized city, won't be the bottleneck that Roncesvalles/Zubiri/etc are at the beginning of the Frances and people will spread out in the surrounding towns following Leon more than they do immediately after SJPP.

 

[Anamiri]

I am closely watching and reading to decide when to begin my walk. As I am now seeing how crowded May is on the CF, I am thinking to push my start date back to last week of September and plan for a 15 day walk with 2-3 travel days getting to Leon and returning from Santiago. I am trying to gage how late in September I should plan... What is unclear to me is as a traveler from Leon (not start from SJPP) will I be as heavily impacted by the pilgrims starting in SJPP that will start their journeys in early September. I am trying to time it right as I do not wish to have to pre-book my stays.

I wouldnt worry too much as you're starting from Leon. You wont really hit the crowds until Sarria.

 

[EricJR]

Hi Veronica. I walked the exact same route from Leon to Santiago last September (2022). So perhaps these thoughts might be useful:

1. Dawn and midday are both deceptively late! Because Spain uses the Central European time zone, sunrise will be around 07:40 to 08:00, and solar noon is slightly after 14:00, in local civil time. (This was a surprise to me on my first morning!) I found it light enough to start walking at about 7am, though many started from 6am onwards.

2. The morning from 7am will be cool, perhaps cold in the mountains - but when walking I was happy with T shirt and shorts. The best time to walk is before 14:00, by which time it can be seriously hot on sunny days. About half of days were somewhat cloudy for me, which made for nicer walking. I had one walking day with heavy rain, heading from Astorga to Rabanal del Camino, and one evening of heavy rain in Villafranca, but I still sat outside for dinner under umbrellas. Evenings can get very cold, especially in the mountain stops (e.g. Rabanal, O Cebreiro).

3. For the number of days walking. There are 13 stages listed on Gronze - it seems sensible to add a couple of days, so your 15 sounds right to me. I encountered accommodation bottlenecks at various points, so my stopping points were often not ideal. (I was reserving one night ahead.) I also had some foot problems, also leading to shorter distances.

4. Rabanal del Camino is a particularly beautiful village to stop at - and I was fortunate that I had to, because I couldn't reserve anywhere at Foncebadon (which is also pretty). I also recommend Villafranca and Portomarin.

5. You mention not wanting to pre-book. I reserved 1 night ahead. Mostly this was fine - moving my Foncebadon stop back to Rabanal was a nice bonus. However, reserving 1 night ahead was useless for anywhere close to O Cebreiro, anywhere near Portomarin, and to a lesser extent for the whole of Sarria-Santiago. Consider booking ahead for those - if I was doing this section again, I might work out my dates for those and book weeks ahead. One advantage of a 2 week Camino is that you know your end date, so it is easy to calculate arrival dates backwards at least to Sarria, so you have the option to do that. Some of my friends a stage or two behind me had to taxi 20 or 30 miles off the route at Sarria to get accommodation, as the town was stuffed to capacity.

 

[vkimble]

Hi Veronica. I walked the exact same route from Leon to Santiago last September (2022). So perhaps these thoughts might be useful:

1. Dawn and midday are both deceptively late! Because Spain uses the Central European time zone, sunrise will be around 07:40 to 08:00, and solar noon is slightly after 14:00, in local civil time. (This was a surprise to me on my first morning!) I found it light enough to start walking at about 7am, though many started from 6am onwards.

2. The morning from 7am will be cool, perhaps cold in the mountains - but when walking I was happy with T shirt and shorts. The best time to walk is before 14:00, by which time it can be seriously hot on sunny days. About half of days were somewhat cloudy for me, which made for nicer walking. I had one walking day with heavy rain, heading from Astorga to Rabanal del Camino, and one evening of heavy rain in Villafranca, but I still sat outside for dinner under umbrellas. Evenings can get very cold, especially in the mountain stops (e.g. Rabanal, O Cebreiro).

3. For the number of days walking. There are 13 stages listed on Gronze - it seems sensible to add a couple of days, so your 15 sounds right to me. I encountered accommodation bottlenecks at various points, so my stopping points were often not ideal. (I was reserving one night ahead.) I also had some foot problems, also leading to shorter distances.

4. Rabanal del Camino is a particularly beautiful village to stop at - and I was fortunate that I had to, because I couldn't reserve anywhere at Foncebadon (which is also pretty). I also recommend Villafranca and Portomarin.

5. You mention not wanting to pre-book. I reserved 1 night ahead. Mostly this was fine - moving my Foncebadon stop back to Rabanal was a nice bonus. However, reserving 1 night ahead was useless for anywhere close to O Cebreiro, anywhere near Portomarin, and to a lesser extent for the whole of Sarria-Santiago. Consider booking ahead for those - if I was doing this section again, I might work out my dates for those and book weeks ahead. One advantage of a 2 week Camino is that you know your end date, so it is easy to calculate arrival dates backwards at least to Sarria, so you have the option to do that. Some of my friends a stage or two behind me had to taxi 20 or 30 miles off the route at Sarria to get accommodation, as the town was stuffed to capacity.

Thanks so much for taking the time to write/respond. This is very helpful information. Much appreciated!