Starting in September and looking for answers

[jagushemi]

Dear peregrinos,

It looks like my DH and I will be able to start our trip in early September. I need to book our flights and would like your feedback. We have about 40 days to walk, give or take a day due to flights. We know we won't be able to make it to Santiago but are ok with it. We'll walk until we run out of time. Both of us have mild physical issues which make 15 km/day the distance we can probably walk without getting injured. I hope the longer we walk, we can increase this to 20 Km/day. We will start from Roncesvalles, since I feel I won't be able to cross from SJPP to Roncesvalles. I worried about getting injured at the very beginning of the trip. We have been training but can only walk consecutive days on the weekends.

My questions are

1. We could book our departure on Sept 5 to arrive to Roncesvalles Sept 6 late afternoon or leave Sept 10 to arrive on the 11th. Would either date make a significant difference on the amount of people walking and being able to get a bed at the albergues during that time of the year?

2. What kind of weather can we expect from early September to the end of October? How hot/cold would it be? How rainy?

3. My husband can walk longer distances than I can. Is it possible for me to take public transportation for part of a stage and walk the rest? Do most towns have buses that connect to the other towns on the stage?

I'm sure I'll have lots of questions after I post this . Thank you in advance for your help. Looking forward to El Camino.

Emilia

 

[james walter purdum iv]

i walked the frances sept1-october 7th 2015....4 days of rain, i wore shorts the whole way and alternated a long sleeve but mostly wore short sleeves. i did get a little chilly in the mornings toward the end but by sun up all was good. i didn't bring a sleeping bag only a liner..most alburgues have blankets. truly loved it. i started walking at 7am and went 5km before my first cafe con leche then walked until 2:30 pm. i tried to find a bed before 3 so as to have ample time to shower, siesta before dinner and check out the town. rinse and repeat for 35 days..i took 2 rest days..on the trail sunrise at 8:22am loved seeing it rise every day... buen camino

 

[Anemone del Camino]

Let's see...

Yes, depending on your flight schedule and how to make your way to Roncesvalles, it is possible to leave on day 1, land and make your way to Roncesvalles on day 2 and start walking on day 3.

You will want to make your way to Pamplona from where you can take a bus to Roncesvalles, or a much more expensive taxi. I like flying into Madrid and taking the ALSA bus to Pamplona from Terminal 4 at the airport. Some prefer to catch a train or bus from downtown Madrid.

I cannot think of a reason why either starting dates ciuld be busier than the other.

Weather: early September will still be quite hot. Think about layering your clothes, to have s much flexibility as possible, and include rain gear.

Local buses: busing a part of a stage may be possible in some places, but not on most etapas. That's because buses don't necesarily follow the Camino and also because there is often only one or two buses in each direction per day. Finally, the stops the buses make are often quite a distance from eachother, perhaps every 5-10-20km, which could be a full etapa. If you want to do some research regarding local bus routes, google "autobus de x a y" chosing the villages you are considering bussing between.

Good luck with your planning!

 

[KinkyOne]

Dear peregrinos,

It looks like my DH and I will be able to start our trip in early September. I need to book our flights and would like your feedback. We have about 40 days to walk, give or take a day due to flights. We know we won't be able to make it to Santiago but are ok with it. We'll walk until we run out of time. Both of us have mild physical issues which make 15 km/day the distance we can probably walk without getting injured. I hope the longer we walk, we can increase this to 20 Km/day. We will start from Roncesvalles, since I feel I won't be able to cross from SJPP to Roncesvalles. I worried about getting injured at the very beginning of the trip. We have been training but can only walk consecutive days on the weekends.

My questions are

1. We could book our departure on Sept 5 to arrive to Roncesvalles Sept 6 late afternoon or leave Sept 10 to arrive on the 11th. Would either date make a significant difference on the amount of people walking and being able to get a bed at the albergues during that time of the year?

2. What kind of weather can we expect from early September to the end of October? How hot/cold would it be? How rainy?

3. My husband can walk longer distances than I can. Is it possible for me to take public transportation for part of a stage and walk the rest? Do most towns have buses that connect to the other towns on the stage?

I'm sure I'll have lots of questions after I post this . Thank you in advance for your help. Looking forward to El Camino.

Emilia

Hi, Emilia,

Just a short remark. It's completely OK to start the Camino on any point but if you would still want to start in St.Jean you can walk the Day 1 to Valcarlos (11,4 km) and Day 2 to Roncesvalles (12km) or even further.

Wish you both healthy issues free and Buen Camino!

 

[GettingThere]

Dear peregrinos,

It looks like my DH and I will be able to start our trip in early September. I need to book our flights and would like your feedback. We have about 40 days to walk, give or take a day due to flights. We know we won't be able to make it to Santiago but are ok with it. We'll walk until we run out of time. Both of us have mild physical issues which make 15 km/day the distance we can probably walk without getting injured. I hope the longer we walk, we can increase this to 20 Km/day. We will start from Roncesvalles, since I feel I won't be able to cross from SJPP to Roncesvalles. I worried about getting injured at the very beginning of the trip. We have been training but can only walk consecutive days on the weekends.

My questions are

1. We could book our departure on Sept 5 to arrive to Roncesvalles Sept 6 late afternoon or leave Sept 10 to arrive on the 11th. Would either date make a significant difference on the amount of people walking and being able to get a bed at the albergues during that time of the year?

2. What kind of weather can we expect from early September to the end of October? How hot/cold would it be? How rainy?

3. My husband can walk longer distances than I can. Is it possible for me to take public transportation for part of a stage and walk the rest? Do most towns have buses that connect to the other towns on the stage?

I'm sure I'll have lots of questions after I post this . Thank you in advance for your help. Looking forward to El Camino.

Emilia

Just a brief comment on the dates: when checking this time period I learned from the Roncesvalles website that Sep 6th is the date of a local pilgrimage to Roncesvalles (which is a place of pilgrimage in its own right), called a romería. That means people from surrounding areas coming in to Roncesvalles for the day, completely separate from the pilgrims on the Santiago route. Most will probably just come for the day but just in case, I would definitely advise booking your night in Roncesvalles. Of course your other possible date is still in a busy period so probably still worth booking.

Buen Camino!

 

[james walter purdum iv]

Just a brief comment on the dates: when checking this time period I learned from the Roncesvalles website that Sep 6th is the date of a local pilgrimage to Roncesvalles (which is a place of pilgrimage in its own right), called a romería. That means people from surrounding areas coming in to Roncesvalles for the day, completely separate from the pilgrims on the Santiago route. Most will probably just come for the day but just in case, I would definitely advise booking your night in Roncesvalles. Of course your other possible date is still in a busy period so probably still worth booking.

Buen Camino!

I was sept 2 in 2015 my hopitalero juliene from Beilari walked over nite to mass true pilgrim to walk the walk and talk the talk! Stay at beilari in STJP IF U CAN!!

 

[Anniesantiago]

1. We could book our departure on Sept 5 to arrive to Roncesvalles Sept 6 late afternoon or leave Sept 10 to arrive on the 11th. Would either date make a significant difference on the amount of people walking and being able to get a bed at the albergues during that time of the year? In my experience, the later in the season you book, the fewer pilgrims.

2. What kind of weather can we expect from early September to the end of October? How hot/cold would it be? How rainy? Some hot days, some cold days, and a lot of perfect days. Rain can be expected any time of year. Be prepared.

3. My husband can walk longer distances than I can. Is it possible for me to take public transportation for part of a stage and walk the rest? Do most towns have buses that connect to the other towns on the stage? This is easy in some places and more difficult in others. For the most part, you can find taxis. Buses are another matter. No, most towns do NOT have buses that connect to the next town on the stage. Some do.

 

[jo webber]

Hi Emilia,

Reading your post, we could be sisters or twins. I have back issues, husband walks faster than I do. I walk slow .....

We leave St Jean on Oct 9th, reservations made at Orisson. Next day on to Roncesvalles. We will have the majority of our pack items transported, trying not to hurt ourselves the first couple of days. The third day there will be a place to stay about 5 or 6 miles away, I don't remember exactly and we won't have reservations after Roncesvalles on the 10th.

Walking from late summer/early fall into colder weather. Layers, just layers. Maybe we will see you and walk with you awhile.

 

[jagushemi]

Thank you for your comments. They are very helpful. I didn´t know about the Roncesvalles Romería. We will avoid to be there on Sept 6.

Jo, I hope to meet you and your husband on El Camino. You probably will catch up with us. I doubt we can do more than 15 km-day.

Back in 2012, we walked from Sarria to Santiago and got our compostela. Now we would like to walk from Roncesvalles to Sarria. We´ll see how much we can walk. This trip has been in our bucket list since we did our first camino. We will do as much as we can, but we are going to enjoy the way; we don´t want to rush. We have had some serious illnesses recently, which have made us realized how important is to live mindfully and travel now that we are able.

Thanks again. Looking forward to meeting a few of you on the road.

Buen camino.

Emilia

 

[SYates]

Thank you for your comments. They are very helpful. I didn´t know about the Roncesvalles Romería. We will avoid to be there on Sept 6.
...

As others have mentioned, this is a local romeria that, most likely, has little to no influence on the bed situation in the albergue of Roncesvalles. Witnessing it might be even turn out to be a highlight on the start of your camino. Nevertheless, September is still a busy month on the camino, so booking a bed in Roncesvalles might be a good idea. Buen Camino, SY

 

[Anemone del Camino]

Thank you for your comments. They are very helpful. I didn´t know about the Roncesvalles Romería. We will avoid to be there on Sept 6.

I would think it would be great fun to watch the local community intercat with its Camino, not just cater to us.

 

[GettingThere]

Thank you for your comments. They are very helpful. I didn´t know about the Roncesvalles Romería. We will avoid to be there on Sept 6

No need to avoid - it could be a wonderful opportunity to see this. I only mentioned it because there could possibly be more people staying (this Romería is specifically for people from Basse Navarre on the French side) but the following week would probably be just as busy. I'll be there on the 6th, looking forward to it!!