Thursday, May 17, 2012

camino del norte


I've started doing a little research on this northern route.  It looks beautiful, but could be more challenging than the standard route.  I thought I would order a guidebook from Amazon, but the only ones I could find were in Spanish, French or German.  I've tried ordering the French one through inter-library loan.  I'd have an easier time with French than Spanish.  We'll see if the library can find it.  It would be $60 to purchase.  The Spanish versions are cheaper.

 
"The Camino del Norte (also known as the Coastal Route or the Northern Route) is one of the longer branches of the network of ancient pilgrim routes which together make up the Camino de Santiago (the Way of St. James) . It runs for some 825 km. from the French border at Irún, through San Sebastian, Bilbao, and Santander to join the Camino Francés, (the main spine route of the Camino) at Arzua. It is also possible to divert to Oviedo and walk the Camino Primitivo (the original route) which joins the Camino Francés at Melide. 

"The scenery on this route is fantastic with fine coastal views. The terrain is quite hilly for much of the route, and you are often sent inland to reach a bridge over the numerous rivers. It is much less crowded than the Camino Francés, and because of this, pilgrim accommodation is sparse in places. There is a great Wealth of ancient monuments, particularly churches and monasteries, and the larger cities have excellent facilities. (Bilbao even has a metro which ends at the beach)

"The weather on this route is highly variable, and you need to be prepared for some quite wet days."
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7 comments:

  1. sallyMay 17, 2012 at 10:46 PM

    I've discovered some English-language guides at

    http://www.csj.org.uk/acatalog/The_CSJ_Bookshop_Pilgrim_Guides_to_Spain_23.html#cdn

    The discussion threads at the website I gave in the main post are also quite interesting. It sounds like there is more pavement on the northern route than on the main route. The northern route also passes through more tourist towns and has fewer albergues, so one either has to plan carefully, or be willing to stay in motels occasionally.

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  2. jhMay 18, 2012 at 7:17 AM

    i'm so happy we have a conscientious
    travel info person along
    it helps me get my mind around what's ahead

    ;-)

    i figure 500 miles
    that's 50 days
    10 miles a day including sundays

    weather is real no matter what
    what's a walk in the rain or the fog

    or sleep outside amid the elements
    i think i will prepare my night bag accordingly
    with a goretex simple sleeping sheethe
    and a warm peruvian pancho
    and a travel guitar
    toothbrush what else
    bandana
    water bottle

    foot massage cream

    walking stick

    hmnh

    must be forgetting something

    errantry begets errantry

    jh

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  3. AnonymousMay 22, 2012 at 8:49 AM

    i read somewhere recently that the average sunshine factor the average number of hours of sunlight on any given day on the via del norte is 6 hrs which means that while there may be rain it's a good chance that quite soon the sun will shine...yet i guess it would behoove us to expect rain
    accordingly

    jh

    ReplyDelete
  4. sallyMay 22, 2012 at 12:56 PM

    that's good to know
    did they give any comparative figures
    for other routes?

    do you like the idea of via del norte?
    i was a little turned off
    by the mention of more miles on pavement
    and more touristy towns
    though the occasional ocean views would be nice
    and the description did mention
    plenty of churches and monastery's to visit
    which is a plus for me

    john is open to doing either route
    once i mentioned these concerns to him
    and so am i

    do you have a preference?

    i think we are also having
    second thoughts about doing
    the whole thing
    maybe 3-4 weeks would be more realistic
    than 50 days
    maybe 4 weeks of total travel
    with ~3 weeks of walking
    maybe we could plan
    to cover 200-250 miles
    and choose an appropriate starting point
    on either trail

    what do you think?

    ReplyDelete
  5. jhMay 22, 2012 at 6:43 PM

    it looks to me like the weather is generally more agreeable inland
    on the camino frances during the auttumn months
    and i think i do believe that an estimation of 200-250 miles is
    what we should consider
    some days to bum around and do nothing
    perhaps we will have a chance to walk it again
    and we don't want to use up all the surprise

    i've also noticed on a few blogs i've read
    that bus travel is very dependable in that part of the world


    toenailclippers
    toothbrush floss
    bandaids
    tape
    longunderwear
    gorp (of course)

    !

    ReplyDelete
  6. jhMay 22, 2012 at 6:45 PM

    o i guess my preference would be to follow the coast i suspect there'd be a lot of old ruins as well as kindly monks along that way
    i think for the last stretch we descend to the middle trail anyway

    i am amenable on this point

    yo

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  7. sallyMay 26, 2012 at 11:40 AM

    we made a pilgrimage to rei last night
    did our part to jump start the economy
    a backpack for john
    new hiking shoes for both of us
    some quick-dry clothing

    sort of leaves me wondering
    what better uses that money
    could have been put to
    it probably could have fed a family
    for quite some time
    perhaps that would have been
    a more effective form of pilgrimage

    i want to be open to God

    and i am also really excited
    about this trip

    ReplyDelete

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