A necessary skip along the Norte, seeking recomendations

JCarpenter · Feb 13, 2022

Hello all and thank you for such wonderful information and encouragement to all. I have walked the French a few times and the Portuguese. Never the Norte. I am starting in mid-June in San Sebastian, and have only 21 days of walking. Is it possible to hop a train and do a skip to get me on schedule, and where would you recommend doing this based on your favorite and less favorite parts? I do want a compostela, so that factors in.

Thank you in advance.

Beth and Rodney · Feb 13, 2022

If you included buses and trains to your travel plans, it could provide more options.

We used both when a member of our group had a foot injury. In 2018, taxis, trains and buses were readily available in most places on the northern route.

I'd suggest skipping Deba to Guernica, perhaps even all the way to Bilbao or Portugalete. There are bus and train routes in all of these.

Then I'd consider bypassing the route from Villaviciosa to Aviles - unless you want to see Oviedo.

It sounds like you're going to have to cut about 8 to 12 stages off. That's hard to do because it's all a beautiful Camino. In general, I'd recommend you see as much of the coast and beaches as possible.

Hope this helps a bit.

trecile · Feb 13, 2022

I prefer a continuous walk. Have you considered starting closer to Santiago so that you can walk without skipping?

mario juan · Feb 13, 2022

I walked the Norte last September and I was always taking detours and sidestepping to various places of interest. My trusted thumb got me numerous lifts, I never had to wait more than a couple of minutes and met lots of locals who were very interested in my Camino. I know it’s not for everyone and if you’re a single woman it may not be for you but it certainly worked for me ..

snale · Feb 13, 2022

JCarpenter said:
Hello all and thank you for such wonderful information and encouragement to all. I have walked the French a few times and the Portuguese. Never the Norte. I am starting in mid-June in San Sebastian, and have only 21 days of walking. Is it possible to hop a train and do a skip to get me on schedule, and where would you recommend doing this based on your favorite and less favorite parts? I do want a compostela, so that factors in.

Thank you in advance.

This depends on your view of skipping stages. If you don't like skipping stages then start closer to Santiago. Alternatively, come back the following year to complete. That said the Norte has a number of not very pleasant sections in and out of large cities. Again depending on your view, you could skip sections when you get near the built-up areas. I won't list them all unless you want that information but in and out of Bilboa, Santander to Santillana, in and out of Gion. Another point is the country is less interesting in the final third. I must admit I'm not one who would pick and choose stages. Perhaps consider an alternate camino, say VDLP from Salamanca.

andarapie · Feb 13, 2022

Beth and Rodney said:
If you included buses and trains to your travel plans, it could provide more options.

We used both when a member of our group had a foot injury. In 2018, taxis, trains and buses were readily available in most places on the northern route.

I'd suggest skipping Deba to Guernica, perhaps even all the way to Bilbao or Portugalete. There are bus and train routes in all of these.

Then I'd consider bypassing the route from Villaviciosa to Aviles - unless you want to see Oviedo.

It sounds like you're going to have to cut about 8 to 12 stages off. That's hard to do because it's all a beautiful Camino. In general, I'd recommend you see as much of the coast and beaches as possible.

Hope this helps a bit.

The best part (most beautiful) of the del Norte is the stretch from Irun to Bilbao - I would not recommend skipping any of these stages.

If you want to save some time just past that stretch, you can take the subway from the center of Bilbao to Portugalete and shave off about 15km (though it was quite an enjoyable walk along the river for me.) As for the rest, the area in and around Santander is pretty ugly, so I would feel free to skip that, too.

But if you only have 21 days, you will have make some hard choices. I took a train from Ribadesella to Oviedo to do the Primitivo, so cannot comment about the del Norte after that point. But from what I saw, based solely on natural beauty (and food, which is really only good in the Basque country), this is what I would recommend:

1) Irun to Bilbao (appx. 7 days), then take a train or fly to Oviedo
2) Oviedo to Santiago (appx. 12 days)

That would leave you an extra day or two to spend in, say, San Sebastian, Bilbao, Oviedo, Lugo, or Santiago, all of which are worth exploring.

khiker9 · Feb 14, 2022

JCarpenter said:
Hello all and thank you for such wonderful information and encouragement to all. I have walked the French a few times and the Portuguese. Never the Norte. I am starting in mid-June in San Sebastian, and have only 21 days of walking. Is it possible to hop a train and do a skip to get me on schedule, and where would you recommend doing this based on your favorite and less favorite parts? I do want a compostela, so that factors in.

Thank you in advance.

In 2016 I started the Norte in Bilbao. I went mainly for the landscape & scenery. I quickly found the road walking to be discouraging and started figuring out how to skip around the bigger towns & the inland parts. It was very easy to take busses and/or trains. In my opinion, a few of the areas to try not to miss are Pobena to Castro Urdiales, Comillas, Ribadesella, Cadavedo, Ribadeo & the beach at As Catedrais. There you turn inland & you can bus to Baamonde to walk into Santiago to get a compostela. The Norte is beautiful! Buen Camino.

JCarpenter · Feb 14, 2022

trecile said:
I prefer a continuous walk. Have you considered starting closer to Santiago so that you can walk without skipping?

I, too, prefer a continuous route. I am choosing to see the basque country a bit, then skip. Also, a train ride to the right spot for a 21 day walk is hard to find.

JCarpenter · Feb 14, 2022

snale said:
This depends on your view of skipping stages. If you don't like skipping stages then start closer to Santiago. Alternatively, come back the following year to complete. That said the Norte has a number of not very pleasant sections in and out of large cities. Again depending on your view, you could skip sections when you get near the built-up areas. I won't list them all unless you want that information but in and out of Bilboa, Santander to Santillana, in and out of Gion. Another point is the country is less interesting in the final third. I must admit I'm not one who would pick and choose stages. Perhaps consider an alternate camino, say VDLP from Salamanca.

Is the vdlp reasonable (heat)from june 22 on into july? Last time I walked I was still living in Texas and didn't notice the 104f heatwave when others were suffering. But now we hail from Puget Sound- quite a different story.

JCarpenter · Feb 14, 2022

andarapie said:
The best part (most beautiful) of the del Norte is the stretch from Irun to Bilbao - I would not recommend skipping any of these stages.

If you want to save some time just past that stretch, you can take the subway from the center of Bilbao to Portugalete and shave off about 15km (though it was quite an enjoyable walk along the river for me.) As for the rest, the area in and around Santander is pretty ugly, so I would feel free to skip that, too.

But if you only have 21 days, you will have make some hard choices. I took a train from Ribadesella to Oviedo to do the Primitivo, so cannot comment about the del Norte after that point. But from what I saw, based solely on natural beauty (and food, which is really only good in the Basque country), this is what I would recommend:

1) Irun to Bilbao (appx. 7 days), then take a train or fly to Oviedo
2) Oviedo to Santiago (appx. 12 days)

That would leave you an extra day or two to spend in, say, San Sebastian, Bilbao, Oviedo, Lugo, or Santiago, all of which are worth exploring.

This is great. Thank you. Now I will investigate train from madrid to Irun. I like this plan.

snale · Feb 14, 2022

JCarpenter said:
Is the vdlp reasonable (heat)from june 22 on into july? Last time I walked I was still living in Texas and didn't notice the 104f heatwave when others were suffering. But now we hail from Puget Sound- quite a different story.

The first half of the VDLP can be extreme in those months. Not so bad as you go north, especially Galicia and the higher country. But it all largely depends on your attitude toward skipping sections in the middle.

trecile · Feb 14, 2022

I think that @andarapie has a good idea to walk that first section of the Norte, then head to Oviedo to walk the Primitivo. That will give you a taste of the coast, then you could walk a "complete" Camino.

andarapie · Feb 14, 2022

JCarpenter said:
This is great. Thank you. Now I will investigate train from madrid to Irun. I like this plan.

I flew from Madrid to San Sebastián - the airport is just outside of Irun - and it was only about $100 last year, I don’t know if the train is cheaper. If you want, you could literally start your Camino from the airport, as it’s just a few km to Mt. Jaizkabel (which has maybe the best views of the del Norte) from there. I took a cab to San Sebastián, spent two days there, and took a bus to Irun to start. There’s a nice church there, where I got my sello, but otherwise not much to see.

JCarpenter · Feb 14, 2022

trecile said:
I think that @andarapie has a good idea to walk that first section of the Norte, then head to Oviedo to walk the Primitivo. That will give you a taste of the coast, then you could walk a "complete" Camino.

Thank you for your thoughts. I don't understand my difficulty in choosing a route this time. It may end up the way I order dinner...last minute.

JCarpenter · Feb 14, 2022

JCarpenter said:
Thank you for your thoughts. I don't understand my difficulty in choosing a route this time. It may end up the way I order dinner...last minute.

I do dread getting on a plane after flying from the West coast of the US. So a train...even considering the tunnel route.

andarapie · Feb 14, 2022

JCarpenter said:
I do dread getting on a plane after flying from the West coast of the US. So a train...even considering the tunnel route.

It's just a few hours layover in the airport.

Whatever you decide, do whatever's most comfortable for you. You will get your share of suffering on the Camino, no need to worry about it now.

Former member 99290 · Feb 14, 2022

trecile said:
I think that @andarapie has a good idea to walk that first section of the Norte, then head to Oviedo to walk the Primitivo. That will give you a taste of the coast, then you could walk a "complete" Camino.

I agree. That’s a great combo. Although I’ve only walked the Norte to Santander - for various reasons. I have walked the first part to Bilbao three times and I’ve walked the Primitivo twice. That first week of the Norte is outstanding in my view, for many reasons, and the Primitivo is a wonderful camino. I recall the ALSA bus from Bilbao to Oviedo took about 4 hours. If time is short at least you have an afternoon and evening in Oviedo before continuing on your way. It’s a wonderful town

Beth and Rodney · Feb 14, 2022

JCarpenter said:
This is great. Thank you. Now I will investigate train from madrid to Irun. I like this plan.

I've done the Norte. If I were in your situation, this plan would be great. I love the Coastal route from Irun to Bilbao thru Basque country. And Oviedo to Santiago is terrific.

Hope it is all you hope for and more!

WalkingLester · Feb 14, 2022

JCarpenter said:
Thank you for your thoughts. I don't understand my difficulty in choosing a route this time. It may end up the way I order dinner...last minute.

Irún to Bilbao then Oviedo to Santiago on the Primitivo is a good plan. You get a nice section of the Norte and then the Primitivo which is wonderful. There are many ways you could skip some urban parts, road walking parts and other less scenic parts of the Norte but this gets tedious and really fragments your journey. I know, I tried this method once . One week and then 2 weeks of continuous Camino sections is a great idea. It can be hard to find the most “right plan”, this plan is definitely “not wrong”.

JCarpenter · Feb 15, 2022

I like it! Thank you so much for the ideas.

Redvespablur · Feb 19, 2022

andarapie said:
The best part (most beautiful) of the del Norte is the stretch from Irun to Bilbao - I would not recommend skipping any of these stages.

If you want to save some time just past that stretch, you can take the subway from the center of Bilbao to Portugalete and shave off about 15km (though it was quite an enjoyable walk along the river for me.) As for the rest, the area in and around Santander is pretty ugly, so I would feel free to skip that, too.

But if you only have 21 days, you will have make some hard choices. I took a train from Ribadesella to Oviedo to do the Primitivo, so cannot comment about the del Norte after that point. But from what I saw, based solely on natural beauty (and food, which is really only good in the Basque country), this is what I would recommend:

1) Irun to Bilbao (appx. 7 days), then take a train or fly to Oviedo
2) Oviedo to Santiago (appx. 12 days)

That would leave you an extra day or two to spend in, say, San Sebastian, Bilbao, Oviedo, Lugo, or Santiago, all of which are worth exploring.

Loved Irun to Bilbao but did bus in the last day to Bilbao from suburbs and subway to Portugalate on way out of town to avoid suburban walking.

The Camino is weird - you can have a great day of walking and thinking on the drabbest of stages and miserable day on the most beautiful.

Clay7011 · Tuesday at 4:30 PM

Planning on walking Norte-Primitivo starting about June 10, 2025. Are the albergues very busy at that time and also what will the weather be? I did this the end of August and September of 2017 and...

A necessary skip along the Norte, seeking recomendations

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