Kiwi Suz
New Member
- Time of past OR future Camino
- Camino del Norte, 2016
I found this forum so helpful, I promised myself I would write something on return. Finding info, especially in English, seemed difficult before we left...so here is the stuff we thought might be useful to others:
We biked Santander to Santiago finishing 20 August. We took 19 days.
We were the 'slow' bikers. We averaged 30km a day, and stuck mainly to the Camino, instead of the roads.
The people doing above 50km a day seemed to just bike the roads. Which is a shame as the trails are so beautiful. Peak season its harder because there are many walkers, we wanted to fit in, so were very careful around walkers and we liked to stop and get off and walk to have a bit of conversation and enjoy the Camino vibe. Many of the hills you have to get off and walk anyway, which is tough going.
Before we took off the locals kept saying, 'You're going to bike del Norte? Do you know how hilly it is??' And they of course were right, its VERY hilly. Pays to do some training before you start!
We hired our bikes from cycling-rentals.com . They sent our bikes for pick up in Santander. Great service, bikes were very good, very easy drop off in Santiago. We got mountain bikes with panniers.
We used the website gronze.com for most of our info. This was great for directions. And locals will always help you find the way anyway. We actually went without phones, just a tablet and a couple of Michlein maps. Probably wouldn't recommend no phone as a lot of the apps looked very useful.
AND because August is crazy busy. Our experience was that you did need to book albergues where you could (most municipal ones you can't book). There lots of nice private ones, you pay a few euro more, but by god it was worth it. The difference between sleeping with 20 people in a room, to 8 people, that kind of thing. Most people were leaving before sunrise, and rushing to find the next bed, had an Amazing Race feel about it, rather than a fun, take it easy and enjoy the view feel!
OK, so other Dos and Don't we thought of (totally our experience of course, you will have your own list by the end I am sure!)
Do:
Learn some Spanish before you go. Most of rural Spain does not speak any English. You will meet so many lovely people who just want to help you find your way, and have a bit of a chat (you get the feeling that for a lot of older country people this is their social interaction for the day) so its great if you can chat back.
Take a tent if you are on a budget and going in peak season. We were often told a place was full, but if we had a tent we could of camped in their back yard. And a small cooker and pot as a lot of Albergues don't have a kitchen and restaurants don't open till at least 8pm and you will be starving before then!
Bus through the industrial zones around Gijon. Yes, people do bus bits of the Camino. In our experience 80% of people we met had resorted to this at some point. Don't feel bad, its a waste of energy. Everyone's Camino experience is unique and rewarding, you need to adjust to what suits you. We met loads of Spanish people walking, many were just doing 100km, with the plan to do another 100km the next year and eventually finish. The Camino is your journey, make it your own.
Don't:
Go in August if you can possibly help it. There was such a problem with finding accommodation. Often we had to bike on well past when we would have liked to stop, just to get a bed. This was happening to all the walkers too. You can book accommodation on most of the trail, we didn't want to , but went to this option in the end, just so we could budget our energy and know we had a bed for the night.
We met loads of people who had to sleep in church yards or on the floor of hostels. Even the expensive accommodation will be full. And tourist information centers don't ring ahead to the next town for you, we were told they would, this is not so.
There are a series of festivals that move along the coast during this time. Some last about 3 days, and feels like every body in Spain has come to stay at that area for this time. Almost impossible to find a bed for the night.
Freak out! The last part before Santiago, del Norte meets up with the French way. You will go from seeing 20 pilgrims a day to hundreds. The trail is almost completely full with people. Its kind of fun and festive, but also very weird when you have been on the calm and quiet of del Norte, just prepare yourself. Sanitago in August felt like a circus to us. No chance to get into the pilgrim Mass, it was full before they even started. Its a beautiful city though and we loved all the food and shopping...just don't expect too much
We actually felt most spiritual when we stayed at the Monastery of Sobrado, a few days before the end. Its high on a hill top, with beautiful surrounds. There is an Albergue in the the Monastery. You can go to Mass there, led by the Monks. The whole thing was just lovely, and felt like a fitting 'end' to our Camino, as we travelled largely down hill to Santiago after that.
So, to sum up, we had an amazing time, met super people, challenged ourselves immensely , and would love to go back and do it all again.
Please feel free to ask questions, as we know how hard it was to get good info before we left.
We biked Santander to Santiago finishing 20 August. We took 19 days.
We were the 'slow' bikers. We averaged 30km a day, and stuck mainly to the Camino, instead of the roads.
The people doing above 50km a day seemed to just bike the roads. Which is a shame as the trails are so beautiful. Peak season its harder because there are many walkers, we wanted to fit in, so were very careful around walkers and we liked to stop and get off and walk to have a bit of conversation and enjoy the Camino vibe. Many of the hills you have to get off and walk anyway, which is tough going.
Before we took off the locals kept saying, 'You're going to bike del Norte? Do you know how hilly it is??' And they of course were right, its VERY hilly. Pays to do some training before you start!
We hired our bikes from cycling-rentals.com . They sent our bikes for pick up in Santander. Great service, bikes were very good, very easy drop off in Santiago. We got mountain bikes with panniers.
We used the website gronze.com for most of our info. This was great for directions. And locals will always help you find the way anyway. We actually went without phones, just a tablet and a couple of Michlein maps. Probably wouldn't recommend no phone as a lot of the apps looked very useful.
AND because August is crazy busy. Our experience was that you did need to book albergues where you could (most municipal ones you can't book). There lots of nice private ones, you pay a few euro more, but by god it was worth it. The difference between sleeping with 20 people in a room, to 8 people, that kind of thing. Most people were leaving before sunrise, and rushing to find the next bed, had an Amazing Race feel about it, rather than a fun, take it easy and enjoy the view feel!
OK, so other Dos and Don't we thought of (totally our experience of course, you will have your own list by the end I am sure!)
Do:
Learn some Spanish before you go. Most of rural Spain does not speak any English. You will meet so many lovely people who just want to help you find your way, and have a bit of a chat (you get the feeling that for a lot of older country people this is their social interaction for the day) so its great if you can chat back.
Take a tent if you are on a budget and going in peak season. We were often told a place was full, but if we had a tent we could of camped in their back yard. And a small cooker and pot as a lot of Albergues don't have a kitchen and restaurants don't open till at least 8pm and you will be starving before then!
Bus through the industrial zones around Gijon. Yes, people do bus bits of the Camino. In our experience 80% of people we met had resorted to this at some point. Don't feel bad, its a waste of energy. Everyone's Camino experience is unique and rewarding, you need to adjust to what suits you. We met loads of Spanish people walking, many were just doing 100km, with the plan to do another 100km the next year and eventually finish. The Camino is your journey, make it your own.
Don't:
Go in August if you can possibly help it. There was such a problem with finding accommodation. Often we had to bike on well past when we would have liked to stop, just to get a bed. This was happening to all the walkers too. You can book accommodation on most of the trail, we didn't want to , but went to this option in the end, just so we could budget our energy and know we had a bed for the night.
We met loads of people who had to sleep in church yards or on the floor of hostels. Even the expensive accommodation will be full. And tourist information centers don't ring ahead to the next town for you, we were told they would, this is not so.
There are a series of festivals that move along the coast during this time. Some last about 3 days, and feels like every body in Spain has come to stay at that area for this time. Almost impossible to find a bed for the night.
Freak out! The last part before Santiago, del Norte meets up with the French way. You will go from seeing 20 pilgrims a day to hundreds. The trail is almost completely full with people. Its kind of fun and festive, but also very weird when you have been on the calm and quiet of del Norte, just prepare yourself. Sanitago in August felt like a circus to us. No chance to get into the pilgrim Mass, it was full before they even started. Its a beautiful city though and we loved all the food and shopping...just don't expect too much
We actually felt most spiritual when we stayed at the Monastery of Sobrado, a few days before the end. Its high on a hill top, with beautiful surrounds. There is an Albergue in the the Monastery. You can go to Mass there, led by the Monks. The whole thing was just lovely, and felt like a fitting 'end' to our Camino, as we travelled largely down hill to Santiago after that.
So, to sum up, we had an amazing time, met super people, challenged ourselves immensely , and would love to go back and do it all again.
Please feel free to ask questions, as we know how hard it was to get good info before we left.
