What is the problem with accommodation in Irun/Hendaye? We (two of us) will arrive Irun late afternoon and plan to stay at the Albergue, which does not accept reservations. As it will be late September and the Albergue has 48 beds we thought accommodation would be no problem. Are we missing something? Be grateful for your comment.
I do not suggest that there is "a problem" with accommodations in Irun/Henday, because the "problem" was not with either of those fine towns, but was with me!
The thread is based in large part on the notion of "unpreparedness", something I am quite expert at. I do not not know if you can ever be as unprepared as I was when I began my Northern Camino in early October . . . . shortly later than it looks like you will begin yours. In a way though , I wish you could be, because, for the most part, it added to my fun.
That said, if I were to do it over again, I would have a much more certain plan for where to stay in Hendaye, Irun and for that matter San Sebastian. After that, it just gets easier: it did for me anyway.
My experience was that I arrived in Hendaye on the train mid-afternoon (additional evidence of my unpreparedness is that I booked my train travel in the station at Bordeaux to the first station in Hendaye rather than the second - which is the town center). I did have a room booked at the Hotel Campanile in Hendaye, which i eventually got to and did fully enjoy. My plan was to do day one from there, picking up a passport & compestela stamp at the Iglesia de los Pasionistas . . . . which was closed when I got there. The backup plan was to get the paperwork and get going from the somewhat hard to find Irún Albergue de Peregrines. When I got there, it too was closed - for the season as I recall.
I did not have a plan C.
However, with much inefficiency, wasted steps and general bumbling, I did make it to the Albergue Martindozenea Juvenil, which was quite nice, had plenty of capacity and I can highly recommend. However they too had n0 passports and by the time I got there it was around noon and they too would not open for a while and there was no way that I would make it to San Sebastian before dark even if I knew how to - which I most certainly did not. So I bagged it, cooled my jets, waited for the albergue to open, signed in and vowed to restart the next morning better prepared. I spend the rest of that afternoon buying food and Compeed and figuring out how to find and follow the Camino through and out of town. For me this took some doing as I only had a minimal map/guide. But it is figure-out-able!
The next morning, I relaunched successfully. By that, I mean that I knew specifically how to get out of town and on the trail towards San Sebastian. My arrow finding vision had yet to fully engage, but it would soon.
Once I got to San Sebastian though, I was flummoxed anew! Yeah! I thought that it would be painfully obvious where the albergues were. It was and is not. Because of this, I walked clear through town and somewhat past it without successfully landing in a place to stay for the night or get a passport. A further series of misadventures ensued with which I will not bore you. Eventually though, I did find and secure a bed at Albergue Onderreta Juvenil, which I also highly recommend. I got a passport and a stamp there. The important point is that I had no idea where it was in town before I arrived. In retrospect, I wish that I did.
These two days, humbled me greatly and prepared me for the surrender and beauty that I was then able to experience. Things also went logistically much better for me but I cared less that they did . . . . or would.
I'm not sure that everyone needs to go through the mess (of my own making) that I did however.
So, no fault of the towns, or anyone other than me. I just thought the start would be easier and more obvious than it was for me.
Buen Camino! Autumn is an awesome walk. I wish you and your fellow pilgrims all kinds of surprises and revelations.
