Looking for options for reversed Camino

[Caro1964]

Hello! My title for my query is a. It misleading but I could not think of another way to word it! I am working on a different kind of itinerary for my Camino del Norte next summer. Rather than start in Irun, I wish to start in Bilbao, walk west to Vilalba, then bus back east to Irun to walk back to Bilbao. I’ve read that the first seven days (Irun-Bilbao) are the hardest and most beautiful of the Norte. I don’t have great knees or ankles and I thought that keeping the Irun-Bilbao segments for last would enable me to toughen my joints and feet and optimize my chances of not injuring myself. My challenge is how to get my bag transported from Vilalba to Irun as I have not found a company that does the transfer in that direction. Has anyone done something similar for an itinerary and was successful in finding a company to send their bag east instead of west? I’ve emailed Correos but was not able to get an answer from them.

The need to have the bag transported is also related to my arthritic knees and bad ankles.

Thank you!

 

[trecile]

You could ship it via Correos. You would have to pick it up at the Correos office, and probably wait a few days for it to arrive.

Personally, I would do enough hill training so that I could start in Irun or San Sebastián, then take it easy with short stages that first week.

 

[roving_rufus]

So it's really getting your bag transfered on a travel day between Vilabla and Irun. Most luggage transfer on camino routes is set in one direction so it's unlikely any company would transfer it. You could ship it but you'd be waiting days to see whatever service Correos, DHL etc actually got it to you.

Having used Google maps to see the options for the journey Vilabla to Irun, nearly all of them are over 12 hours - often with multiple changes or long bus journeys.

I am kind of with Trecile to just start in Irun. It seems like so much hassle to jump back to the beginning- that whole travel day back could give you an extra day if you started in Irun.

 

[Antonius Vaessen]

In 2017 I walked the Norte with my wife, for her it was her first camino. We decided to begin in Bilbao, because we did not know wheather the first week from Irun would not be too hard for her. We walked to Boo de Pielagos and because the walking went very well we took the train back to Irun and walked to Irun which was a hard but regarding walk. A year later we picked up the Norte again from Boo de Pielagos.

 

[Caro1964]

Thank you for your replies, your thoughts are very appreciated. I will scratch off the Correos option from my list as I had not realized it could take days to ship it back! I have been quite intimidated with the challenge of the first week as a starting point. Perhaps breaking the distances down and taking longer to do those harder days is another option I need to consider. Another thought is to pack light enough to carry my pack instead of having it transported. And train up with more hills and pack in the weeks before I travel.

Thank you again!