September stats for St Jean

[David]

Hi - from all reports it is pretty crazy downstream on the Camino, where it is really crowded.
Well, that is the summer for you, and many pilgrims 'doing the 100'. But the stats from the pilgrims office in Santiago give a skewed picture about numbers on the Camino further upstream.

I will be on the Camino again from early September, with my first aid kits - most likely based at Puente La Reina (the new refugio over the bridge) and/or I may move on to Castrojeriz, on the Meseta (Camping Camino de Santiago, with great Refugio and home cooking by the Mother - brilliant!) - look out for me :wink:

Anyway - I thought I would check on likely numbers for September from St Jean and I was surprised, September isn't a quiet month at all, in fact, although May and August just top the September numbers both calender weeks 36 and 37 (the first two weeks of the month) are the busiest weeks of the year for those starting at St Jean.

So - you will have plenty of pilgrims to share with you but not enough - as the numbers don't madly increase later on - to make it crowded or 'unpleasant'.

Take a look at these two graphs - one for monthly and one for weekly - bit of a surprise isn't it (well, it was for me ).
p.s. you can find the whole pdf here (though it is in French) - http://www.aucoeurduchemin.org/spip/IMG/pdf/stats12.pdf

 

[HermanTheGerman]

Hmm interesting. It would appear that the shoulder seasons are actually now the peak season(s). Perhaps this is the result of pilgrims knowing how busy it has been and trying the alternatives. Perhaps the whole theory of avoiding the briefly stops will fall flat on its face, if everyone avoids them. We'll be crossing the Meseta in October which, by the look of the statistics could be busy. We will be avoiding the briefly stops however ans will have our fingers crossed for a relatively relaxed journey. Maybe we'll see you somewhere downstream.

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