Starting vasco in a week, any tips?

[ksoltysiak]

Hi there!

I'm considering starting the vasco in a few days (sometime between the 5th and 10th october, depending on other things and possibly the weather). I will be relying on gronze for accomodations, as often; the albergues mentionned seem to be opened either all year or up to the end of october, so I should be fine.

Gronze is not very editorialized though, and I don't know how fresh the information is. Basically, I'm looking for insider tips: is there anything I should know about / pay specific attention to? Any other source of information for accomodation to know about?

For example, I've seen mentions of a Saiatz alternative (and a nice few pdfs, thanks!), but I don't know how it compares to the regular path (both in difficulty and scenery) nor if it's a path that should be avoided if it's rainy.

I'll be grateful for any piece of information that might make the trip more enjoyable

Thanks for reading, and have a nice one!

 

[roving_rufus]

It's a couple of years since I walked the Vasco. I did use Gronze as main source alongside a gpx track I downloaded on to my phone. Just make sure you know where the split of the Vasco to Sant Domingo and the Bayona to Burgos happens - and then I did the Bayona which just after that split used to have a range of options to reach Miranda, don't know if this is still causing confusion.

I didn't do the Saiatz as it was raining and didn't want to chance it- so stayed on the tar bike path in the valley floor- which as it rained all day made for easy enough walking though not delightful. I even did the old route by the main road to Segura rather than Olaberria due to poor weather which was mainly a bike path by the main rd (this one I would say had little to recommend it except it was shorter- Olberria is the better route though there is one drop down to Idiazabel which in bad weather that can be slippy).

Sorry can't help with Saiatz alternative