Suggestions for 4 - 5 days from Gijon?

[rainalready]

Hola, looking forward to my first ever camino next week!

Due to some travel constraints, we start from Santander and walk to Gijon (where my friends will end their camino), and I have 4 - 5 more days before my flight home from Bilbao. It's my first time in the north of Spain, and I would love to use the time to hike somewhere scenic (or minimal asphalt), and hope to complete the rest of the camino in a future trip.

From Gijon, I'm considering a few options:

1) Continue on from Gijon for 4 - 5 more days (to Luarca? or to Oviedo?), then find some kind of bus back to Bilbao for my flight out
2) Take a bus back to Santander (where I started), and then walk from Santander in the "wrong" direction of camino to Bilbao within 4.5 days for my flight out. This way, it would be nice to have completed a neat/continuous Bilbao-Gijon stretch, so in a future trip I can simply continue the camino from Gijon. However it seems that the signage is not so good in reverse, and you miss out on the social experience of walking together?
3) Take bus/train from Gijon to San Sebastian, then walk from San Sebastian to Bilbao so that I'm walking in the right direction. I hear this is great scenery but could be too rushed (normally takes 6 days with all the ups & downs?)
4) Find a way to hike Los Picos for 3 days or so - amazing scenery but inconvenient to get there in such a short time
5) Any other ideas?

Probably I should just go with #1 to not over-complicate things, but appreciate any ideas you might have. Thanks & buen camino!

 

[grayland]

San Sebastian is a very special place if you have not been there. The next few days are a very good route, also.
Not sure how you would end up in Bilbao in time for your flight..but I would recommend it.

 

[Jan_D]

I agree with grayland, but I'd personally go with option 3:

I mean, you could go on, but when you part from your friends in Gijon it will probably feel like the end of a chapter, and if you decide to continue you'll be faced with a rather depressing industrial walk through Aviles... by the time you get to the more rustic coastal path it's going to be time to head back again (and it will probably take you a full day to travel from a small village in western Asturias to Bilbao...)

As for the other options: as you've said there's not enough time to get into Los Picos, and Oviedo is a whole new ballgame as it's the start of the Primitivo, which is just not feasible due to lack of time and transport.

So ja, I'd recommend getting to San Sebastian, where you can follow the 'flechas amarillas' in the right direction for a few days with fellow pilgrims, eat some tasty pintxos, and enjoy every moment 'zonder stress' because it's a very quick bus ride back to Bilbao whenever you want to catch your flight

 

[jpflavin1]

Hola, looking forward to my first ever camino next week!

Due to some travel constraints, we start from Santander and walk to Gijon (where my friends will end their camino), and I have 4 - 5 more days before my flight home from Bilbao. It's my first time in the north of Spain, and I would love to use the time to hike somewhere scenic (or minimal asphalt), and hope to complete the rest of the camino in a future trip.

From Gijon, I'm considering a few options:

1) Continue on from Gijon for 4 - 5 more days (to Luarca? or to Oviedo?), then find some kind of bus back to Bilbao for my flight out
2) Take a bus back to Santander (where I started), and then walk from Santander in the "wrong" direction of camino to Bilbao within 4.5 days for my flight out. This way, it would be nice to have completed a neat/continuous Bilbao-Gijon stretch, so in a future trip I can simply continue the camino from Gijon. However it seems that the signage is not so good in reverse, and you miss out on the social experience of walking together?
3) Take bus/train from Gijon to San Sebastian, then walk from San Sebastian to Bilbao so that I'm walking in the right direction. I hear this is great scenery but could be too rushed (normally takes 6 days with all the ups & downs?)
4) Find a way to hike Los Picos for 3 days or so - amazing scenery but inconvenient to get there in such a short time
5) Any other ideas?

Probably I should just go with #1 to not over-complicate things, but appreciate any ideas you might have. Thanks & buen camino!

Take a bus to Leon and walk the Salvador. It is a 4-5 day walk. It has its own credential and certificate. A beautiful Camino.

Ultreya,
Joe

 

[mikevasey]

The albergue de peregrinos in Lezama is about 8 km before Bilbao airport, you walk a few km closer to it on a long road before you turn off to go on quieter back roads into the center. If you did start in San Sebastian it wouldn't be too hard to walk all the way to the airport and you wouldn't be using time up waiting for buses or trains.

 

[rainalready]

Many thanks for the suggestions!
I'll head from Gijon to San Sebastian then, and walk towards Bilbao if/until I run out of time. It looks like the best way is by ALSA bus (www.elsa.es), 4 buses a day, travel time of 5 - 6 hours for €28?
Thanks again!

 

[Jan_D]

Many thanks for the suggestions!
I'll head from Gijon to San Sebastian then, and walk towards Bilbao if/until I run out of time. It looks like the best way is by ALSA bus (www.elsa.es), 4 buses a day, travel time of 5 - 6 hours for €28?
Thanks again!

Yes, bus is the best option, leaving from either Gijon or Oviedo... In fact I'd even recommend spending the night in Oviedo, it's only half an hour from Gijon, and is a really gorgeous city with a beautiful cathedral - as Joe (above) mentions, it's the end of the Salvator camino so an important pilgrim destination in its own right, surrounded by mountains, and the cultural capital of Asturias - you can get an idea of what it's like for when you come back to do the primitivo one day...

Btw the narrow-gauge railway 'Feve' also runs all the way back along the north coast, leaving Gijon at about 7:30am and arriving in Bilbao at 4:30pm, it's really beautiful and winds along the camino route you've just done so you can do a bit of a 'mental recap' - however it's probably too long unless you decide to make a day of it and stop over somewhere for lunch! And after walking 200km you'll probably just get restless leg syndrome being immobile for so long... so ok scrap that idea.

 

[angulero]

Picos de Europa, aunque hay sitios de la Cordillera Cantábrica que a mí me gustan más.. En tres días puedes hacer alguna ruta bonita. Te recomiendo este foro para que preguntes.

Picos de Europa, although there are sites of the Cordillera Cantábrica that I like more. In three days you can make some nice route. I recommend this forum to ask.

http://www.foropicos.net/foro/index.php