Over a year and a half ago we began the many preparations that ultimately culminated with our camino for Alzheimer's walking from Montpellier, France to Santiago. After arriving home we were asked by the Alzheimer Society to be representatives for the month of January which led nicely to several speaking engagements and media opportunities to spread the awareness message which somehow carried right on into March. We found the whole process very rewarding, but at the same time the year and a half became all encompassing. Time for a break. Problem was we had spent so much time working on our Alzheimer's project that after things settled down we realized with some surprise that we had no plans for 2019. Highly uncharacteristic!! After a few discussions we decided to return to Spain to walk and later in the year to travel to South America to independently travel and also to trek in Patagonia.
I find that Spring is typically the season when I get itchy feet and long to disappear. Almost anywhere new will do! Given the focus on our 2018 Camino we decided to again walk in 2019, but a little differently. The route that we've selected largely runs across the north coast of Spain and is known as the Camino del Norte.
My research reveals many route options and variants available along the coast including 3 different GR walking routes that will take us away from the Norte and right along the coastal headlands and across numerous beaches. There are also options to permanently deviate from the Norte at a number of spots. The first deviation applicable to us is the popular walking route called the Camino Primitivo (refer to map at the top of the blog) which departs the coast just after Villaviciosa and crosses 300 kms over some rugged terrain to the southwest where it joins up with the well travelled Camino Frances for a last 50 kms into Santiago. The Primitivo is becoming popular so we will see what the traffic looks like as we approach. The second option is the seldom travelled Camino del Mar which continues along the coast to the beautiful city of A Coruña while the Norte heads inland at Ribadeo and continues on to Santiago. From A Coruña one can then walk 3-4 days along the Camino Inglés due south to Santiago if they are so inclined.
As I have promised Annemarie, we will approach the Norte a little differently. Annemarie is already calling this walk the 'Spontaneous Camino' and I'm referring to it as a 'No Obligation Camino', meaning that what happens will happen. We have no 'destination' or frankly any real plan. Just start in the town of Irun at the French border and walk west. Many of our decisions will depend on the people we meet, how we are feeling and importantly what the weather is doing. Looking for sunshine along what is traditionally a cloudy, damp route. If we want to take a vacation day or a rain day, no problem.
I have received the Wise Pilgrim guide from Spain and with the exception of figuring out the variants and possible deviation opportunities, no further planning will be done. Well, not entirely true. We plan to sample the seafood and the usually excellent Spanish wines as we progress. Except for this important plan, there are no further plans!!
We have booked our usual one way tickets with a connection through London down to Bordeaux where we will catch a train south to our favourite French coastal city of Bayonne on the first day. The next day we will train down to the Spanish border, find our first stamp, have a look around and then start walking. We will take a couple of nights in San Sebastián to get a bit further past the jet lag. By all accounts it's supposed to be a beautiful city! Long on my radar since my sister Kathy told me about it in 1974.
I'll provide a bit more background about the Norte before we depart home just over 5 weeks from now. I guess we'd best get our gear sorted out pretty soon and take a few pack based training walks...lol. This will be fun!
