Day 10: Lestelle-Betharram to Arudy It rained all night. It rained all morning. It rained most of the afternoon. 30mm in 24 hours and on a day where I walked 29km and an elevation of 850m. Luckily I didn’t have to check-out before 12 o’clock, but I hoped that the rain at least eased up before that, given the length…
Day 9: Lourdes to Lestelle-Betharram After yesterdays marathon 12 hour effort, today was a short day, only 17km and 380m in elevation. I slept late, and the lady at breakfast took a pity on me, and gave me two of everything at the French breakfast (2 coffee, 2 croissant and 2 pieces of baguette). I spent the morning walking around…
Day 8: Bagneres-du-Bigore to Lourdes Today I experienced the great and worst of walking. Spectacular (an understatement) views, good walkable paths and clear signage. But also paths so overgrown and often muddy that one could discuss whether they can be considered paths at all, and worse, paths in the middle of nowhere that were closed – without warning and without…
Day 7: La-Barthe-du-Neste to Bagneres-du-Bigore It was a wet start to a long stage, 34km (of which 1km was following wrong paths) with almost 1000m of elevation and a highest point today at 850m. It had rained all night, and rained, albeit lightly, for a couple of hours after leaving the B&B. As La-Barthe-du-Neste isn’t on the official route, I…
Day 6: Saint-Bertrand-de-Comminges to La-Barthe-de-Neste Van Morison sang “There will be days like this” and Paul Simon “Slip sliding away”. They pretty much sum up my day. Although a short day, 24km with 650m elevation, it was a day of challenges. It rained through the night with lightening every 5-10 seconds. Even the French had never seen anything quite like…
Day 5: Saint-Gaudens to Saint-Bertrand-de-Comminges I am my own worst enemy. I was supposed to walk 22km, but ended up doing almost 30km, as I chose a different route that added 5km, and then walked a 3km diversion for lunch (which is the positive way of saying that I missed a turn and didn’t realise before I was close to…
Day 4: Boussens to Saint-Gaudens A longer walk than expected after I made a rookie error, but otherwise a pleasant day walking mostly along paths; 29km and 730m elevation. As I was staying on Boussens, I’m not on the official path that goes north of the town. Instead of tracking back to the path I took the main road out…
Day 3: Carbonne to Boussens A (very) long and (very) tiring day in the sun, with a lot of it walking on hard surfaces, at times on roads with some, but not heavy, traffic. A total of 35km and only 500m in elevation. So at least it was flat. Todays destination was 66m above the start. Temperatures hit 33C from…
Day 2: Muret to Carbonne Today it was hot. 11C when I left at 8.00, 33C when I arrived at the hotel at 16.30 after 34km and over 1.000m elevation – before even reaching the Pyrenees. I left Muret without seeing a statue for Clement Ader, despite seeing several other statues of (very) historic people (men). Walking back towards the…
Day 1: Toulouse Airport to Muret A long first day, with a 7am flight from Copenhagen, leaving Toulouse airport by 10.30. The first five days follow the Garonne river from Toulouse towards its source in the Spanish Pyrenees. In total the river runs 529km with its mouth at the Gironde estuary, north of Bordeaux, I will be walking ca. 150km along…
Ribadeo to A Coruna – Conclusion/Hotel list My overall conclusion is that this is a fabulous walk. This is the ultimate alternative route on the Camino del Norte, staying on the coast after Ribadeo and joining the Camino Ingles in Ferrol for those wishing to walk to Santiago. The views are spectacular, the signage excellent, at least whilst still on the Ruta…
Day 23: Pontedeume to A Coruna My last day before flying home and the day I missed a turn and walked almost 2 kilometers before realising and having to walk back. Typical on my last day and typical on the hottest day so far. I slept well, and went to one of the four bars in the town square to eat…
Day 22: Valdovino to Pontedeume My legs were tired as I walked to the bar for breakfast, not a great sign with ca. 35km to walk, for the most part along roads passing through Ferrol, before joining the Camino Ingles and meeting other walkers. I left at around 9am, after the customary, coffee, toast and juice breakfast. It was pretty…
Day 21: San Andres de Teixdo to Valdovino For the very last time on this trip, I’m writing this waiting for my clothes to be washed and dried. It’s ca. 6pm, and I haven’t even reached this evenings hotel. Last night at the excellent Casa Rural in San Andres, I slept badly. No idea why, it was an excellent bed and it was…
Day 20: Ortigueira to San Andres de Teixdo Legend has it, that if you don’t visit the church at San Andres de Teixdo whilst alive, you will eventually do so after your death, as a tormented soul or as a reptile or insect. I didn’t want to take any chances so here I am, after passing the highest point of my walk to…
Day 19: O Vicedo to Ortigueira A day of two walking parts. A morning where I covered 20km in some of the most beautiful nature one can find (even more spectacular than the previous days if at all possible) and an afternoon where, after a very heavy lunch, I covered 12km of not so exciting road walking. I have read that…
Day 18: Celeiro to O Vicedo I’m running out of superlatives for this part of my walk along the coastline of the Cantabrian Sea. Anybody walking the Camino del Norte and wishing that they’d seen more of the coastline, should just continue straight on at Ribadeo instead of going inland. Another great day with view after view after view. Todays walk…
Day 17: San Cibrao to Celeiro Although the elements were against it being a great walk, today was fabulous. Today’s challenges started as soon as I was up – no breakfast, no bars along the way until 2km before my destination, 28km, 1.000m in ascent – it was constantly up and down – and finally at least 30 rain showers, non…
Day 16: Foz to San Cibrao Back at the laundry to wash my walking clothes. If you’ve read more than a couple of my posts, you know that it isn’t something I love doing, but it needs to be done. It helps that it is pouring down outside, so there would be little else to do anyway. I slept well, apart…
Day 15: Rinlo to Foz A song from my youth, “So Close Yet So Far Away” by the Strawbs came to mind today. I was less than 200m from today’s destination, Foz, but still had to walk 12kms to get there. After a very nice breakfast, served with a stunning 270 degree view of the coast and surrounding countryside, I…
