They say all paths lead to Santiago de Compostela, one of the five holy cities of the Catholic faith. You can choose the popular Camino Francés or the lesser known Camino Inglés. You can walk through Portugal or even France. I chose the Camino del Norte, which begins around the border of France and Spain, and goes through the Basque Country, Cantabria and Asturias, winding its way to Galicia. Instead of following the Camino de la Costa, I want to join up with the Camino Primitivo, one of the oldest paths of the Camino that goes through my city of Oviedo.
I didn’t have time or resources to do the entire 33-34 days in one go, so I’ve been walking different etapas or sections of the path when I have a few days off. I started in Santander, the capital of the neighboring region of Cantabria, and walked to the medieval city of Santillana del Mar. This route took two days, and I was able to meet and stay with three beautiful and diverse families through the Couchsurfing network.
Another weekend, two friends and I backtracked from Oviedo to Villaviciosa, and we spent the night in the village of Pola de Siero in an albergue, a sort of religious hostel for pilgrims. I do not recommend doing the Camino backwards, as we got lost multiple times, but it was still really fun and nice to hike with other people.
Over Christmas, I completed six days from Irun to Bilbao which I’ll highlight in another post. This is one of the more mountainous legs of the Camino del Norte, and one day was completely in the mountains with few villages in between. Although it is not recommended to hike alone through some of these legs in the winter, I had no problems. However, I would check the weather before heading out. I was lucky enough to have sunny skies, but some of the steeper parts of the route will be harder to traverse in the rain.
Once I’ve walked all the sections from Irun to Oviedo, I will be able to focus on the Camino Primitivo, which lasts about two weeks and will take me to Santiago de Compostela. The entire route will be around 865 km or some 537 miles.
I know I’m taking a weird route, but I’ve been enjoying the process. I walk when I want and let the magic of the Camino happen naturally.
