Bilbao To Santander- Tips And Advice!

Hi all!

Very excited to be heading out on my first Camino trek! A friend and I are going to be starting in Bilbao on the 6th October, however our time is limited to a week. We're aiming to get to Santander, but will see how we go once we're on route!
Any tips and advice anyone can offer would be much appreciated, my friend has walked a Camino before (I forget which) but I have not.

Cheers
Samii

 

Have a great walk!

 

Hi Sammi and welcome to the forum

What you are proposing is achievable and only a little faster than my own schedule when I trekked this route – If you want to read some details as well as a few photos then these can be seen at http://members.virtualtourist.com/m/50192/42d90/ with some further notes and photos on what to expect each day in the sports and outdoor tips at the bottom of the page.

Since I walked this “Way” Forum member and regular poster Magwood has also trekked the route and may well post with some more up to date info, especially on accommodation.

The only other “Tips” that I have is that it is worthwhile buying the little guidebook from The Confraternity of Saint James - http://www.csj.org.uk/product/los-caminos-del-norte-a-ruta-de-la-costa-1irun-villaviciosa/ - It’s worth its weight in gold
And to travel as light as possible as the more you carry, the more weight is transmitted to your feet and this all increases the chances of foot problems and Unhappy Feet always means an Unhappy Pilgrim

Good Luck and Buen Camino

Rob

 

Hi Samii, welcome to the forum!

We walked the northern route last year- it was wonderful. We walked from Bilbao to Santander in 5 days, two of them quite short days, so it is very do-able in one week. Our blog about the adventures is at https://carlosandmick.wordpress.com/ days 6-10. Enjoy and do not be shy about asking questions here!

 

Thanks all!

We've actually met up today and completely changed our mind. Makes more sense to start at the beginning! Now walking Irun to Bilbao!

 

Hi Samii

Totally agree with you – In fact I split my own Camino Norte into two sections and walked as far as Santander on the first one, then when I did my Big Camino from my home in Cumbria, I caught the ferry to Santander and walked the rest of the route then – And it worked out Perfect for me

Also we walked into Bilbao on our 7th day – So it will fit your timescale very well.

Good Luck and Buen Camino

Rob

PS – Please pop up a post or two and let us all know how you are getting on

 

I Live in Noja, near Santander and work in Bilbao. It takes 1h by car, 1,5hours from Santander. You can walk it from two to four days, the same applies from San Sebastian to Bilbao. Hace a nice camino, caminante.