The Camino Norte

The Northern Way (or Camino del Norte) follows the northern coastline of Spain starting either in the Basque city of San Sebastian (Donosti in Basque) or in from the French border at Irun hugging the Bay of Biscay passing through Guernica, Bilbao, Santander, Llanes before going under the Picos de Europa and then heading along the coast into Galicia and Santiago.

Image taken from http://www.theroadtosantiago.com/camino-del-norte-map--additional-information.html

This Way is described as being very hilly and somewhat mountainous and thus is considered harder than the Frances. Add to this the sometimes sparse Pilgrim accommodation (which is sometimes more than 30km apart) and the walk can become strenuous particuarly as it is not as well signposted as the Frances (although the signage in Galicia is said to be excellent). The vistas though are impressive and there are many small beaches that are passed where you will be the only visitor and reports say that even in summer there are only 30 or so people a day who start walking this route (compared to 200 or more on the Frances according to http://www.caminosantiagodecompostela.com/camino-de-santiago-del-norte/), in 2014 172, 206 Pilgrims travelled on the Camino Frances (65.61% of the total) compared to 15, 826 on the Norte (6,03%) (taken from http://peregrinossantiago.es/eng/pilgrims-office/statistics/?anio=2015&mes=).

The weather is changeable and wet due to the Way’s proximity to the coast and the best time to walk is July and August when the days are warm and the nights cool. The rest of the year this route is wet and cool.

 

Pilgrims on the Camino Norte (taken from https://cbabcock.wordpress.com/2010/10/28/el-camino-del-norte-de-santiago/ which is a blog post written about the Camino Norte from 2010)

Guidebooks:

Cicerone publishes ‘The Northern Caminos’ which covers the Camino Norte and which costs £16.95 (or you can just download the part of the book on the Norte for £14.69) – available from http://www.cicerone.co.uk/9781852847944.cfm#.Vrr_w2fcuM8

Free downloadable guides in English [which I have placed on my kindle, some of these come out quite small (the map looks quite good but is indeciphable!) but they could easily be printed out] are available on http://tourism.euskadi.eus/downloads/tourist-leaflets/ - note that the ‘Guide to the Northern Way of Saint James’ has a drop down menu under ‘download pdf’ with ‘The Northern Ways to Santiago’ which has some background information and daily sections with maps, distances (including profile maps), photographs  and information on the day's walk but nothing on accomodation so ensure you also download the ‘accomodation’ part as well (which is from 2012-13) which lists not just albergues, hotels (listed within 2km of the Camino) etc. but also facilities available (bars, shops, medical attention etc.)

The Confraternity of Saint produces a guidebook for £4 (plus postage) from http://www.csj.org.uk/product/los-caminos-del-norte/