Starting the Camino del Norte

The Camino del Norte is one of the oldest pilgrim routes to Santiago del Compostela. During the Middle Ages the French Way became progressively more dangerous as the Moorish influence increased. The Northern Way offered a safer route through the Christian Kingdoms. King Alfonso assisted with establishing this route and Oviedo became the capital of his kingdom.

This Route is also known as the Coastal Route and is a more beautiful and less traveled Camino to Santiago.

In 2025 Chris and I have enough "visa time" to begin the Northern Way. We will start by flying from Andorra to the UK for long enough to do some laundry. Then we board another flight. to Barcelona and switch to a train across Spain (from South to North) to San Sebastian.

 During our 22 days we will walk from San Sebastian to Santander.

I fell in love with San Sebastian. It is a less glitzy version of Nice. We were lucky enough to have three days to rest and sightsee. Here is a video of the highlights.

Best new food finds: gilda and cider. Gilda = a famous Basque pintxo from San Sebastián, consisting of an olive, a salted anchovy, and a pickled Ibarra chili pepper skewered on a cocktail stick. It is the perfect bite. We also were introduced to local apple cider - 6% alcohol content and many places made their own.

Weather was good, although warm after Andorra. Andorra was down in the 60s and San Sebastian in the high 80s.