2024 Camino del Norte
After spending 2 days in Santiago, we were ready to continue our way back home via the Camino del Norte. Most info about this camino is saying the same, one of the most beautiful routes but also one of the most difficult.
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From the website of the Flemish Compostela association, we retrieved the bicycle gps track with different options, covering the main track suitable for hikers and MTB bikes and variations more suitable for touring bikes.​​
When downloading routes, please be aware that these routes are always in the direction of Compostela. When doing it like us, going backwards, you will encounter several one-way roads where you need to find an alternative or just like us, be carefull and cycle on the footpath or aside the road.
To get an idea of average distances per day, we checked websites of organised tours and found some suggestions.
These organisations always look at availability of hotels and elevation levels so this would be a good start.
The difficulty of the route is mainly the challenging terrain when taking the MTB track and the numerous ascents and descents along the rugged northern coast of Spain.
Our route was 833 km with a total elevation gain of about 14.500 meters, which is really still very much OK.
Launch video on DILISTUFF YouTube channel
Santiago de Compostela
Early in the morning, we first cycled to the Praza do Obradoiro, the square which is the end point for all Pilgrims on the Camino.
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As we are now doing the Camino del Norte in reverse, it seems obvious that this is our start point.
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There are not a lot of people yet. Too early for the leisure tourists still having their breakfasts somewhere. Far too early for the pilgrims who are now walking or cycling the very last day of their Camino.
In 2023, there were about 450.000 pilgrims who registered as arriving Pilgrim. According to a survey by the university of Coruña, there are another 200.000 just like us, who do not carry a Credential, a little official booklet in which they collect "Sello". These are stamps from the places where they have passed to prove that they walked or cycled the Camino. To get your "Compostela", you need to have at least 2 stamps for every 100 km.
Santiago to Gijon
This is a totally different experience. While the Camino Portugues is the 2nd most walked Camino with 30% of all Pilgrims, we cycled it in the direction of Santiago. That means that we would pass small groups of hikers a few times during the day depending when and where they started walking. First batch would always be between 8 and 10am, second batch (those who started the day further away) between lunch time and 2pm. The Camino hikers usually start early in the morning so that they arrive at the next albergue early in the afternoon.
Now, cycling against the flow, was a totally different ball game. Between Santiago and Arzua, all Camino's, except for the Portugues, come together on a single track. Everyone greets you with a "Buen Camino", and we respond with "Buen Camino", it really means that we've said this thousands of times on the first day of our Camino Del Norte.
Anyhow, we survived the first day without bumping in to any of the very much excited Pilgrims on their last stretch.
Time for our first ice cream since we left from Lisbon and also time for our first camping.
Camping is nice but it looks like there are not many campsites between Santiago and Gijon. Also the price for a campsite (including electricity for charging our stuff) is between 25 and 30 euro. The cost for a hostel with private bathroom is between 45 and 60 euro.
As soon as we left Arzua behind us, it's just the Camino del Norte we're on and it immediately becomes very quiet. The area is also far less populated and when we see all these houses with closed shutters and a sign "Se Vende", we think of the time years ago that we were looking for a holiday house in the South of Europe. So lucky that we did not find anything to our liking as the soaring temperatures during the summer months would have been too much for us.
Less than 5 % of all pilgrims are walking or cycling the Camino del Norte, on the entire trip of over 800km, we've not seen anyone doing it backwards, like us. As such, we were a rarety and people tend to stop and have a talk with you. We've met people from all over the world and it's amazing from how far they come, Australia, Canada, the US ...
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Every day, Alya from Ukraine gives a sticker to people she's meeitng on the Camino and today it was for us.
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We found a campsite on the Camino which was open as per their website. When we arrived, we only saw workers painting the building and repairing fences. "Camping Cerrado" (closed)
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Plan B : 1km back, we saw 1 big hotel and 1 restaurant with "habitaciones". Cycling back, the hotel was only open for drinks, no rooms.
On the other side of the road, the restaurant opened at 9pm and also no "habitaciones".
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Plan C : Continue to the next village 7 km down the road. At Hostal KM101, they just received a cancellation and we took the last room. Yes, we're already 101 km from Compostela.
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No Plan D "wild camping" needed.
A very characteristic building which you see everywhere in the northwest of the Iberian northwest countryside are Horreos. They are graneries build in wood or stone , raised from the ground by pillars ending in flat staddle stones to keep water and rodents out.
First time we see a water fountain, time to fill up with fresh water.
A new item for our packing list: spare screws for cleats.
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Dirk is cycling with clip-in cycling sandels. Suddenly, he could not release one sandal anymore from the pedal. One of the screws of the cleat was gone.
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​In the next town, Villalba, there's a bicycle shop. No, there used to be a bicycle shop.
Asking for help in an outdoor shop, we are referred to Motos El Turin and yes, Ramon obviously throws nothing away and the right screw was found in 1 minute.​​​
Cooler weather snack:
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Bocadillo con tortilla and
ColaCao, the Spanish hot chocolate.
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Being on the Camino del Norte for 3 days now, we're getting used to making choices between the Hiker/MTB track and the variations for touring bikes. We start recognising on the map where the track goes via gravel roads, forest paths or hiking/MTB paths only.
We're just making sure that we have a nice mix between different types of roads. In the afternoon, we always decide where we will try to stop for the day. Depending the distance still to cover, we decide on a slow or fast road.
Towards the end of day 4, we reach the coast and we're crossing the rio de Ribadeiro from Galicia in to Asturia over a bridge which seems to be made for our Santos bikes.
It's our intention to cycle for another 25 km but suddenly after 3 km, we arrive at an amazing beach, the playa de Penarronda, with on top of the cliff, a hotel/restaurant. We check the price for a room in booking.com, 60 euro for a room with seaview. Well, we will at least have a coffee. When we ask in the hotel for the price of a room, the lady asks us if we are Perigrino .... Yes ..... For Perigrino, it's 45 euro for a night. OK
As we stopped early yesterday, it's now still a little more than 150 km to Gijon. According the Compostela website, the average recommended distance along the coast here is 60 km. We'll see where we end up today. The route never goes far away from the coast and we start going up and down.
Looking for a place to sleep, the best option this evening is a campsite in a small village about 1 km from the Camino. There also seem to be some restaurants close by so it's all perfect. Approaching the campsite, we notice that all restaurants are closed, on top of it, Dirk is having a flat tire about 500 meters before the campsite.
Hooray, hooray, ... the last option for a restaurant, which is on the campsite, is open.
Saved again.
This part of the Camino, you're also seeing a lot of bridges, but you are nearly never using then. By bicycle, you are going down the hill and up the mountain. Good for the physical condition.
Gijon
Asturian cider or "Sidra" is the most popular drink in this region and Gijón hosts the annual Festival de la Sidra Natural.
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Asturian cider is typically dry with a natural unfiltered appearance and is served in the many Sidrerias all over town.
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The traditional pouring method is holding the bottle high above the head and a wide glass below, often splashing some cider in the process. Main purpose is to aerate it and enhance the flavours.
In Gijon, we took our first day of rest since we left Compostela, 350 km ago.
Whenever we stay somewhere for 2 nights, we try to have a studio or small apartment because we (mainly Dirk) than have more space to spread out all our stuff, do some laundry, etc...
Cimavilla is the charming old town of Gijon, with narrow streets and lively squares with many sidrerias.
A little bit further is Santa Catalina Hill with an enormous concrete sculpture, "Elogio del Horizonte".​
Walking further east, you start walking alongside the Playa de San Lorenze towards the mouth of the Rio Piles where you find a little further along the river the Museu Pueblu d'Asturias. Musea in Gijon all have free entrance.
The Museu Pueblu d'Asturias is dedicated to preserving the traditional culture and way of life of the people of Asturias.
There are exhibitions with traditional Asturian architecture, photographs, musical instruments, tools, furniture and clothing over the years.
While you can do certain parts of the museum during a short visit, it's really worthwhile to spend more time. It took us about 3 hours to do the entire walk through.
A good place for coffee, cakes and breakfast : Catlove