CLICK HERE for road logs and more photos from the hike
Venga
French Hendaye, just across the water from its neighbor, Spanish Hondarribia
How could you not fall in love with a landscape that looks like this?
Pasajes Lighthouse
Much of the Camino del Norte walks along roads, but the bits that don't are stunning.
Orchards line much of the rural paths
There is no shortage of beautiful beaches along the northern route
Bilbao is easily one of my favorite cities
One of many hidden coves along the Way
Approaching Laredo
The northern coast is beloved — and flocked to — by vanliving surfers from all over
Fields of cows are a common sight along the walk
Getting lost isn't so bad when the terrain looks like this
Token backpack pic
It's not all sunny coastline
Who needs supplies when you have cafes and bars every few kilometers?
Venturing onto the Camino Primitivo
Sunrise on the Hospitales Route, one of the oldest stretches of the Camino
Dusk in Lugo
Santiago de Compostela
The cathedral by night
On the way to Finisterre
The fork in the road. Finisterre to the left, Muxía to the right
Dusk in Muxía
Walled paddocks outside Muxía
The World's End
Caminos del Norte / Primitivo
15 Sept 2021 — 27 Oct 2021
My second Camino, seven years after my first, was a very different endeavor. This time I traveled the northern route along the coast, and switched to the “Primitive” route — the original path taken by the very first pilgrims — halfway through.
The hike turned out to not at all be the remote, wild trek that photos had promised, but it wasn’t without its charms. The Norte and Primitivo routes attract a fraction the traffic as the Camino Frances, and as such it was a more introspective, peaceful hike capped by a majestic couple of days on the O Camiño dos Faros.
Though not at all what I expected, it was a no less unforgettable trip.
