Camino

[E. O. Pederson]

Two years ago, I left St. Jean on September 20 and had decent weather much
of the way, arriving in Santiago 30 days later. Many days were cloudy,
actually a blessing because one can get rather hot and sweaty on a bright
sunny day, and I took a polartec pullover which was necessary almost every
morning.  Had spectacularly good weather for crossing most of the mountain
ranges, then a beautiful day for the climb to Cebreiro only to have near
freezing rain on the way down. Across Galicia, green Spain, it was beautiful
almost exactly half the time and rainy the other half.

The advantages of September were reasonable temps. everywhere, but do take a
poncho, a pullover, and a warm sleeping bag as it can be very chilly at
night.  There was no extreme heat, possible through early September (though
a French couple said it had been very hot in October 1997) and no extreme
cold, and only a few rainy days and only one day when it rained the entire
day.  Another great advantage was a lesser degree of crowding with refugio
space available on all but one night (a busload of Spanish tourists from
Burgos led by their parish priest and the Galician Minister of Tourism
claimed all the beds in a refugio!  Fortunately a nice and inexpensive hotel
was nearby). And the vineyards were ready for harvest, a chance for a
handful of grapes now and then!  I am looking forward to walking the camino
again in the next few years, and I plan to do it in autumn.
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