March 20, 2012 Weather?

[SallyR]

Starting at St. Jean. What is the usual weather during this time of year for that first two days, up the mountain? Thanks.

[corrigan]

Hang on i'll just go and have a look in my Crystal Ball.

[invincible]

Hi Sally; have a look at this link

It shows the weather averages for St Jean throughout the year.

regards, Ian

[SallyR]

Thanks Ian. This is definitely more helpful than the crystal ball. Just don't want to found frozen to death on that first or second day...

[Covey]

If you are starting from St Jean, most Pilgrims go to the Pilgrim Office at the top of the main street to get their Pilgrim Passport AND a weather brief for the next day.

If there is any risk of snow etc on the "over the top route" then the Office will tell you to take the lower "Winter Route" which follows the old road winding through the valleys. Do not contemplate ignoring the advice from the Pilgrim Office about which route to take!! A few years ago a couple of Brits ignored the advice and froze to death on the top route when they got caught in a blizzard.

The weather in any hilly or mountainous area can change very rapidly and it can go from clear skies and sunny to below freezing and snow inside an hour.

[SallyR]

Thanks Covey, I will not ignore what the locals tell me on any point of the Camino. We are 56 and not real interested in freezing to death in some freak storm. I am now convinced to carry an extra 4oz of "emergency warmth blanket for 2". Is there a way for one to make reservations on a day to day basis, so someone would know if we were missing, during unstable weather periods?

[JPCamino]

very true. We ( a young couple in our early 50s) have just walked 350 km into Santiago, commencing in St Jean and training some way across central Spain, then restarting our walk in Astorga fo rth efinal 250km or so. We were correctly advised (as we had planned anyway) to avoid the Napolean route from St Jean, and followed the valley route safely via Valcarlos. We had some snow as we "summited" at Roncevalles, Foncebadon and again at OCebreiro, but none of it life threatening or dangerous. All good fun! Wear your thermals. in our experience we were not able to really report our progress ( or lack of) to anybody - we were luicky to walk with a local Spaniard for a fe days who was more helpful than any hostel operator. You will be fine. Just do it!

[SallyR]

Thanks for the information. Did you guys just do this in the last couple of weeks?