September 15, 2022

• Train Route: Amsterdam, Netherlands to St. Jean-de-Luz, France
• Distance: 1,294 kilometers (802 miles)

---

I woke up this morning in the Amsterdam – the land of tulips, canals, and Edam cheese. My mother and I just finished a 10-day trip in Europe was time to part ways. She was returning to the US, while I continuing on to Spain to walk the Camino del Norte, one of Spain’s long-distance pilgrimage routes to Santiago de Compestela.

Several routes across Spain and Europe call themselves the Camino de Santiago (or Way of St. James). There isn’t just one route. Medieval pilgrims often started in whichever town they lived in and began walking toward Santiago de Compestela. Back then, any route that a pilgrim used to get to Santiago de Compestela was technically a “camino.”

Over time though, these pilgrim routes merged into several common paths. Pilgrim would funnel through certain geographic choke points (e.g., a safe pass through the mountains or through a particular city) and then they would begin walking together toward their destination. Thus, new names were needed to describe which major camino route a pilgrim traveled on.

The eight most common routes that pilgrims walk today include: the Camino Francés (French Way), the Camino Primativo (the Original Way), the Camino Portugués (Portuguese Way), the Camino del Norte (the Northern Way), the Camino Inglés (English Way), Via de la Plata (Silver Way), Camino Finisterre (Way to the End of the World), Le Chemin du Puy (Path from Le-Puy, France).

In 2018, I walked the most popular route – the Camino Francés – from the town of St. Jean Pied-de-Port, France to Santiago de Compestela, Spain. And then I continued on the Camino Finisterre all the way to the coastal town of Fisterra. In essence, I walked the entire width of Spain from its eastern border in the Pyranees to its western border at the Atlantic Ocean, which was roughly 889 kilometers (or 550 miles).

At the time, the Camino was my longest continuous trek ever, and it kicked of a whirlwind of long distance hikes – including a thru-hike of the 2,200-mile Appalachian Trail beginning just seven months later, the 400-mile Oregon Coast Trail in 2021, and the 800-mile Arizona Trail earlier this Spring.

Now that international travel had (mostly) returned to normal for the first time in two years, I was itching to return to Spain for another Camino. But I was going to take a different route. This time around, I would hike the 840-kilometer Camino del Norte.

Why the Camino del Norte?

Picking this northern Camino route wasn’t by happenstance. I loved the epic scenery on my thru-hike on the Oregon Coast Trail last summer, and I hoped the Camino de Norte would provide something similarly stunning for my eyes to feast upon.

This particular route runs across the northern coast of Spain from the coastal town of Hendaye, France to Ribedeo, Spain, for nearly 650 kilometers before angling inland toward Santiago de Compestela. Overall, it’s similar in distance to the Camino Francés, but this route hugs Spain’s northern coastline on the Bay of Biscay rather than traveling across the interior of the country.

Getting to Spain

But to begin this Camino, first I’d need to get myself from Amsterdam down to the border between France and Spain. 

I’d toyed with flying there, but I’m the end, the train just seemed simpler. Train travel meant no need to check my backpack as luggage (because trekking poles usually can’t fly in a carry-on) or deal with the insane lines at the airports. Plus, the cost to fly or ride was nearly identical.

The only real downside to taking the train was how long it would take me to get there. I’d need to travel through three countries – Holland, Belgium, and France. This was a 1,300 kilometer journey without any directly routes to get me from Amsterdam to the Spanish border.

And so, I boarded the Thalys high-speed train at Amsterdam Centraal station at 11 am this morning and set off on the 3.5-hour journey to Paris.

Once I got to Paris, I had a few minor hurdles to jump over. My train from Amsterdam arrived at Gare du Nord )just north of the city’s center) while my train down to Spain would depart from Gare Montpanasse (a station several kilometers south of Seine).

The distance between the two train stations was just 5.5 kilometers, and I would have loved to have stretched my legs and walked through the city. Unfortunately, I only had a mere 70 minutes to get between them.

Lucky for me, Paris has an efficient and easy-to-navigate metro system that would get me from one one station to the other in about 25 minutes — and for just €1.90. I’d have to wait to enjoy walking until I started the Camino tomorrow.

I arrived at to my second train station with plenty of time to grab lunch before boarding the TGV InOui – the fastest double-decker train in Europe. And soon, I was traveling toward southwestern France at 320 kilometers/hour.

The other logistical challenge at my feet was finding inexpensive lodging for the evening. I didn’t have my Camino pilgrim credential yet, which is what would allow me to stay in an albergue (pilgrim hostel) at a nominal price. I still needed to pick that up from the cathedral in Irun, Spain, which wasn’t going to happen until tomorrow, at the earliest. Thus, I was stuck making a hotel reservation.

I scoured the various booking sites for a reasonably priced room near the train station in Hendaye, but there didn’t seem to be anything for less than €160 available tonight! I was just too close to the ritzy part of the coast. And other people were willing to pay a lot of money for a mediocre room with an ocean view.

So, I widened my hotel search to include Hendaye, France, and Irun, Spain. Still nothing within reason. I widened it further still before deciding I’d just need get off the train 20 minutes early in the small French towns of St. Jean-de-Luz if I wanted to find a more modest price for a room.

So that’s where I found myself as the sun was starting to disappear. I was in St. Jean-de-Luz, France, toting my duffel bag filled with all my hiking gear to a tiny hotel across from a train station.

Tomorrow I would start my Camino.