Olvidado Mountain Pilgrimage in Spain

I am planning on hiking both the Olvidado (530 km) route and the Inverno (260 km) route to Santiago Compostela for a total of 790 km. I might start in San Sebastian rather than Bilbao. This will add distance to the 790 km.

I plan to meet my wife and her friends in Villafranca at the end of the Olvidado trip, and we all hike the Inverno or the Frances to Santiago together.

The date for my pilgrimage is flexible but want it to be in April or May. Yet, let me know what works for you. If you are interested in other hikes, let me know, and I’ll consider another long route e.g. La Plata. I want a route that requires that I speak Spanish all along the way.

Important. I want to hike with someone who speaks the Spanish language and is willing to help me with my Spanish during the pilgrimage. If you want to practice your English, I will gladly help you. I am an advanced beginner in Spanish. I have studied Spanish for one semester at the local university in Sacramento, I am taking an online Spanish language class, and I will be traveling to Mexico later this year for a six week Spanish intensive course.

I am 71 years old and married. I have a daughter and three grandkids.

For serious hikers, I am only moderately well fit. For my age, I am quite above average fit. I will be able to hike the Olvidado.

As for hiking stress, I prefer hiking less than an average of 24 km per day, and given that the Olvidado is in the mountains, I think that an average of 18 km per day might be preferable. I have not yet studied the hiking stages for the hike, so I might be overly optimistic. We might have to hike more than 18 km per day on average.

I want the hike to be enjoyable and not so physically stressful we can’t enjoy.

If you are interested, let’s see if this works for us.

Goal: Enjoy the camino, the scenery, the beauty, the quiet time, and also, I want to have time to get to know you well and to practice and learn Spanish.