Canfranc to Jaca

Day 1 Sun 23 Mar
As El Camello (The Camel Train) climbed to Canfranc Station at 1100 meters n the Pyrenees, snow started falling. The forecast was for 15 cms of snow and winds to 80 kph. No walking for us today so we took a taxi 10 klms down to Villanua to start our Camino from there.

Snow started as El Camello climbed to Canfranc

Canfranc Station, the largest in Europe in 1928, now abandoned

Day 2 Mon 24 Mar
Next morning we set out from Villanua with the frozen ground crunching beneath our feet on a cold sunny day, making it the 15 klms to Jaca before the rain started. Jaca is a very clean town with a pedestrianized old section; would have enjoyed it a lot more in the summer.

A journey begins ...

Walking along a frozen path

Church at Castillo de Jaca

Fort at Jaca

Jaca street

Jaca Cathedral, oldest Romanesque building in Spain

Jaca to Arrés

Day 3 Tue 25 Mar
We didn’t enjoy the 16 k walk from Jaca to Santa Cruz de la Serós – it was cold wet and the muddy path made for slow going. Yet, Santa Cruz is the most beautiful stone mountain village, the best preserved in Spain, and we stayed 2 nights.

The old convent of Santa Cruz de la Serós (from our room)

Old & new - witch scaring chimney (only in Aragon) & TV antenna

Day 4 Wed 26 Mar
The old monastery of San Juan de la Peña is a 8 k walk up hill so we set off early with some misgivings as it had snowed overnight and about 10 cms remaimed on the road. The day cleared with sun and blue sky for the first time. The new monastery (1675) was restored in 2007; the old monastery (920) built into the cliffs below is definitely worth a journey.

The old (925) San Juan de la Peña monastery built into a cliff

The new (1675) monastery of San Juan de la Peña

Day 5 Thu 27 Mar
From Santa Cruz to Arrés, via Santa Cilia, was a pleasant 19 klm walk, except for the mud in places which made for heavy going. The hospitalero, Rafael, met us the edge of the village, and with great enthusiasm, led us to the Albergue. He insisted on washing and scrubbing our shoes absolutely clean before buying us a beer. Another pilgrim arrived by bike – we were the first pilgrims for 4 days so a couple of bottles of wine somehow disappeared. Arrés is a pretty hilltop village with a weekend population of 36 and a weekday population of 4.

Downhill to Santa Cilia

At Santa Cilia ...

... delicious wood-fired bread

Climbing to Arrés

Hundreds of cairns - for what reason?

Arrés

The Albergue in Arrés

Arres to Sangüesa

Day 6 Fri 28 Mar
Arrés to Artieda – 18 klms – very dreary, wondering why we are here. Walking mostly on boring secondary roads, we saw 1 pilgrim on a bike, 2 farmers, 2 cars & 4 dogs in 5 hours! Artieda is another small (pop 120) hilltop village, cold and windy today.

Artieda, cold and windy

Artieda Romanesque Church

Day 7 Sat 29 Mar
This morning all was well in the world and at 22 klms our longest day so far. We walked along a delicious centuries old footpath until Ruesta suddenly appeared. It is a crumbling abandoned village, once a medieval fort, now has a bar and an Albergue amongst the ruins. From there on mostly up hill until we descended an old Roman road to arrive at the village of Undués de Lerda with its brand new centrally heated Albergue, luxury!

Along a delicious path to ...

... crumbling Ruesta, abandoned in 1959

Descending a Roman road to Undués

Undués de Lerda

Day 8 Sun 30 Mar
On to Sangüesa, a town of 5,000 and now in Basque Navarre, only 10 klms. It was Sunday so the bars had tables out in the street – looks like a tapas crawl tonight. Sunday morning is churros day too, we cannot resist.

Sangüesa

Sunday morning = Chocolate con churros

Door of the Sangüesa Cathedral

Now in Navarra, Basque tapas and wine, a must!

Sangüesa to Puente la Reina

Day 9 Mon 31 Mar
For the first time we left without wearing our GoreTex. The sun was out and soon we were warm enough to be out of our pullovers too. The 18 kilometers to Izco pleasant walking, although two long hills and some muddy patches slowed us down. There is no restaurant in Izco, but a small store in the Albergue had enough for us to cook our own. Just as we thought we had the place to ourselves, in came a Polish man who was walking the Way backwards to France. We shared our meal and he bought the wine, nice.

Crosses mark boundaries

All that remains of a medieval fort near Izco

Day 10 Tue 01 Apr
Izco to Tiebas, 22 kilometers, passing thru Monreal. The day started out fine – the wildflowers, bright blue and yellow just starting to bloom. Then the rollercoaster on a rough track wore us out. We arrived in Tiebas exhausted, but got a room in a lovely Albergue with a view of Pamplona and had the best meal, typical Basque country style, in the bar across the road.

Crossing the medieval bridge into Monreal

Monreal

Day 11Wed 02 Apr
From Tiebas, an easy 17 kilometers to Puente la Reina, easy because there were small villages every 30 minutes or so – time seems to go quicker. Stopping in a bar for a coffee, we saw the locals eating fried eggs and ham (with wine) so we had that too (without wine). We walked on, passing the mysterious Temple of Eunate, origin unknown, to arrive at Puente la Reina and after walking about 180 kilometers, the end of the Camino Aragonés.

Here we caught a bus to Pamplona and a taxi to Roncesvalles to start again on the Camino Francés.

Lovely spring day walking to Puente la Reina

Mysterious temple at Eunate, origins unkown

Óbanas, only 3 kilometers to go

Arriving at Puente la Reina

Roncesvalles to Pamplona

Day 12 Thu 03 Apr
The old (1753) Roncesvalles monastery has now been partly converted to a luxury hotel and we spent the night there – in stark contrast to 2001 when we slept in a cold dark dorm in the same place. We set out on a cold wet morning with a dozen or so other pilgrims. Today’s path, mostly along good forest paths, was such a delight that we imagined we could walk forever, well at least the 22 kilometers to Zubiri!

Roncesvalles Monastery has seen some changes since 1753

Leaving Roncesvalles in the cold wet morning

Path from Roncesvalles to Zubiri

Typical Pyrenees house

Day 13 Fri 04 Apr
Another nice day’s walking – although it rained for most of the morning. It’s 21 kilometers to Pamplona and Pam’s blisters are giving her problems. Today is PUENTE (Bridge) DAY as we cross half a dozen beautiful medieval bridges, resting at each.

Pamplona is having it’s annual Pintxo (Basque tapas) festival and every bar is trying out do the others – we tasted 10 different tapas, with mature local red wines. Tapas have come a long way since they were just slices of bread put on top of the wine glasses in order to keep the flies out!

Puente 1

Puente 2

Puente 3

Puente 4

Puente into Pamplona

Want to study agriculture? This is the school

Path into Pamplona

Day 14 Sat 05 Apr
A day off walking, but not eating, in Pamplona. A bit of sightseeing, following the path of the running of the bulls (bulls day off) until we chanced upon churros (fried sweet dough) and chocolate. Then it was time to increase stomach capacity with a fine Basque lunch – our best meal yet.