Roncesvalles to Irun

john sommo · Dec 17, 2022

Has anybody walked from Roncesvalles to Irun? I would like to start my Camino in St. Jean and walk over the Pyrenees and then join up with the Camino Norte. Some of the links I have found seem to be several years old. I'm an older hiker but in good shape!

JabbaPapa · Dec 17, 2022

The only reasonable route anything like that would be start in Roncesvalles, walk over to SJPP, then walk to Hendaye from there.

The Roncesvalles to SJPP walk is beautiful and a lot easier than in the other direction.

mspath · Dec 17, 2022

Check this this earlier thread re St Jean to Irun.

Antonius Vaessen · Dec 17, 2022

mspath said:
Check this this earlier thread re St Jean to Irun.

I walked from SjpP to Irun last year. In the pilgrim office they gave me a route description which was rather unclear, one massive piece of text without much structure. I had another description found on Route You. The two descriptions contradicted eachother sometimes. Things were more more complicated because of the many different markings. In the end it was doable but it demanded more alertness and navigation than on a regular Camino.
I stayed in Bidarraj ( albergue), in Espelette (hostel managed by a painter Andy Bleu) and Urunje (air b&b)

HansuutTwente · Dec 17, 2022

Try the GR 11 trail

Rick of Rick and Peg · Dec 17, 2022

You could walk the GR11 trail from Burgette to Irun. The Cicerone guide Through the Spanish Pyrenees: GR11 has it as four days but the guide has you walking from Irun to Burgette. There is a note saying that navigation in the Basque region is complicated due to the abundance of trails.

You may want to stop on the GR11 when you reach Elizondo as it is on the Camino Baztan (there is an albergue there). From there you can walk it a half stage to Berroeta (with another albergue). From there you go off camino following the highway N-121a north for about 7 kilometers to Oiregi where the Via Verde del Bidasoa starts on its 44 km way to Irun, about a marathon distance away.

Via Verdes are old railways converted to walking and cycling routes, what we in the US call rail trails. So it should be easy walking. And it is downhill to Irun. Also, if you use Google Maps to plot a walk from Berroeta to Oiregi you see it plots a way following the highway but not on it. It uses smaller parallel roads.

Note: I haven't walked any of this trail or the GR11.