how far is Somport from Jaca?

[emv0816]

I am considering hiking the Camino Aragones and hooking into the Frances starting April 30. I'd like to start in Somport but I can't find Somport on a Google map. I read that someone took a local bus from Jaca so I assume it's not far from Jaca. Is Somport north of Jaca? if so how far?

 

[Deleted member 3000]

Look for Candanchu instead in the Somport pass.

 

[emv0816]

Merci, Falcon. Candanchu Sure looks pretty with all that snow. have you heard anything about the snow situation @ Col de Lepoeder? I will be either at Candanchu or St Jean Pied de Port on April 30/May 1. The Aragones sure looks more interesting. If you could only do one of the 2 routes which would it be?

 

[Deleted member 3000]

Aragones.

 

[emv0816]

Falcon, did you start the Aragones in Somport? if so, when? what month/day? just trying to get an 'idea' what the weather (snow? rain? temps?) will be like. bear in mind please that I will be there on April 30/May1

 

[Anniesantiago]

I walked from Lourdes last year beginning in May. By May 20 I was at Canfranc and it was icy cold and blowing snow and sleet. The ground was clear but the wind was freezing. I was afraid of getting sick, so I took the 9:37 train to Jaca for 2,55 euro. My walking partner walked. He said the walk was cold, but pretty.

I guess my point is, you can always take the train if the weather is too bad to walk.
Once I was in Jaca, I was a happy girl. I had stayed at the pilgrim albergue before, having walked the Aragones more than once (it's my favorite!) but his time, the lady at the TI led us to Casa Mamre
on Billado & Arco streets near the Cathedral Plaza. We slept in the dorms at 14 euros each including breakfast. It was a wonderful place!

Here is a link to my blog if you'd like to see photos of the place:
http://caminosantiago2.blogspot.com/2012/05/to-jaca-we-go.html

The priest told of a bus that went round trip to San Juan de Pena Monastery.
A few years earlier, I had attempted to take the trail up there and eventually turned back because I ran out of daylight and energy. That trail is nearly impassable and I do not suggest you try it. Instead, take the bus up there, enjoy your visit, and then either bring the bus BACK to Jaca and start walking next day. Or alternatively, you can do what we did, and you can walk down to Sta. Celia from the Monastery.

If the weather is good, the trail down is rough, but not too bad. If the weather is bad, you can always simply walk the road down. There is not much traffic and the views are spectacular in the spring!

I love the Aragones route and will probably walk it again and again. I've done it in the spring and in the fall, and the spring is my favorite time, despite the snow on the peak.

Buen Camino!

 

[emv0816]

Thanks so much Annie. So, probably not a pleasant stroll down from the Somport Pass in early May. I'll plan on going to Jaca on May1 and get the latest there. if it's too 'unpleasant' due to weather to start up top, I'll just start the Aragones from Jaca.

 

[Deleted member 3000]

I walked through the Somport Pass having started in Toulouse. Down from Estacion Canfranc toward Jaca the weather was very cold, wet. and windy. A policeman stopped his car, took our picture, and drove away to show his friends the kind of fool that was out in that weather...

 

[emv0816]

falcon>>> what month/day was that? I bet the cops get a real charge out of the crazy perregrinos!

 

[Deleted member 3000]

It was in late October, and some nights were getting cold.

 

[Deleted member 3000]

My email that day:

At Estacion Canfranc, we wandered around the old station, once the largest in Europe, which has fallen into disrepair. The main part is surround by scaffolding now, with extensive repairs being made. There is one track that still hosts two trains a day into Spain. We walked around several of the old station platforms, and inside some abandoned and vandalized rail passengers cars, now home to cats.

When the Office de Tourismo opened at 1000 (scheduled opening -- 0930), we received information that only two places of accommodation were open, and one was full. We went to the other, but it was locked tight, so we ate a tortilla patata, drank a cafe con leche, and decided to walk on to the only open hotel in Villanua, that would close at 1430 to reopen at 1900. It was 1145, so we put it into afterburner, and headed down the road.

We covered a French two hour and thirty minute walk in one hour and forty-five minutes! The thirty knot tailwind helped. It was six degrees Centigrade in Estacion Canfranc (Canfranc Estacioin in Spanish), and was snowing in Somport we discovered later. As the weather system passed by, the temperature dropped and the wind pickup speed. When we would hit narrow places in the valley down the Rio Aragon, the wind would accelerate. We were being buffeted around by the gusts, but kept moving. It took a wide stance (no reference to Senator Larry Craig) to keep from being blown into the lane of traffic. Traffic was sparse because the roads were closed in Somport, and only tunnel traffic was being permitted up the valley roads, so we did not feel particularly unsafe.

We arrived in Villanua to a roadblock by the Spanish police armed with the latest in fully automatic weapons. They smiled and let us through. Earlier an official car stopped going the other way, the uniformed person inside got out, smiled at us, pulled out a camera, and took our pictures. Two crazy pilgrims in full rain gear fighting the wind and rain down the valley! I am glad we could make his day enjoyable.

After wandering the new part of Villanua, we asked at a gas station for the hotel, and were told to go back past the police barricade to the old part of town. We did, found the hotel locked tight at 1345, and cursed the midday closing systems of both Spain and France. We then telephoned and reached a recording, started walking around the block, and found the door next to the hotel unlocked, and it opened into the hotel staircase and eventually the bar for which the door was locked. We checked in, showered, napped, and headed down for a very tasty 2000 hour dinner.

 

[camino07]

My friend and I will be a few days behind you Emv. We plan to reach Somport on Sat 4th May in time to walk back to Canfranc Estacion and stay the night there,perhaps at Pepito Grillo. Will then walk down to Jaca on the 5th. That is the plan anyway...
I love reading the positive comments on the Aragones and can't wait to get going! Hope the weather is kind to us all.
Heather