Walking the Aragonés Backwards?

[Former member 19626]

I have walked on the Camino Frances from SJPP to SDC twice and I've got this notion to walk from Puente la Reine on the Aragonés and the GR653 backward toward Arles over the Somport Pass. My first step was buy the Miam Miam Dodo guide. My second step is to ask here if the trail and the markings would be easy enough to follow backward. Thanks. I would appreciate some advice....

 

[peregrina2000]

Hi, John,
I just walked the Aragones this summer and thought it was very well marked, though other pilgrims have posted some disagreement with that assessment. We never got lost, never had a doubt about the route. But that's going "forward". I am personally pretty hopeless when it comes to finding my own way, so I would never try this route backwards. Unlike the GRs in France, the Caminos in Spain are only marked in the westerly direction. On a camino like the Frances, walking backward is much less of a problem because you are likely to have people coming towards you who will show you the way. Not on the Aragones, which is sparsely travelled and getting less popular by the minute I hear (down another 20% this year, but that's another story, can't for the life of me understand why).

If I were going to do it, I would definitely take a GPS and then there would be no worries. But you may not like gadgets, so if you are a great map reader, go for it! Buen camino, Laurie

 

[Anniesantiago]

What Laurie said.

 

[Marc S.]

Hello John. I walked the Aragones this spring and found the waymarking to be excellent, quite impossible to loose my way. I did not walk it backwards of course, but somehow I think it should be not too difficult with a proper map. Large parts of the Aragones (though not all of it) run more or less parallel to a road or river which I assume would make it easier to navigate your way. This is especially the case between Col de Somport and Puenta la Reine de la Jaca, and between Sanguesa and Tiebas). Buen Camino (like Laurie - I do not understand why so few walk because it is a beautiful Camino).

 

[Komatic]

Hello John
Walking an unfamiliar Camino backwards can be very frustrating. The arrows only tell you where you have come from. After walking the Salvadore from Leon to Oviedo, I continued north to the coast going backward up the connector between the Norte and the Primitivo. I missed the route several times and more than once had to double back because the next intersection or trail divide had no arrows and then I knew I had missed something. More than once I was approached by locals who told me I was going the wrong way and I had to explain I was on a " camino al reves" or a "camino contrario" Sometimes I would see pilgrims going the other way but on the other side of a main road or other divide and know that once again I was not on the actual Camino. At least I knew I was going in the right general direction. From La Isla, on the coast, I then headed east to Ribadesella. Same problems. Very often there were several choices of paths to take, but only an arrow on the path by which I had arrived. On the other hand, I managed to do it and that gave a certain sense of accomplishment.
Good luck to you if you try it. There is a fun quotient along with the frustration. I still laugh at some of my misadventures.
Ian

 

[KatWanderlust]

John this information may be a bit old now (I walked the Aragones 7 years ago) but I met a few pilgrims walking backwards without too much trouble.

They were following blue arrows with a swirly tail to find their way back along the trail. Once I knew about them I saw a lot more of them, often on the back of a pole etc. where the yellow arrow was on the other side.

I'd say having the guidebook to follow along with these arrows (if still there) should be enough to find your way. The people I met seemed pretty happy and had been going "backwards" since Santiago!

Buen Camino!

 

[fraluchi]

They were following blue arrows with a swirly tail to find their way back along the trail.

Yes, that's true and the markings are consistent. I was told that they lead to the Francigena

 

[amancio]

just back yesterday and tried to pay attention to what the camino might look like in the opposite direction. I actually got lost twice, silly me! it might turn out to be quite frustrating, the choices are not always obvious, you might try to follow written directions and read them in the reverse order perhaps.
Beautiful place in any case