About the Route Napoleon

[NUEVOMUNDOOO]

Good evening to everyone in this forum. I'm planning to walk along the camino from SJPDP, I want to start anyday of the first week of april. I want to walk the route napoleon, is there any place or source to learn its latest situation ? All I know is it is closed until 1st of april. Thanks for your help

 

[Rick M]

You show up and find out on that day. Its closed by law until April 1st. After that, its day to day, depending upon the weather. I've had it both ways on April 13th in two different years. It all depends upon the famously variable weather, nobody can tell you for sure until a day or two before you want to go.

 

[NUEVOMUNDOOO]

You show up and find out on that day. Its closed by law until April 1st. After that, its day to day, depending upon the weather. I've had it both ways on April 13th in two different years. It all depends upon the famously variable weather, nobody can tell you for sure until a day or two before you want to go.

Thank you so much, i hope i can walk there when i go.

 

[Ianinam]

Actual information about the condition of the Route Napoleon is given at the Pilgrims Office in Saint-Jean-Pied-de-Port, 39 Rue de la Citadelle, so always go there before you start walking.

 

[Kathar1na]

What @Ianinam says. It is not so much the weather on the day in the first week of April but the weather beforehand that determines whether the Route Napoleon is passable at altitude or not as of 1 April.

 

[Vince Rollason]

Good evening to everyone in this forum. I'm planning to walk along the camino from SJPDP, I want to start anyday of the first week of april. I want to walk the route napoleon, is there any place or source to learn its latest situation ? All I know is it is closed until 1st of april. Thanks for your help

Hello
It is closed until 1st April but when you go into the Pilgrim Office in St Jean, they will advise you about the expected weather on the day of your departure and judge if it is advisable to follow the Napoleon route.
Buen Camino
Vince

 

[JamesVT]

Hello
It is closed until 1st April but when you go into the Pilgrim Office in St Jean, they will advise you about the expected weather on the day of your departure and judge if it is advisable to follow the Napoleon route.
Buen Camino
Vince

the Volunteers at the pilgrims office vary in terms of the knowledge and accuracy they have regarding conditions on the Route Napoleon. It is best to talk to several volunteers, other pilgrims, and to check weather reports. The weather varies, so make an effort to inform yourself from several sources regarding conditions on the ground and expected weather that may affect you.

 

[lt56ny]

If there is any doubt whatsoever take the Valcarlos route.

 

[Ianinam]

the Volunteers at the pilgrims office vary in terms of the knowledge and accuracy they have regarding conditions on the Route Napoleon. It is best to talk to several volunteers, other pilgrims, and to check weather reports. The weather varies, so make an effort to inform yourself from several sources regarding conditions on the ground and expected weather that may affect you.

No, it is not like that: the volunteers have their instructions. When the route Napoleon is closed, it is closed, no discussion about that. It is also signposted at the route when it is dangerous to take the route Napoleon. Pilgrims are warned for the danger at the Pilgrims Office, and have to sign a statement that they have been warned and that they are aware of the danger. If they take the route Napoleon nevertheless, and in case they have to be rescued, they will be fined for an amount of thousands Euros. People often underestimate the danger in the mountains and then the locals have to risk their own lives to rescue them ....

 

[Rick of Rick and Peg]

If they take the route Napoleon nevertheless, and in case they have to be rescued, they will be fined for an amount of thousands Euros.

And pay for Spanish search and rescue costs in addition.

 

[Kathar1na]

When the route Napoleon is closed, it is closed, no discussion about that

This applies to the period November to March.

From April to October, the route Napoleon is never closed although numerous foreign pilgrims believe that there is are official closures due to bad wheather which could happen at any day of the year or due to bad conditions on the ground which is most likely an issue at the end of the winter months. They even wrongly rely on being told that it is closed in such conditions.

PS: During November to March, the route Napoleon is closed by law issued by the Spanish government. Outside of this period, there is no authority in either France or Spain that closes the path. I understood @JamesVT to refer to the first week of April when the OP wants to walk.

 

[Ianinam]

@Kathar1na, when I visited the Pilgrim's Office in 2013 on April 27th, I was told the route Napoleon was closed due to heavy snowfall in the past days. I had to sign such a statement and had to walk via Valcarlos.

 

[Kathar1na]

in 2013

My comments refer to more recent years. The official winter closure ordered by the regional government of Navarra was first introduced in 2015 for the period 1 November 2015 to 31 March 2016.

 

[Troublisimo]

Good evening to everyone in this forum. I'm planning to walk along the camino from SJPDP, I want to start anyday of the first week of april. I want to walk the route napoleon, is there any place or source to learn its latest situation ? All I know is it is closed until 1st of april. Thanks for your help

 

[Kathy F.]

I had planned to walk the Napoleon and had a reservation for Orrison. The afternoon before my first day walking my first Camino, I checked in with the Pilgrim Office in SJPdP. I was told there was too much snow on the Napoleon and the route was closed. It would probably be closed the day after that, too.

The Pilgrim Office contacted Orrison that I would not be able to keep my reservation and, the next morning, I walked the Valcarlos instead.

Not at all what I had planned - it was the end of MAY - but turned out well. The Valcarlos Route takes you through many dense valleys and woods, unlike the Nap. Flocks of distant sheep with tinkling bells against deep green pastures.

In spite of what I had almost always read here on the forum, you can get from SJPdP to Roncevalles in one day, even an out-of-shape, overweight, old lady like me.

BTW, I didn't have to sign anything confirming the advice not to walk. In 2013, however, there were many reports of pilgrims who ignored the advice of the SJPdP Pilgrim Office, walked the Nap anyway, and paid the price, both literally and figuratively.

I walked again two years later, this time got to stay in Orrison (Meh) and walked the Napoleon. The Nap was more crowded. You often feel like you are on the top of the world! You are walking on ridges above the treeline.

That first Camino becomes the benchmark against which all others are measured.

Buen Camino!!!

 

[Kathar1na]

Good evening to everyone in this forum. I'm planning to walk along the camino from SJPDP, I want to start anyday of the first week of april. I want to walk the route napoleon, is there any place or source to learn its latest situation ? All I know is it is closed until 1st of april. Thanks for your help.

The provisional 14-day weather forecast for the Bentarte pass at 1314 m looks good. Bentarte is one of the two passes that walkers will cross on the Route Napoleon. So it may mainly be a question of how much old snow and ice is left up there and whether it is wise to walk during the first week of April 2022. Locals on both sides of the border will volunteer to drive up and have a look. Although the SJPP pilgrims' office has both a website and a FB group, they tend not to publish such information, you need to go to their office in person. Buen Camino!

https://www.meteoblue.com/en/weather/14-days/col-de-bentarte_spain_3128263

 

[Kathar1na]

I didn't have to sign anything confirming the advice not to walk. In 2013, however, there were many reports of pilgrims who ignored the advice of the SJPdP Pilgrim Office, walked the Nap anyway, and paid the price, both literally and figuratively.

The winter of 2013 saw an exceptional snow pack in the Pyrenees - 2013 was a record year - and there were exceptional snow falls in April 2013. I see that it snowed on 6 April 2013 in Pamplona (at 460 m altitude) and there was even a bit of snow that covered Roncesvalles (at 900 m) on 18 May 2013. On 26-28 April 2013, it snowed all over Europe at low altitude levels, the weather front reached from Catalonia in Spain to the Ural in Russia (the internet never forgets ).

While you can walk into hail and snow at any time during the year at 1300 m altitude, which is how high you get on the Route Napoleon, even in July and August, we don't have quite the same general weather situation right now in spring 2022 as it was in spring 2013.