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Camino 2023 - Baztan and beyond

Pathfinder075

Active Member
Time of past OR future Camino
Various Routes in (2016), (2017) and (2023).
I want to walk next year. My intention would be to get the boat to Bilbao (and take a train to Bayonne) or fly to Biarritz, arriving probably the last week in August. Timelimit to complete this Camino is open ended, but I would prefer to have finished by mid October at the latest. I tend to walk 15-20 mile days when trekking.

My plan is to walk the following routes. Baztan, Viejo, Olvidado, Salvador, Primitivo, Frances and Muxia.

So I have a single question (so far) and probably more to come in the next 14 months.

Is Bayonne to Urdax possible in one day? Distance wise it is pushing it for me. I tend to avoid 20-25 mile (32-40km) days if I can and this would be about a 35km day, but I can do them from time to time if needed. I tend to walk from 7am to 7pm with a 1 hour break for lunch sometime in the middle. I am not a person who walks for 6 hours and then books into an albergue. My reasoning is purely financial for this. Urdax has an affordable albergue. Accommodation in France is expensive.

I want to complete the Baztan in 4 days, if possible, or at the least get as close to Pamplona as possible. With the hope of being able to start the Viejo on Day 5.

I know some people have walked the Viejo/Olvidado from Pamplona, but has anyone tied it in with the Baztan? I will probably open threads in the various subforums for each stage, in time.

Thanks.
 
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I want to walk next year. My intention would be to get the boat to Bilbao (and take a train to Bayonne) or fly to Biarritz, arriving probably the last week in August. Timelimit to complete this Camino is open ended, but I would prefer to have finished by mid October at the latest. I tend to walk 15-20 mile days when trekking.

My plan is to walk the following routes. Baztan, Viejo, Olvidado, Salvador, Primitivo, Frances and Muxia.

So I have a single question (so far) and probably more to come in the next 14 months.

Is Bayonne to Urdax possible in one day? Distance wise it is pushing it for me. I tend to avoid 20-25 mile (32-40km) days if I can and this would be about a 35km day, but I can do them from time to time if needed. I tend to walk from 7am to 7pm with a 1 hour break for lunch sometime in the middle. I am not a person who walks for 6 hours and then books into an albergue. My reasoning is purely financial for this. Urdax has an affordable albergue. Accommodation in France is expensive.

I want to complete the Baztan in 4 days, if possible, or at the least get as close to Pamplona as possible. With the hope of being able to start the Viejo on Day 5.

I know some people have walked the Viejo/Olvidado from Pamplona, but has anyone tied it in with the Baztan? I will probably open threads in the various subforums for each stage, in time.

Thanks.
The Baztan is stunning.
 
I have walked the Baztan in 2019. If you would like to walk it in 4 days I would do it like this and avoid the 35k days. But I can imagine if you want to push it to 35 and stay in Urdax (lovely albergue)
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I would like to walk the Baztan from Pamplona to Bayonne this fall. It appears to be well marked from Bayonne to Pamplona with yellow arrows, but has anyone noticed if it is marked in the other direction?
 
from Pamplona to Bayonne
Hi @federico, there are portions where the trail will show you the way; although marked with yellow arrows in Spain, they were less prevalent than the CF. In France, the markings are not yellow arrows but the red/white flashes. Some sections are well marked, others not… I’m not sure how easy they would be to follow in reverse, especially in France. I might recommend downloading the map tracks from gronze or other common map sites, or use mapy.cz to ensure you stay on track.
 
I want to walk next year. My intention would be to get the boat to Bilbao (and take a train to Bayonne) or fly to Biarritz, arriving probably the last week in August. Timelimit to complete this Camino is open ended, but I would prefer to have finished by mid October at the latest. I tend to walk 15-20 mile days when trekking.

My plan is to walk the following routes. Baztan, Viejo, Olvidado, Salvador, Primitivo, Frances and Muxia.

So I have a single question (so far) and probably more to come in the next 14 months.

Is Bayonne to Urdax possible in one day? Distance wise it is pushing it for me. I tend to avoid 20-25 mile (32-40km) days if I can and this would be about a 35km day, but I can do them from time to time if needed. I tend to walk from 7am to 7pm with a 1 hour break for lunch sometime in the middle. I am not a person who walks for 6 hours and then books into an albergue. My reasoning is purely financial for this. Urdax has an affordable albergue. Accommodation in France is expensive.

I want to complete the Baztan in 4 days, if possible, or at the least get as close to Pamplona as possible. With the hope of being able to start the Viejo on Day 5.

I know some people have walked the Viejo/Olvidado from Pamplona, but has anyone tied it in with the Baztan? I will probably open threads in the various subforums for each stage, in time.

Thanks.

Hi @Pathfinder075, I'm feeling more than a little Camino envy on reading your plan 😊

Re. walking from Bayonne to Ustaritz in one day - it's probably doable and you seem capable of those distances. When working out your route, make sure you walk via Souraïde (rather than taking the more popular trail to Esplette).

I haven't stayed in Urdax, but a big advantage will be tackling the steep hill out of town in the morning, rather than the afternoon.

An idea to ponder ..... do you need to stay in Bayonne on your first night? Depending on your arrival time, you could walk the flat 14.2kms to Ustaritz in an afternoon/evening, making your walk to Urdax the next day very manageable. That's what I plan to do if/when I walk the Baztán again.

Happy planning and Buen Camino!

Nuala
 
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I would like to walk the Baztan from Pamplona to Bayonne this fall. It appears to be well marked from Bayonne to Pamplona with yellow arrows, but has anyone noticed if it is marked in the other direction?
I'm pretty sure it isn't, but you could use e.g. the Buen Camino app or @rayyrosa wikiloc trails when needed.

There are lots of 'other' arrows on parts of this route, which can be confusing at times (as @Suzanne H mentioned). But no reason why this isn't possible with good planning.
 
@NualaOC , Thanks. Staying in Bayonne on the first night isn't a requirement. My intention would be to find a campsite or pension in/near Bilbao for the first night, then get the bus/coach as early as possible the next morning, ideally 6-7am if possible, which would put me in Bayonne, 3-4 hours later. Then hit up the cathedral for my first/second stamp (i haven't decided if it will be too cheeky to grab one in Bilbao knowing i'm going to bus it to Bayonne). That would leave me with 6-8 hours of walking if I wanted.

If I could find a campsite along the route in France, I would be more than happy to have a night under the stars (and maybe a bottle of Sauternes). In 6-8 hours I could probably be almost on the Spanish border. I tend to walk at around 4km/hour if i'm in easy (lazy) cruise mode. So a 30km day would be fairly easy and achievable in that time frame. It would definitely set me up for the next day which i understand is fairly hard and has a lot of height gain. I had a quick look and there are several campsites around Souraide. That being said, having a night at the Monastery in Urdax is still very tempting. I've never stopped at a Monastery Albergue before and I would guess I can get to mass in the morning before I leave (something I also rarely do while on Camino).

@federico , I tend to make route plans so even if I get lost i can look for a road sign. I tend to print these out and bury them in a waterproof package somewhere in my rucksack for those moments when everything falls apart (or your phone/gps unit packs up and you start having to use a compass and map, or just a compass). :)

If I was walking from Pamplona to Bayonne, I would have dumped the stage maps from Gronze and printed them. That way, in a bind I can pull it out, and get an idea of what village is next.

I did this on previous caminos. I had full stage plans on paper in my rucksack. That was then combined with the route map leaflets you find in each area and allowed me to create a better staging plan based on the number of km I wanted to walk per day. But everything is fluid. :)
 
@NualaOC , That being said, having a night at the Monastery in Urdax is still very tempting. I've never stopped at a Monastery Albergue before and I would guess I can get to mass in the morning before I leave (something I also rarely do while on Camino).

Hi @Pathfinder075, I really like the fluidity of your plan.

Just one point you might want to check out - I think the monastery is now an exhibition centre/gallery, rather than a religious residence: http://www.otxondo-urdax.com/en/en-index.php
It would still be an interesting place to stay, but not the traditional type of monastery albergue.

Nuala
 
€2,-/day will present your project to thousands of visitors each day. All interested in the Camino de Santiago.
Ahh so more like the old municipal albergue at Ourense, that was on top of the hill above the town. As I understand it, it's now moved down into the town. It was almost part of a museum when I last stayed there.

I'll have to think about it now. ;) I intend to stop at the Sobrado Monastery later when finishing the Primitivo, after missing it a few years back (and I missed the Oseira Monastery the year after, which I might go back and do next year if I have time). So that might tick the 'stay in a monastery albergue' box. :)

I also have a need to head down to Ourense after I finish and sit in the hot springs (for a couple of days), then walk back to Santiago, to retrace some steps from a failed attempt at the last 100km of the VdlP (bed bugs and anaphylaxis put paid to it when I got to Ponte Ulla).

More to think about. :)
 
I know some people have walked the Viejo/Olvidado from Pamplona, but has anyone tied it in with the Baztan? I will probably open threads in the various subforums for each stage, in time.
No, but I'd love to.
If you're fit the walk to Urdax is doable, just one sizeable hill up and down between Esplette and Ainhoa.
It'd be good to start the day with that climb out of Urdax, because it's a long one.

@pathfinder, did you see our planning thread for the Viejo? It may help guide your thoughts. That one is the very top of my list, so if you do go, please consider posting your experiences.
 
I looked at your planning thread and Caminka and Sheffield James threads.

I need to go back through them and make some notes. This will be something really new for me and about as far outside of my comfort zone as is possible. I have never been to Pamplona or Bayonne for that matter. Then the thought of walking 600km in a pretty off the beaten track way is kinda scary.

I guess it is highly unlikely to see anyone on Camino between Pamplona and Aguilar de Campoo (and probably not many beyond that). Add to that my command of Spanish is pretty limited (read as non existent :D ). It will be a great adventure. I suppose if I make it to Vitoria and am having a hard time, I have the option to bug out North or South and rejoin one of the other routes, or maybe mix it up a bit.

The reality is, I will probably just decide to push it out mentally and just do it. Some of the stages I did on the Frances were physically and mentally hard (for many reasons). You just have to get on with it. Worst case, vent, meltdown, move on. :)

Is the route now marked in any way up to Aguilar de Campoo, or is it still the unofficial tracks/route plans made by forum members? I know it's basically Pamplona to Vitoria to Aguilar to La Robla to Oviedo and then back down to Melide. But what is the state of markings on the various routes? The Olvidado is pretty well marked and has a good route guide, according to several threads. The Salvador I haven't looked at yet. I know Oviedo and the Primitivo is pretty mainstream, so not worried beyond that point.

Thanks for your help so far.
 
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I guess it is highly unlikely to see anyone on Camino between Pamplona and Aguilar de Campoo
You may see people from Salvatierra to Miranda de Ebro, because that is where the Viejo coincides with the Vasco. From there to AdC though...yeah, I'm guessing the same as you. Parts of the way follow GR routes, so who knows? And there are a few towns (like Frias and Orbaneja del Castillo) where there may be people coming just to see or stay in those places specifically.
 

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