Embalse Yesa: northern route or southern route? Advice needed.

[WalkingInGers]

The advice on here is a bit dated so it was decided to about the Embalse Yesa on the Aragonese Camino.
I understand that there are few human activities from Sigues to Yesa, and that the distance to hike the lake on the northern side totals about 35 km. Is it worth a walk, or better to stay away? As I understand it, the scenery is gorgeous but there are many parts where you walk on the national road. How about lodging? Any advice. Thanks.

 

[J Willhaus]

I would say the southern side has more resources and shorter distances. On the northern side is where the new highway has been built now linking Pamplona and Jaca although there are still parts where the road was not complete last summer due to the need to add "tunnels" where add to the expense of building according to our cab driver from Artieda.

On the north side is the active Monastery at Leyre where they have a a nice hotel, museum, and a service with Gregorian Chanting. On the south side there are more albergues and hotels closer together (Arres, Artieda, Ruesta, Undes, Sanguesa). We aren't capable of hiking longer distances so we took the traditional route on the south of the embalse.

 

[WalkingInGers]

I would say the southern side has more resources and shorter distances. On the northern side is where the new highway has been built now linking Pamplona and Jaca although there are still parts where the road was not complete last summer due to the need to add "tunnels" where add to the expense of building according to our cab driver from Artieda.

On the north side is the active Monastery at Leyre where they have a a nice hotel, museum, and a service with Gregorian Chanting. On the south side there are more albergues and hotels closer together (Arres, Artieda, Ruesta, Undes, Sanguesa). We aren't capable of hiking longer distances so we took the traditional route on the south of the embalse.

The idea of hiking 38 km with no support and being in so-so shape made me wonder with the idea that the trail is apparently worthwhile. Probable best thing is to go to Yesa on the southern side and hike up to stay overnight at the Monastery of Leyre. A service with Gregorian chant "sounds" (pun intended) very inviting.

 

[J Willhaus]

I think that @peregrina2000 took the northern route a few years ago and may be able to explain resources on the north side?

 

[Rick of Rick and Peg]

@alansykes has walked and written about the route. You can do a search of posts by him with the keyword leyre to find some of them.

Or click on this link to go to a temporary webpage showing the results of the same search I made.

https://www.caminodesantiago.me/community/search/3277603/?q=leyre&c[users]=alansykes&o=date

 

[oursonpolaire]

@FireDragon I note that you've seen my post on another thread about the northern route. If the lake is low, then the hot springs at Tiermas are almost worth the walk. If not, they bubble up through the lake but that's not as much fun as sitting in your own hot mud spa. If my visit about 8 years ago is any indication, the modest pilgrim may wish to exercise custody of the eyes, as many Spaniards are comfortable with themselves.

If you do walk this route, consider using a reflective vest to make yourself more visible to the motorists of Navarre and Aragon.

 

[WalkingInGers]

@alansykes has walked and written about the route. You can do a search of posts by him with the keyword leyre to find some of them.

Or click on this link to go to a temporary webpage showing the results of the same search I made.

https://www.caminodesantiago.me/community/search/3277603/?q=leyre&c[users]=alansykes&owonderfû=date

@FireDragon I note that you've seen my post on another thread about the northern route. If the lake is low, then the hot springs at Tiermas are almost worth the walk. If not, they bubble up through the lake but that's not as much fun as sitting in your own hot mud spa. If my visit about 8 years ago is any indication, the modest pilgrim may wish to exercise custody of the eyes, as many Spaniards are comfortable with themselves.

If you do walk this route, consider using a reflective vest to make yourself more visible to the motorists of Navarre and Aragon.

Thank you for that info, particularly about the reflective vest.

 

[WalkingInGers]

@alansykes has walked and written about the route. You can do a search of posts by him with the keyword leyre to find some of them.

Or click on this link to go to a temporary webpage showing the results of the same search I made.

https://www.caminodesantiago.me/community/search/3277603/?q=leyre&c[users]=alansykes&o=date

That was very useful from one Bos man to another.

 

[J Willhaus]

We went to Leyre in a cab and spent the night after I had a heat injury the day before. Beautiful view of the embalse from there. We also went to Javier and spent a night as a part of our "tourist" time last year. Both are lovely destinations. Javier is a detour between Undes and Sanguesa on the south side of the embalse.

 

[WalkingInGers]

We went to Leyre in a cab and spent the night after I had a heat injury the day before. Beautiful view of the embalse from there. We also went to Javier and spent a night as a part of our "tourist" time last year. Both are lovely destinations. Javier is a detour between Undes and Sanguesa on the south side of the embalse.

I have spent days planning, checking the Camino first on the French side, then on the Spanish side. Someone said on this forum that part of the fun was the planning that went into the hike. How true.
Methinks, I am on my sixth « planificador » taking into account distances, gradients, human services, etc.
I am astounded at the price differences between France and Spain in terms of everything.
I can’t wait to get on the road. Technically, I plan to start on Monday from home.

 

[Vacajoe]

Okay, here’s the “straight dope” from one who walked it in 2019 but more importantly just drove it TODAY!!!! You cannot get fresher news than this!

Do NOT walk the north side of the embalse (and I say that as a hiker who routinely picks odd and difficult routes to explore). What was not great four years ago is now terribly tragic.

There are ZERO services on that side of the water between Berdún and Leyre unless you detour off the path 4km roundtrip to Sigüés. You will be walking on portions of the old highway with car and truck traffic which gets even worse when you reach the area where the new highway is incomplete and all the area traffic shares the road with you. And when I say road, I mean it because there is often no shoulder and you’ll find yourself walking in the traffic lane most of the time, especially across the multitude of bridges you’ll have to cross. There is little shade and absolutely no potable water sources.

While the Tiermas baths are interesting, they rarely appear above the water line and usually only when it’s so hot and dry that you’d be crazy to try to hike there. The abandoned mountaintop towns of Esco and Tiermas are actually quite cool, but Ruesta on the southern variant is similar and actually has an albergue and bar. And while the Leyre monastery IS interesting, your stay there will be very expensive unless you secure a cell in the monastery itself. You can easily day hike there and back from Yesa and the pilgrim albergue there was quite comfortable.

If you take the southern route, you can route yourself from Ruesta through Javier to Yesa, seeing a brilliant and historic castle enroute. From Yesa, pass through Liedena and take the path through Foz de Lumbier. You’ll have to stay the night in the town of Lumbier, but the only hotel there will give you a discount as a pilgrim.

Finally, both the Monreal and Sanguesa albergues are currently closed due to management issues and will not be opening up for the foreseeable future. A true shame as each serves a vital link in moving pilgrims through the Aragon Valley.

The attached photos show the typical path and my wife literally giving up after 8hrs of hot sun and no water with no end in sight (she rallied and made it to our stop in Artieda as we were reverse-walking it this time)

 

[WalkingInGers]

Okay, here’s the “straight dope” from one who walked it in 2019 but more importantly just drove it TODAY!!!! You cannot get fresher news than this!

Do NOT walk the north side of the embalse (and I say that as a hiker who routinely picks odd and difficult routes to explore). What was not great four years ago is now terribly tragic.

There are ZERO services on that side of the water between Berdún and Leyre unless you detour off the path 4km roundtrip to Sigüés. You will be walking on portions of the old highway with car and truck traffic which gets even worse when you reach the area where the new highway is incomplete and all the area traffic shares the road with you. And when I say road, I mean it because there is often no shoulder and you’ll find yourself walking in the traffic lane most of the time, especially across the multitude of bridges you’ll have to cross. There is little shade and absolutely no potable water sources.

While the Tiermas baths are interesting, they rarely appear above the water line and usually only when it’s so hot and dry that you’d be crazy to try to hike there. The abandoned mountaintop towns of Esco and Tiermas are actually quite cool, but Ruesta on the southern variant is similar and actually has an albergue and bar. And while the Leyre monastery IS interesting, your stay there will be very expensive unless you secure a cell in the monastery itself. You can easily day hike there and back from Yesa and the pilgrim albergue there was quite comfortable.

If you take the southern route, you can route yourself from Ruesta through Javier to Yesa, seeing a brilliant and historic castle enroute. From Yesa, pass through Liedena and take the path through Foz de Lumbier. You’ll have to stay the night in the town of Lumbier, but the only hotel there will give you a discount as a pilgrim.

Finally, both the Monreal and Sanguesa albergues are currently closed due to management issues and will not be opening up for the foreseeable future. A true shame as each serves a vital link in moving pilgrims through the Aragon Valley.

The attached photos show the typical path and my wife literally giving up after 8hrs of hot sun and no water with no end in sight (she rallied and made it to our stop in Artieda as we were reverse-walking it this time)

That’s fantastic..looks like my mind is made up with all the great feedback. Thanks a bunch.

 

[J Willhaus]

Good to know as we can give some info to pilgrims this summer from Arres about Sanguesa and Monreal.

 

[Vacajoe]

Very sad to visit Sanguesa and see it first-hand. Hopefully they work it out, but I’m not holding out hope. Monreal has had issues with hospitaleros for awhile. When we walked in 2018, the owner of the Casa Rural there was putting pilgrims up in one of his rooms at the pilgrim rate, a true Camino Angel when we arrived exhausted in the early evening only to be told no one had showed up to run the albergue.

 

[J Willhaus]

FYI, there is a bus on the northern route to Pamplona if you get stuck with a super long stretch an no albergues. There is also one that picks up Javier that is an Alsa bus that goes to Pamplona. Both only run once a day and I am not sure if this posted schedule is accurate, but this was what it was last summer.

 

[WalkingInGers]

FYI, there is a bus on the northern route to Pamplona if you get stuck with a super long stretch an no albergues. There is also one that picks up Javier that is an Alsa bus that goes to Pamplona. Both only run once a day and I am not sure if this posted schedule is accurate, but this was what it was last summer.

View attachment 143794

I may consider taking that bus and then finding a transfer to San Sebastián and Hendaye in order to get home on my first « stage » before attempting in September hiking to Santiago. Hope the body will endure.

 

[J Willhaus]

Also a bus that picks up in Javier and Sanguesa (it is on the Alsa line) that goes to Pamplona.

 

[alansykes]

I liked my day from Berdún to Leyre very much, even if some of it was on the side of the main road.



But at the time the reservoir was at its lowest for 50 years so I was mostly able to walk on an ancient road and off tarmac.



Staying at Leyre monastery was wonderful. An ancient isolated monastery surrounded by dense woods looking down on the reservoir,



and enjoying the generous Benedictine hospitality of the monks, and the 11th century crypt, and the tympanum, and the Gregorian chant. Glorious.

 

[Vacajoe]

But at the time the reservoir was at its lowest for 50 years so I was mostly able to walk on an ancient road and off tarmac.

The embalse rarely gets that low anymore and they are currently increasing the height of the dam and building additional levees. Eventually the current highway and most auxiliary roads will be underwater, too, leaving only the superhighway for most of the way. In the meantime, the amount of work being down in the area makes pedestrian access even more difficult than it was in just the past few years.

We also walked a small portion of the old Camino route four years ago when drought conditions exposed small portions of it. Today, sadly it’s unreachable.

 

[AnneMarie1]

We went to Leyre in a cab and spent the night after I had a heat injury the day before. Beautiful view of the embalse from there. We also went to Javier and spent a night as a part of our "tourist" time last year. Both are lovely destinations. Javier is a detour between Undes and Sanguesa on the south side of the embalse.

OK, so you got me looking up things online about these places, and now I'd like to go to both the monastery and the castle while I'm in that vicinity. Apparently it's possible to stay in Yesa. (There's even a pilgrim albergue, although it's not on the apps and lists I've looked at recently. Also a reasonably priced hostal.) I'm thinking I could walk to the monastery from there and maybe do a taxi to Javier from Yesa? Alternatively, daytrip from Jaca on the bus, even. Maybe from Sanguesa, too. Any recs for best place to stay in the area to get cabs to these places? Monastery looks great to stay in, but also more expensive than I want to bother with, especially at the beginning of my Camino, when I don't know yet how the budgeting is going to work out.

 

[J Willhaus]

The albergue at Sanguesa is closed per @Vacajoe (and also the one at Monreal). He was through there a few days ago. We are thinking this year maybe to detour from Undes to Javier and then to Yesa and on to the Lumbier Gorge, but that may be too much road walking. We did spend the night at Leyre and attended the evening service with the Gregorian Chanting last year. You can walk from Yesa, but we took a cab since I wasn't feeling well and it was all uphill.

At Javier there are two hotels. We stayed in the smaller one, Hotel El Meson. Our room smelled of cigarette smoke there, but otherwise it was fine with a bit of airing out. The Castle Tour did not take long and it was self-guided with a translation device. There was open air dining at the hotel, too. Keep in mind these are also tourist destinations for Spaniards so depending on the day of the week and time of year they may be hopping. I think the Basilica at Javier is also a popular wedding destination (per our cab driver who was married there herself!)

 

[AnneMarie1]

The albergue at Sanguesa is closed per @Vacajoe (and also the one at Monreal). He was through there a few days ago. We are thinking this year maybe to detour from Undes to Javier and then to Yesa and on to the Lumbier Gorge, but that may be too much road walking. We did spend the night at Leyre and attended the evening service with the Gregorian Chanting last year. You can walk from Yesa, but we took a cab since I wasn't feeling well and it was all uphill.

At Javier there are two hotels. We stayed in the smaller one, Hotel El Meson. Our room smelled of cigarette smoke there, but otherwise it was fine with a bit of airing out. The Castle Tour did not take long and it was self-guided with a translation device. There was open air dining at the hotel, too. Keep in mind these are also tourist destinations for Spaniards so depending on the day of the week and time of year they may be hopping. I think the Basilica at Javier is also a popular wedding destination (per our cab driver who was married there herself!)

This will be first week in May, so I'm thinking not too hopping with vacationing Spanish tourists yet, especially if I do it on a weekday. That detour from Undues to Javier and staying in Javier looks like a good plan. According to Rome to Rio, you can walk from Undues to Javier, even. Little over an hour. Great options to consider. Thanks for bringing those sites up in this chat!

 

[Vacajoe]

One year we walked from Ruesta to Yesa and visited Javier on the way. It was a good day’s walk but not overly taxing. The pilgrim albergue at Yesa was clean and modern (and empty!). I had the best burger of my life there, oddly enough, but I’m sure it had more to do with my hunger than the actual patty! . The small store in town closed, but the albergue now hosts an even smaller one in its building. We drive past the accommodation last week and it was open, but I’d check before heading that way.

The next year we walked from Sanguesa to Leyre, stopping in Yesa for lunch. It was also manageable but it’s with a significant uphill climb to reach the monastery.

As noted by J before, there is a bus that serves part of this route from Jaca to Leyre and onto Pamplona - that would be significantly cheaper than hiring a taxi.

 

[Rick of Rick and Peg]

Three years ago the hospitalera at the Sangüesa albergue said there was a bus that left pretty early in the morning from nearby that would take you part way to Lumbier. If the walk would normally be too long for you this might make the variant doable. I didn't bus and it was too long ago so the details can't be extracted from my brain any more.

 

[AnneMarie1]

One year we walked from Ruesta to Yesa and visited Javier on the way. It was a good day’s walk but not overly taxing. The pilgrim albergue at Yesa was clean and modern (and empty!). I had the best burger of my life there, oddly enough, but I’m sure it had more to do with my hunger than the actual patty! . The small store in town closed, but the albergue now hosts an even smaller one in its building. We drive past the accommodation last week and it was open, but I’d check before heading that way.

The next year we walked from Sanguesa to Leyre, stopping in Yesa for lunch. It was also manageable but it’s with a significant uphill climb to reach the monastery.

As noted by J before, there is a bus that serves part of this route from Jaca to Leyre and onto Pamplona - that would be significantly cheaper than hiring a taxi.

If that's the bus I was recently looking at, it only runs once a day, but I could be thinking of a different trajectory I was exploring. I'll take another look. And from Leyre to Javier (if I did bus from Jaca to Leyre, say) would still require a taxi.

 

[Vacajoe]

And from Leyre to Javier (if I did bus from Jaca to Leyre, say) would still require a taxi.

Only if you chose not to walk.

 

[Vacajoe]

Yes, the bud from Jaca to Pamplona (and all parts in between) runs once per day on most days, but not all. And the time varies depending upon the day, so be sure you have that planned should you choose it.