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LIVE from the Camino Opening Day at Canfranc Pueblo!

Vacajoe

Traded in my work boots for hiking ones
Time of past OR future Camino
Frances, Portuguese, Aragon, Norte, SJWayUK, Nive
A welcome to all pilgrims journeying their way to Santiago! The Elías Valiña Donativo at Canfranc Pueblo on the Camino Aragonés officially opens today at 1400 hours and will not close until 0800 on November 1st.

FICS hospitaleros welcome you to stop in between 1400-2200 to say hello, take a rest, or stay the entire night. 16 beds, showers, laundry, sun deck, and a very comfortable lounge await you in one of the newest albergues in Spain. Sorry, but NO reservations and NO baggage transfers are allowed and all walkers must have a pilgrim’s credential.

Please note that we are in Canfranc PUEBLO, about an hour’s walk (downhill!) from Canfranc Estacion which is served by both train and bus service.

Here’s a brief tour from the first season it was open:

Hope to see you soon. Ultreia!
 

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Join our full-service guided tour and let us convert you into a Pampered Pilgrim!
The Pueblo is quite small and the albergue only does a light breakfast service. The bar next door (closed Wednesdays) has pintxos and a small store and the gas station (10 minute walk) has has a small grocery section. The albergue itself has pots, pans, dishes, utensils, spices, oils, and whatever you may need for self-catering.
 

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A selection of Camino Jewellery
It looks great.
 
Down bag (90/10 duvet) of 700 fills with 180 g (6.34 ounces) of filling. Mummy-shaped structure, ideal when you are looking for lightness with great heating performance.

€149,-
Well winter forgot to look at the calendar and decided to stay through the weekend! Heavy winds, driving rain, and snow flurries have closed the Somport Pass for a bit, so unlikely to get pilgrims for a few days as most will adjust their starting location to Canfranc Estacion and walk past us to reach Jaca. For those pilgrims, though, we still extend the traditional pilgrim hospitality of a dry place to rest and a hot beverage (and perhaps they’ll decide to stay!)

The albergue hosted an evening lecture by a local historian who has walked the French Camino Through Aragon and studied its ancient roots. We had 15 people in attendance including Juan Carlos, President of FICS. A very informative evening and the perfect way to start the season.
 

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Is there is now a guitar!? Great, that is usually a popular item at most of our other albergues. May it bring music and joy to the albergue!
 
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Hola to @Vacajoe and @J Willhaus, I'm posing this question to you as hospitaleros at the Elías Valiña Donativo at Canfranc Pueblo.

We are planning a first shortish camino for the year. We plan to walk the Baztan in mid May - and possibly back to France via the Aragones. As we will be walking 'backwards', I wanted to check if we are still able to stay at the albergue? We will have our credenciale from our starting point of Bayonne.

I've walked the Aragones twice - one of my favourite paths - but this was before the opening of this wonderful albergue.

Thank you in advance for your replies.
 
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€2,-/day will present your project to thousands of visitors each day. All interested in the Camino de Santiago.
Absolutely okay! The second time I walked this route it was “backwards” so I appreciate your journey. Jaca to Pueblo is about 4-5 hours of gradual uphill walking, so this is a great place to rest.

If you have time, I highly recommend you continue to Lourdes once you reach Oloron St Marie.
 
Absolutely okay! The second time I walked this route it was “backwards” so I appreciate your journey. Jaca to Pueblo is about 4-5 hours of gradual uphill walking, so this is a great place to rest.

If you have time, I highly recommend you continue to Lourdes once you reach Oloron St Marie.
Thank you @Vacajoe it will be quite a climb for sure 🙏

Last year we walked the Piemont and spent time in Lourdes, so we will probably stop in Oloron St Marie (another lovely albergue) and make our way back from there to Lectoure, where we are currently living. 😎
 
Very light, comfortable and compressible poncho. Specially designed for protection against water for any activity.

Our Atmospheric H30 poncho offers lightness and waterproofness. Easily compressible and made with our Waterproof fabric, its heat-sealed interior seams guarantee its waterproofness. Includes carrying bag.

€60,-
Tonight we had several pilgrims stop by and eight decide to stay the night! Six of them were hospitaleros in Oloron, so that was a nice treat. Hopefully this route is catching on.
I walked my first two Caminos using Elias Valiña's famous 1985 big red guide. The Somport route was the first option he described in his book. SJPDP was the second choice. I've never really understood how SJPDP came to have such a dominant profile.
 
Technical backpack for day trips with backpack cover and internal compartment for the hydration bladder. Ideal daypack for excursions where we need a medium capacity backpack. The back with Air Flow System creates large air channels that will keep our back as cool as possible.

€83,-
EXACTLY!!! This was THE route at one time: home to Santa Cristina Hospital (one of the three most important pilgrim facilities in the world), pathway of St Francis into Spain and St Francis Xavier out of Spain, rumored hiding area of the Holy Grail during the occupation by the Moors, seat of the Kingdom of Aragon, home to what was once the largest train station in Europe as well as the first ski resort in Iberia, and so much more.

Somehow, SJPdP cornered the pilgrim planning imagination and everywhere else was left behind. To be fair, this route can be difficult and a bit lonely, but it’s also incredibly beautiful and full of wonderful albergue experiences.

Hopefully the work of the Aragon government, FICS, and all the individual communities here pays off with increased pilgrim numbers.
 
Tonight we had several pilgrims stop by and eight decide to stay the night! Six of them were hospitaleros in Oloron, so that was a nice treat. Hopefully this route is catching on.
Not too much, though!
 
Not too much, though!
Do you happen to know if it's possible to get a stamp in Somport? I would like to start there (and kick off the day's walk with a stamp), but it doesn't look like there's really too much there, and it's maybe not too Camino-oriented. Probably won't affect my plans either way, but it would be nice.
 
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There is a single hostel/cafe there that is not pilgrim-centric and has been closed intermittently over the past few years. I received a sello there a few years back but it was just their business stamp for bills/letters/receipts. Candanchu is just down the slope a bit and has several businesses that may or may not be open depending upon the day of the week and what season you are walking. Each May have a business stamp, but none have pilgrim sellos as far as I have seen.

Fortunately, the Elias Valiña donativo albergue in Canfranc Pueblo has THREE sellos! 😂. One is our official one, but two others were handed down to us from Canfranc before ours was created. Ask the hospitaleros for all three if you’d like.
 
Do you happen to know if it's possible to get a stamp in Somport? I would like to start there (and kick off the day's walk with a stamp), but it doesn't look like there's really too much there, and it's maybe not too Camino-oriented. Probably won't affect my plans either way, but it would be nice.


As Vacajoe says, the cafe/albergue at Somport is almost never open. Same goes for the frontier post up there. But about half way down from Somport, you will pass Hotel Cristina and they will give you a first stamp.
 
Is there is now a guitar!? Great, that is usually a popular item at most of our other albergues. May it bring music and joy to the albergue!


Some young pilgrims very kindly donated that to me at the pilgrim's office last October and I took it up to Canfranc with me. Better still be 6 strings left on it when I get back up there late October! Can get a bit lonely up there..😅😇

20220928_171438.jpg
 
The 2024 Camino guides will be coming out little by little. Here is a collection of the ones that are out so far.
There is a single hostel/cafe there that is not pilgrim-centric and has been closed intermittently over the past few years. I received a sello there a few years back but it was just their business stamp for bills/letters/receipts. Candanchu is just down the slope a bit and has several businesses that may or may not be open depending upon the day of the week and what season you are walking. Each May have a business stamp, but none have pilgrim sellos as far as I have seen.

Fortunately, the Elias Valiña donativo albergue in Canfranc Pueblo has THREE sellos! 😂. One is our official one, but two others were handed down to us from Canfranc before ours was created. Ask the hospitaleros for all three if you’d like.
One will be enough!
 
The 2024 Camino guides will be coming out little by little. Here is a collection of the ones that are out so far.
Please only use the Elias Valina stamp on credentials. You can use the municipal one for when you pay a bill or do something governmental.. which isn't often!
The old one with the door you can put in a drawer, in case the Elias one takes a walk.
 
We guard the officially one very carefully - it’s a beauty! The other two are in storage. 👍
 
Do you happen to know if it's possible to get a stamp in Somport? I would like to start there (and kick off the day's walk with a stamp), but it doesn't look like there's really too much there, and it's maybe not too Camino-oriented. Probably won't affect my plans either way, but it would be nice.
Such a shame. We stayed at Albergue Aysa at Somport in 2018. There were a few pilgrims, some bike riders and a few tourists. They gave my husband and I a room to ourselves, although it could have slept 5 people. No one was sleeping on the top bunks in any of the rooms, so they had obviously limited the number of people staying there. It was great to sit out on the deck in the late afternoon looking over the Pyrenees.
 
Ideal sleeping bag liner whether we want to add a thermal plus to our bag, or if we want to use it alone to sleep in shelters or hostels. Thanks to its mummy shape, it adapts perfectly to our body.

€46,-
Cafe at Somport open, hostel still closed. They have a sello if you ask.
 
EXACTLY!!! This was THE route at one time: home to Santa Cristina Hospital (one of the three most important pilgrim facilities in the world), pathway of St Francis into Spain and St Francis Xavier out of Spain, rumored hiding area of the Holy Grail during the occupation by the Moors, seat of the Kingdom of Aragon, home to what was once the largest train station in Europe as well as the first ski resort in Iberia, and so much more.

Somehow, SJPdP cornered the pilgrim planning imagination and everywhere else was left behind. To be fair, this route can be difficult and a bit lonely, but it’s also incredibly beautiful and full of wonderful albergue experiences.

Hopefully the work of the Aragon government, FICS, and all the individual communities here pays off with increased pilgrim numbers.
There's a multi-day tour you can sign up for, which takes you on horseback to a bunch of rural sites associated with the grail legend!
 

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