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Normally, how many more or less days does it take compared to CF to Puente la Reina? Is the route harder?
Any thoughts on guides to the stages please? Especially Pau to Somport?
Many thanks Castilian. I'll look at those now. The Gronze one after Somport is very detailed and helpful. I'm very taken with the idea of doing the Aragones it sounds really good.
@Pierre Julian :
I shall be walking the Camino Aragones in September, beginning at Oloron Ste Marie on the Voie d'Arles, walking to Somport and on from there through the Camino Aragones to Puenta la Reina and on to Santiago. I am flying into Pau and taking the train to Oloron Ste Marie, as the description of the walk from there up the valley of the Gave d'Aspe appeals to me as an entry into the Pyrenees. I have the guidebook of the Confraternity of St James and have consulted gronze.com. It looks to me like a very rewarding walk and I am sure that I shall appreciate the variety of mountain scenery. I hope to meet other pilgrims en route.
Really helpful Mspath, thanks so much.For more information re accommodation check out these French references in au coeur du chemin
http://www.aucoeurduchemin.org/spip/Sur-la-VOIE-D-ARLES-d-OLORON.html
Bon chemin and Buen camino!
@peregrina2000Hi, Albertagirl, I don't know the French part of the Aragones, but from Somport to Puente la Reina is really something. Great albergues (don't miss Arres), lovely paths. I don't know if you are planning to take a detour to San Juan de la Pena after Jaca, but if you are a fan of ancient cloisters, it's a must-see place. Lucky lucky you!
@peregrina2000
It seems to me that I have seen a comment somewhere in this forum about particular effects of the light visible to those who visit San Juan de la Pena on the spring or fall solstice. Could you supply any information or a reference for that? As I am starting in Oloron Ste Marie on September 15 and taking the walk up into the Pyrenees easy at first, it seems probable that I shall be somewhere in the vicinity of San Juan de la Pena on the autumn solstice. Thanks to you or anyone who knows more about this.
@mspathAlbertagirl,
I am unfamiliar with any association of San Juan de la Pena monastery with the solstice.
However an extraordinary association/event does exist during the solstice at San Juan Ortega monastery on the CF.
Located east of Burgos within the forest of the Montes de Oca the monastery is named for Saint John of the Nettles, a follower of Santo Domingo de la Calzada and like him a builder of roads, bridges and hospices for pilgrims. San Juan is buried here in the Romanesque monastery church within a splendid Gothic mausoleum.
However there is more. Marvelous Romanesque capitals top the lofty columns. One four-sided capital is truly EXTRAORDINARY. As described by Dom Millan Bravo Lozano in his Practical Guide to Pilgrims , "..showing the Annunciation, Visitation, Joseph's Dream, and Christ's Nativity. Each equinox(21March and 22nd September) at precisely 5pm solar time, a single shaft of sunlight strikes this capital, illuminating it alone in the surrounding gloom and causing the marvelous illusion that the Holy Ghost is alighting on Mary's belly. Miracle or artifice, it is clear that this is no ordinary place."
If you are nearby San Juan Ortega don't miss the illumination!
Margaret Meredith