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Time for Martin Sheen to make another movie, eh?
How is it different from the Le Puy route?Did you prefer one over the other? I am asking because the LePuy route as well as the Aragones-Frances -Salvador -Primitivo are among those I'm considering for 2018. Thank you in advance for replying.This is an wonderful route; I loved coming over the Pyrenees at Somport Pass. Not having as many people as are on the St Jean route would seem to be a major benefit to many people. We did this route starting in Arles, FR. over a three-year period finishing in Puente la Reina (where it joins the Frances) in 2010. Very different experience than LePuy (which is also an awesome route). We had no particular problem finding accommodations. Sad to hear that any large-scale construction threatens the unique landscape of this route.
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What is "disruption due to highway construction" likely to look like? Route detours, lack of places to stay due to being used by construction workers,or ??? I was thinking that walking the Aragones-Frances-San Salvador -Primitivo might be an interesting route but now I'm starting to wonder. Thanks in advance for any insights you are able to share.When I walked the Aragonés a few years ago, we heard repeatedly that the number of pilgrims was declining. This article Javier posted confirms that;
http://www.heraldo.es/noticias/aragon/2017/10/26/camino-peligro-1204010-300.html
I know the pilgrims' office numbers are hardly scientific, but they are quite accurate in showing the trands since they consistently measure the same thing. They report only 49 people have started from Somport in 2017, compared to more than a thousand in 2010.
The article also points out that there will be disruption due to highway construction, not likely to boost the traffic.
I have never met anyone who didn't love the Aragonés. Starting in Somport or further back in France, it is beautiful. The albergues are great, too. And a chance to visit San Juan de la Peña, well that is the icing on the cake.
Hi, Plutselig, here is a link to some descriptions I wrote a few years ago.Thx for all info given...
Could someone write up some basic info with map ref for inspiration and pre planning??
...."Camino Aragones for dummies"?
Much obliged
Thx for all info given...
Could someone write up some basic info with map ref for inspiration and pre planning??
...."Camino Aragones for dummies"?
Much obliged
How is it different from the Le Puy route?Did you prefer one over the other? I am asking because the LePuy route as well as the Aragones-Frances -Salvador -Primitivo are among those I'm considering for 2018. Thank you in advance for replying.
What is "disruption due to highway construction" likely to look like? Route detours, lack of places to stay due to being used by construction workers,or ??? I was thinking that walking the Aragones-Frances-San Salvador -Primitivo might be an interesting route but now I'm starting to wonder. Thanks in advance for any insights you are able to share.
The one thing I would add to this is that LT and I did not make a detour to San Juan de la Peña because we intersected the Aragonés from the Camino Catalán, which goes through San Juan. This is an amazing site, and if you like ancient monasteries and churches you absolutely should not miss it. You can either take a day trip from Jaca or walk there with some detour planning. There are lots of people on the forum who have done both of these alternatives and can help if you want to include it in your Aragonés. It is well worth it. Buen camino, Laurie
If you are just considering Starting at Somport or Le Puy, I prefer the Le Puy route, as you pass through many beautiful French villages. If you are considering Arles vs Le Puy, the Arles is definitely my favorite because it has such a huge variety of scenery, from wilderness, to big city, to San Juan de la Peña, to Eunate.How is it different from the Le Puy route?Did you prefer one over the other? I am asking because the LePuy route as well as the Aragones-Frances -Salvador -Primitivo are among those I'm considering for 2018. Thank you in advance for replying.
Suggested "deep background" reading for the Aragones:
*** King, Georgiana Goddard. The Way of St James (New York: G.P.Putnam's Sons, 1920), vol. 1.
*** Starkie, Walter. The Road to Santiago: Pilgrims of St. James (London: John Murray, 1957)
More detail about the art and monuments of Jaca, SJ de la Pena, Leyre, Sanguesa, Eunate, than most of you will need or want, I'm sure. (Much more than Gitlitz and Davidson, but also much harder to find than Gitlitz and Davidson.) And they include travel descriptions antedating the building of the Yesa Dam!
... not Camino 'newbies', all of whom are now fixated, for better or worse, on SJPdeP....
Bite your tongue!Time for Martin Sheen to make another movie, eh?
If you are just considering Starting at Somport or Le Puy, I prefer the Le Puy route, as you pass through many beautiful French villages. If you are considering Arles vs Le Puy, the Arles is definitely my favorite because it has such a huge variety of scenery, from wilderness, to big city, to San Juan de la Peña, to Eunate.
It is in Spain, so it is more similar to the Camino Frances/Via de la Plata. It is far quieter than the Chemin de St. Jacques. I like the Le Puy route better having walked each one twice.
An autopista, A-10 I think, is being built along the N-240, so a couple of years ago there were bridges to nowhere and lots of interchanges being built. There is a lot of local opposition to the reservoir, but the water seemed quite far away from the route. It should not be too hard to move the route up the hill a short distance, so changes may not be large. I am walking it this winter, and will report back on its condition! Stages are fairly distinct because infrastructure has not been expanded. In the winter, there will be quite a few closings. Towns and cities are very interesting. The abandoned train station at Canfranc was the largest in Europe when it was finished.
I just recently walked the Chemin du Puy to Navarrenx, and it was fantastic. Very social, in a french way, the great majority of walkers being, well, french. I reluctantly, after talking about it for several weeks while on the Le Puy trail (plus the Vallee de Cele variant), struck off on my own and veered off the Le Puy trail over to Oloron-Ste.-Marie and then to Jaca via the Col du Somport (when I ran out of time and had to be back at work). As much as I loved the Le Puy walk, I was very pleasantly surprised and happy to have had a week and a half or so of relative solitude - something I realized I missed on the Le Puy. In fact, I would recommend this to anyone who has already walked from St. Jean Pied de Port - the mix of social (in a non-Camino Frances sort of party-hearty way) and solitary walking was just perfect. While I was sad to have to end my stroll in Jaca, overall this rates up there with some of my other favorite walks, in particular, the Via de la Plata and (but for all the asphalt), the Norte.
Now that you mention it, Aragonés does remind me a bit of La Plata. When you say "I would recommend this...", which part of the route are you talking about? From Le Puy, then turning to Somport?
To me, La Plata is the most spiritual of all Caminos I have done, in springtime. It is life. Nature. Solitude. Wildlife. Landscape. All in the right measure. And Aragonés is pretty much the same. I was there 3 years ago, the Yesa reservoir rise is not having a major impact on the camino, in any case, and the motorway between the middle of nowhere and and the end of nowhere, god knows why they are building this motorway!!
Aragonés, yes, yes, yes!!!
Suggested "deep background" reading for the Aragones:
*** King, Georgiana Goddard. The Way of St James (New York: G.P.Putnam's Sons, 1920), vol. 1.
*** Starkie, Walter. The Road to Santiago: Pilgrims of St. James (London: John Murray, 1957)
More detail about the art and monuments of Jaca, SJ de la Pena, Leyre, Sanguesa, Eunate, than most of you will need or want, I'm sure. (Much more than Gitlitz and Davidson, but also much harder to find than Gitlitz and Davidson.) And they include travel descriptions antedating the building of the Yesa Dam!
Thx caminosisterThis link appeared in the APOC Facebook page. It seems pretty straightforward and comprehensive.
http://santiago.forwalk.org/en/m/1s/route/NjUyTw/the-aragones-way/stage-list/#stages
As Laurie mentioned, we came up to San Juan de la Peña from the Camí Catalán side which is in fact easier. The downhill though was tough on the knees.
I'm not sure why it is underpopulated. It provides a nice bridge from the French routes over the Pyrenees to Jaca. It is not the most comfortable of routes with cafes on every corner, and the Aragonese pilgrim has to watch their water and food and stages have to be planned, but it's very scenic-- perhaps a good one for the wildernessey trek kind of pilgrim. It gives you a flavour of a wild west Spain, and you can see how figures such as Francis Xavier came out of it. Whether the pilgrim is an aficionado of the romanesque visiting San Juan de la Pena, or of the sybaritic, at the hot springs at Tiermas, there's plenty there.
Please don't let him .Time for Martin Sheen to make another movie, eh?
I'm glad to hear about this route. In 2016 I walked from Pamplona to Burgos, then from Ponferrada to Santiago. This year I would like to go back to do the parts of the Frances that I missed. I originally thought (of course) of starting in SJPP, walking to Pamplona, then Burgos to Ponferrada. But I try to avoid crowds if at all possible. Thus, I though of the Aragonès and was led to this thread. I will be researching for sure. It sounds wonderful and just the type of walk that I like best. Thanks.
@falcon269, did you walk the Aragonés as planned? Any news?I am walking it this winter, and will report back on its condition!
I walked the Aragones in the fall of 2016, beginning in Oloron Ste Marie on the Camino d'Arles. The numbers seemed moderate to me, and certainly not decreasing towards disappearance. But almost all the pilgrims whom I met on the route had started in France, many having already walked all or part of the Camino d'Arles, would not be counted in with those who started at the Somport Pass, of whom I met very few. Most of the French pilgrims who had started on the Camino d'Arles were planning to finish the Aragones at Puenta la Reina and not one planned on going on to Santiago. Later, as I proceeded on to Santiago via the Frances, I met one woman on my last night at Monte de Gozo, who had begun in Arles and was continuing to Santiago. Those who walked the Camino Aragones only and those who walked all or part of the Camino d'Arles but did not continue to Santiago would not be included in the Santiago numbers. Perhaps a change in the preferences of French walkers was a cause of the apparent drastic decrease in numbers on the Aragones, while the numbers in the albergues when I walked did not point to such a decrease.only 49 people have started from Somport in 2017, compared to more than a thousand in 2010.
That is a tough place to start from!! Oloron Ste. Marie, Canfranc, and Jaca are much more logical places to start. In the summer the albergues can be full, partly because they are pretty small. I suspect that the path relocation because of rising waters will be minimal. For the most part it is already up the hillside. Autopista construction has caused as much relocation as the water will!we also would not show as having started in Somport.
That is a tough place to start from!! Oloron Ste. Marie, Canfranc, and Jaca are much more logical places to start.
Agreed! 4 of the 6 pilgrims we met were not newbies and 3 of them did not plan to get a Compostela so would not be counted. Having started in Jaca, we also would not show as having started in Somport.
That stat seems more geared to stoke a political debate over the negative impacts of the Yesa reservoir than a true reflection of pilgrim traffic. However, the route IS empty this week!
I am doing this route with the tour company Amawalkers and Syl Nilsen in May. I think there are 10 in the group. Am looking forward to it.
Sadly, it seems that the wonderful albergue in Estacion Canfranc, Albergue Pepito Grillo, has closed its doors for the last time.
Was this the first albergue on the left as you walked into town?OH NO. This time last year exactly to the day we stayed there. A beautiful place with great service. We were the only pilgrims but there were a few hikers.
This view was from our window.
View attachment 64802
Yes, I tried to stay there in March this year. There was someone living in the house, and there was a car parked in the carport, but nobody would answer the knock on the door, nor answer the phone, so I gave up and stayed at Albergue Rio Aragon, which was really nice.Was this the first albergue on the left as you walked into town?
Was this the first albergue on the left as you walked into town?
Funny thing about this camino is that having said I would never return, I now would like to walk it again, maybe with a better guide book and not in summer, when the sometimes longish gaps between water resupply can be troublesome, and scarcity of fellow travellers discouraging. I would also plan my assault on that monastery better, like starting earlier! Thank goodness for that albergue in Santa Celia: I slept that night for 11 hours!
Yes, I tried to stay there in March this year. There was someone living in the house, and there was a car parked in the carport, but nobody would answer the knock on the door, nor answer the phone, so I gave up and stayed at Albergue Rio Aragon, which was really nice.
I was so creased and it was so late when I got to the monastery that I didn't go in. I admired it from without and then went downhill using the road (there was no way I was going to descend using the path, having slogged my way up the mountain on its rugged terrain - I could imagine a misstep and injury with no help likely to come along. Half-way down the road there was a village, and I had my first meal of the day - at 4:30pm...)We found it hot also. It was either long or short days. Nothing in between. Not many pilgrims during the day but met up at the albergues. Mainly French and Germans.
The monastery was something else !!!!!!
We wimped our and took a taxi up there from Jaca who waited for us. Worth every cent.
Camino maintenance could be part of the problem [possible lack of resources?], from the article, the data is devastating and account of institutional neglect of the recent years: inadequate signage, torn posters, deterioration of steps, weed invasion. Good luck, y que la luz de Dios alumbre su camino.
I walked the Camino Aragonnoise 7 years ago and met very few pilgrims ,got lost regularly, and when asked for direction,very little help . I walked again 2 years back and exactly the same ,still not well marked and unknown by many locals .But that being said it was a good adventure for the Camino beginng.When I walked the Aragonés a few years ago, we heard repeatedly that the number of pilgrims was declining. This article Javier posted confirms that;
http://www.heraldo.es/noticias/aragon/2017/10/26/camino-peligro-1204010-300.html
I know the pilgrims' office numbers are hardly scientific, but they are quite accurate in showing the trends since they consistently measure the same thing. They report only 49 people have started from Somport in 2017, compared to more than a thousand in 2010.
The article also points out that there will be disruption due to highway construction, not likely to boost the traffic.
I have never met anyone who didn't love the Aragonés. Starting in Somport or further back in France, it is beautiful. The albergues are great, too. And a chance to visit San Juan de la Peña, well that is the icing on the cake.
With regards to the way marking I have to disagree with you.I have also walked it twice .I have just arrived in Santiago after walking the Aragones and the Frances.I had absolutely no problem ,both times,with the way marking,and I prefer to walk alone.I met other pilgrims on the Aragones .We were small in number but a close group.I walked the Camino Aragonnoise 7 years ago and met very few pilgrims ,got lost regularly, and when asked for direction,very little help . I walked again 2 years back and exactly the same ,still not well marked and unknown by many locals .But that being said it was a good adventure for the Camino beginng.
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