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Walking from Pamplona to St. Jean Pied de Port

Camino Preparation Guide
The focus is on reducing the risk of failure through being well prepared. 2nd ed.
2024 edition: The Brierley Camino Frances Guide
The first edition came out in 2003 and has become the go-to-guide for many pilgrims over the years. It is shipping with a Pilgrim Passport (Credential) from the cathedral in Santiago de Compostela.
OttawaWalker said:
I am planning to walk from Pamplona to St. Jean. Would the route be easy to follow?
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Yes. Just keep walking towards all the people walking the other way. A large placard stating "I'm not lost, just contrarian" might come in useful. Any of the standard apps will keep you on track and won't give a monkey's which way you are walking.

I wasn't going to ask "Why", but I can't contain myself. Why?
 
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Except the ones who settled in the various Villafrancas, or were settled in the Xardín do Cemiterio de San Frutuoso.

You are correct amigo @astronwolf that medieval pilgrims had to walk home and would have often followed the route by which they arrived in Santiago. There would have been little surprise among the outward-bound at encountering a homeward bound pilgrim. A little jealousy perhaps but not surprise. The exchanges between the in-bound and the out-bound in the Hospitals along the routes must have been fascinating. "Watch out for bed-bugs Samos; mad dogs in Foncebadon; the toll-collectors at Puente de Reina". In this modern age of tick-box, one-way, camino the contrarian is likely to encounter astonishment. Why walk when there is a perfectly good airport at Santiago?
 
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I walked that way in 2014, and found the advice to walk towards those coming towards you to be lacking early in the morning as we tried to work out which fork in the path to take on the hill out of Zubiri. It was going to be a long time until the first pilgrims came along and we'd have never made it to Roncesvalles! We just picked one path and decided we'd backtrack if we hadn't seen a mojon within a kilometer.
The next day (Roncesvalles to Saint Jean) we walked in rain driving horizontal like panes of glass flying around, mixed in with fog and we must have missed a marker and ended up on the road for almost the whole day.
BUT now you can pop a wee app on your phone and I suspect such situations could be a thing of the past.

@Tincatinker why were we walking backwards? I had arrived with two of my boys in Pamplona and wanted to do a loop around there (to Saint Jean and then the Voie de la Nive to Bayonne, then the Baztan), ending up back in Pamplona to meet Daddy, who was coming with two of the girls to join us.

Get a map app!!!
 
Yes, be ready for endless comments of “you are walking the wrong way!” or “you lost” or “headed home” or so similar. While there are times that the path will be obvious simply because there is no other way to walk or the crowds are present, you should really get a gps-based app or map to keep you on target. It’s VERY easy to wander off the path, but no worries because it’s even easier to realize that you are NOT on the path. Those who haven’t done it don’t know this but you will wander away from the Camino and immediately know it. No stress - you got this!
 
Camino Preparation Guide
The focus is on reducing the risk of failure through being well prepared. 2nd ed.
I agree with @Vacajoe - we have walked some parts of various caminos 'in reverse' and somehow we got the feeling if we had veered off. It does make for some fun greetings. On the Frances as the day goes on, the 'oncoming traffic' reassures you that you're on the path. But as @Kiwi-family says, the early parts of the day you don't have that so, as others have said, a map or app will help at those times. Enjoy this different perspective.
 
Check the weather in Roncesvalles and if good take the Napoleon route to St. Jean and the Valcarlos route back to Pamplona. If the weather forecast is bad walk the other way.
 
Altus 24 Liters daypack (DENON 24 H30)
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.

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Daring and insightful exercise Camino buen reversed on purpose
 
Altus 24 Liters daypack (DENON 24 H30)
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,-
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