Travel

Walking the first 100 miles of the Camino Frances in Spain: June 2022

Background:

There are several Caminos (walking trails) in Spain that end in Santiago de Compostela. In 2019, I had a sabbatical from teaching and in a little over a month, I walked 500 miles along the most popular route, the Camino Frances. This Camino has been walked since the 11th century. I recorded the whole experience with pictures, videos, and a blog.

Walking the Camino was a life-changing experience for me and I knew I would walk it again, or at least parts of it, with friends. In 2022, I was finally able to make it a reality and went with 4 of my friends to walk the first 100 miles of the Camino Frances starting in St. Jean Pied-de-Port, France and ending in Logroño, Spain. I went with fellow Skyline teacher Rob as well as my friends Susan, Will and Sheryl. We walked 4 days, took one rest day in Pamplona, and then walked 4 more days to complete the 100 miles.

PARIS:

First we flew into Paris, France and we had one day there. Of course, part of our limited time there, it was pouring rain!

ST. JEAN:

The next morning, we took a 6-hour train ride and then a bus to the starting point of the Camino, a picturesque little town called St. Jean Pied-de-Port (French for “foot path”) at the base of the Pyrenees mountains on the French side.

DAY 1:
St. Jean, France to Orisson, France
7.5K (4.6 miles)

The beginning is the steepest climb of the entire walk as you climb up and over the Pyrenees mountains. We broke the climb into 2 days and had a short but steep first day gaining about 2,000 feet. Still a bit jet-lagged, we were happy when we saw the Orisson albergue on the French side where we were staying that night.

On the Camino, those who walk it, Peregrinos (Pilgrims in English), stay in albergues which are affordable and communal places for Pilgrims to stay all along the Camino. They usually consist of rooms with bunk beds and shared bathrooms and often communal Pilgrim dinners where you meet people from all over the world who are also walking the Camino.

The Pilgrim’s dinner at Orisson is special because everyone there is just at the start of the long walk, and they have a tradition that each person stands up and says where they are from and why they decided to walk the Camino. Many of the stories are moving and inspirational.

DAY 2:
Orisson, France to Espinal, Spain
23.1K (14.4 miles)

We started out with some cloud cover and it got colder and foggier as we gained around 2,000 more feet in elevation until we reached the summit. Then as we walked down the back side of the Pyrenees into Spain, it got sunnier.

Many people of all ages walk the Camino and unfortunately with the strenuous aspects of the walk, some Pilgrims have died and you can see the markers along the way honoring them. With the elevation and difficult and unpredictable weather conditions crossing the Pyrenees, we saw quite a few of those markers.

DAY 3:
Espinal, Spain to Zubiri, Spain
15.4K (9.6 miles)

As we left Espinal in the morning, we came across a yummy breakfast café to fuel us on our walk with all the food made by the owner. This day was a hilly walk with a lot of up and down (this is the day I first got blisters when I walked it the first time). At the end of the day, we arrived in Zubiri, a town on a river with a medieval bridge. Once we dropped our stuff at our albergue and showered (4 bunk beds with 8 people in our room this time), we headed to the town square and saw a bunch of our Camino friends we had met the night before, so we ordered wine and snacks and joined them!

DAYS 4 & 5:
Zubiri, Spain to Pamplona, Spain
20.6K (12.8 miles) and one rest day in Pamplona

Upon arriving in Pamplona, we had walked 41.4 miles with 58.6 miles to go but first a fun rest day in an air bnb (no bunk beds!) in an exciting party town!

DAY 6:
Pamplona, Spain to Puente de la Reina, Spain
23.8K (14.8 miles)

8.5 miles outside of Pamplona, we climbed a hill up to the Alto de la Sierra del Perdón which is located at an altitude of 770 meters and has panoramic views facing north towards Pamplona, the capital of Navarra. At the top is a "Monument to the Pilgrim" by Vicente Galbete. This monument is made of sheet metal and represents a procession of pilgrims from different eras that cross the line of windmills. The text that accompanies the work says “Where the path of the wind crosses with that of the stars.”

The walk down from this monument was very rocky!

DAY 7:
Puente de la Reina, Spain to Estella, Spain
21.9K (13.6 miles)

As we left Puente de la Reina (Queen’s Bridge), we walked across the bridge the town was named for.

At the end of the previous day, the last half of the walk was very hot with a lot of sun exposure, so we were hoping for milder temps this day, so we were happy as we continued walking and saw storm clouds ahead. Soon a light refreshing rain started and we had to stop to put on some rain gear and cover our backpacks with water resistant covers.

The rain was brief and soon we were walking up a steady climb to a little town on a hill called Cirauqui. After this town, it really started heating up and as we as ended in Estella, the temperature was in the high 90s. When we arrived at our albergue in Estella, the owner told us that a 47 year old American died the previous day either from a heart attack or heatstroke and to expect a week-long heatwave ahead. She suggested we take a bus for the next few days or if we wanted to walk, we’d need to leave before sunrise and be off the road by noon before the extreme heat hit. We chose to get up early and keep walking.

After showers and a rest, we headed to the town square to meet our Camino friends and have dinner.

DAY 8:
Estella, Spain to Los Arcos, Spain
21.5K (13.4 miles)

This walk day was a hot one. We did leave early in the morning but by 11am it was blazing hot in the high 90s again with a lot of sun exposure.

As we left Estella, we stopped at a metal craft shop and then came to the famous Fuente de Vino (Wine fountain) where you can drink free red wine from a spigot!

This day I had booked an air bnb house, so it was nice to have a break from the bunk beds and to have onsite laundry--luxuries on the Camino!

DAY 9:
Los Arcos, Spain to Logroño, Spain
27.8K (17.3 miles)

It was our last walking day and the forecast was 100 degrees by noon which is not safe to walk in, so we were up and out early again. Even though it was heating up, I still wanted to savor each step of the beautiful walk on our last day.

Logroño was our final destination city and a common place for Pilgrim’s to stay, so we were looking forward to one last evening of hanging out with our Camino friends before heading to Madrid for a few days before flying home.

DAYS 10-12:
Madrid, Spain

Having completed our 100 mile walk, we said goodbye to the many cool people we had met who still had 400 miles to walk!

From Logroño, we took a 4-hour bus to Madrid. Our friend Will needed to get back to work, so he took an early bus and flew out the same day. Sheryl was with us that evening and then met her husband as they were continuing their vacation in southern Spain, so it was just me, Rob, and Susan in a lovely 3-bedroom air conditioned air bnb apartment in Madrid for two days.

I booked us in the neighborhood of La Latina which was next to the neighborhood of Tirso de Molina where I lived for a year from 1995 to 1996. It was a sort of homecoming for me and I was excited to share it with my two besties.

……………………….