Gerald Kelly - Walking Guide to the Camino de Santiago History Culture Architecture

GeraldKelly

January2020

Saint-Jean-Pied-de-Port/ Donibane-Garazi

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This guide doesnot contain any maps or altitude profiles. I left them out becauseit was too difficult to get them to work well with various ebookformats and they made the ebook files too big. You can get maps andaltitude profiles in PDF format by emailing me atcaminoguidecontact@gmail.com and asking me politely. There is nocharge for this, I consider that since you've already bought thisbook you're entitled to them.

There are urbanmaps for all the major towns and cities along the Camino and ruralmaps covering the whole length of the Camino.

This book isintended as a practical, no-nonsense guide to the Camino deSantiago for pilgrims walking it in the traditional manner andsleeping in pilgrim hostels. The route described is the CaminoFrancs, the French Camino, which is generally considered to startin the picturesque southern French village of St-Jean-Pied-de-Port,from where it winds its way for almost 800km across northern Spain,through the rolling hills of Navarra, the vineyards of La Rioja,the endless plains of Castile, before arriving finally in the greenvalleys and forests of Galicia. It ends on the magnificent squarebefore the western faade of the cathedral of Santiago deCompostela.

After manycenturies of near abandonment this ancient pilgrimage routesuddenly (and to the surprise of almost everybody) sprang back intolife in the latter years of the 20th century. Today it welcomespilgrims in numbers not seen since its heyday in the earlymiddle-ages.

The rapiddevelopment of new accommodation and other pilgrim resources inrecent years have made the Camino Francs one of the most easilyaccessible long-distance walks in the world. Nowadays people of allages and abilities walk this Camino, whether just the last 100km orfrom much further afield.

I last walked theCamino Francs in the summer of 2018. It was my fourth time walkingthis Camino end-to-end. It was a pleasant experience filledwith interesting encounters with people from all walks oflife, only slightly marred by an unforgiving bout of tendinitis (myfirst in many years of walking and a reminder to always drinkplenty of water!)

In the autumn Irewrote the guide based on my experiences. For this the 2020edition, I updated it again to take into account any changes whichhappened in the meantime. The 2020 edition is the ninth since theguide was first published in 2012.

If you have anycomments or suggestions about this book, or theres a questionyoud like to ask, you can contacted me at caminoguidecontact@gmail.com Im always happy to hearfrom my readers and its always useful to receive feedback frompeople who have actually used the book while walking theCamino.

I wish you everysuccess and Buen Camino!

Gerald Kelly Seville, January 2020

Many otherresources are available from our website www.caminoguide.net

If yourecurrently trying to decide what to bring with you on the Camino youmay find my packing blog useful, it contains information and adviceabout what clothes and equipment youll need, www.caminoguide.net/packing

Theres also aninteractive version of the guide with links to loads moreaccommodation options and the ability to book online throughBooking.com, its at www.caminoguide.net/guide

You can alsodownload a set of GPS files to use in a mapping app on your mobilephone. Just go to the Download page on the website and enter youremail address. Youll receive an email with links to the freeversion of this guide and links to download GPS files. The filescome in .KML format and we recommend you use the MAPS.ME app toview them. Its free and open source and available for both Androidand Apple (iOS) phones.

If youd like tohave a copy of this guide in PDF format, handy for reading on asmartphone or computer, send me and email caminoguidecontact@gmail.com and Ill send you the linksto download.

If you have anycomments or suggestions about this book, or there's a questionyou'd like to ask, you can contacted meat caminoguidecontact@gmail.com

I'm always happyto hear from my readers and it's always useful to receive feedbackfrom people who have actually used this book while walking theCamino.

The guide has aFacebook page at www.facebook.com/TheCaminoGuide where youcan do the usual Facebooky stuff, if you're into that kind ofthing!

The information ispresented like this:

Towns andvillages

The heading for atown or village or anyplace else with a pilgrim hostel looks likethis:

Zubiri isthe name of the village. It is 16km from the last place with apilgrim hostel, and if you walk at 4km per hour it will take you 4hours to walk that distance (4km is almost exactly 2 miles). Thisestimated walking speed is based on an average over the entire dayover typical terrain. Your actual walking speed may be verydifferent and many factors will affect it, principally: ascents,descents, mud, wind, injury and fatigue.

Use town andvillage headings when calculating the length of stages. Distancesare hostel-to-hostel, if there is only one hostel listed in aplaces, otherwise they're an approximation of the midpoint betweenhostels in a given place. Distances are rounded up or down to thenearest kilometre. Great care has been taken to make sure thedistances given are accurate.

Information aboutpilgrim hostels is given like this:

Private hostel(16, 10)Los Arancones, pass the Parish hostel,cross the main road then to the right of the church. Caf /restaurant. Good reports. Tel 947 581 485 Open 11 AM

This is a privatehostel, which sleeps 16, costs 10 and is open all year. Its nameis Albergue Los Arancones. (Albergue is Spanish forhostel). Next comes a description of how to find the hostel,locations are always described in relation to the Camino. So, whenyou're following the Camino through this village you'll cross amain road and then you'll see a church and the albergue is to theright of the church. After the location we describe the facilitiesthe albergue has (besides basic ones, see next paragraph), followedby any comments. A phone number is given when it may be useful toreserve ahead or in winter to check if a particular hostel is open.Please remember that generally only private hostels acceptreservations, and that phone numbers will be of limited use to youif you don't speak at least a little Spanish. It opens at 11AM.

The price given isthe price quoted for a bed in a dormitory in summer. Outside ofpeak season you may get it cheaper.

Unless otherwisestated all pilgrim hostels have the following basicfacilities:
- running water
- hot showers
- electricity
- beds
- toilets
- heating
The opening dates given are checked every year, however, pleasebear in mind that, especially in the case of private and smallhostels, opening dates vary at the whim of the owner /administrator and some hostels close unannounced during off-peaktimes (for more details see