Shell motif Camino de Santiago

Camino Francés
from St Jean-Pied-du-Port
to Santiago de Compostela

 Shell motif
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Our 2004 programme
The development of this website in 2004 has been assisted by the Xunta de Galicia. These developments include: 8 new pages on the Camino Aragonés, the production of 32 French translations of the Camino Francés pages, 5 new pages on the Camino de Finisterre including the extension to Muxia, 6 new pages on the Camino Ingles, a new page giving details of the booklets on each of the Caminos in Galicia, and the development of our new classified index of Camino website which we hope will enable you to find quickly the websites which have the particular information about the Camino which you are interested in. This sponsorship is gratefully acknowledged.

The contribution this website is making to the needs of pilgrims is powefully demonstrated by the increase in traffic from 19,000 pages each month in September 2003 to 43,000 pages in September 2004.

Wendy's top tips for walkers - an indispensible guide before you start!
Other people's packing lists - Why is my pack heavier?
Read the first of our new contributed articles and poems
See our new poster with all the waymarks of the Camino!
New for 2004 - Postcards in packs of 10,100, or 1000
See our new Flowers of the Camino page
Map
The Camino Frances from St.-Jean-Pied-de-Port to Santiago de Compostela
(769 km = 480 miles)
  • This website is intended to complement the many excellent books, maps, and guides available commercially or through the national Confraternities listed in our links page
  • We hope that this site will be useful to those considering walking the Camino, to show them the conditions they can expect to encounter and the standards of the refugios. Please tell us if you have found it helpful in this way.
  • We also hope that it will be a useful reminder to those who have, like us, walked the Camino in the past. Please tell us
  • The first 7 pages of this site were posted in April 2002, and the last of the 30 pages covering the whole of the Camino Francés from St-Jean-Pied-du-Port to Santiago de Compostela were posted in mid-September 2002. Our future plans include translations into other languages, an additional page about the extension to Finsitere, and a page about the City of Santiago de Compostela.
  • If you would be interested in taking the digital photographs for any other parts of the Camino in France or Spain, please get in touch by Email
    We would welcome your feedback - particularly if you can identify any of the flowers I was keen to photograph but hopeless at naming.
  • We are most grateful to Verena Moser for translating many of our pages into German , to John Butt who translated all of the pages into Spanish in under a month, to Hideko Suzuki for the many Japanese pages , to Mila Torndahl for the Swedish pages , to Gilles Franqueville and Laure Castillou for the first French pages and to Barry Woudenberg and Arno Cuppen for the Dutch pages - these pages are indicated with a link in the list below. If you would like to help in translations to French, Italian, Dutch or any other language, please let us know
  • Buen camino to all our visitors - and please don't forget to register when you have reached Santiago!


A brief overview of the Camino        
The route         Waymarking         Packing list         Equipment notes        

The route divided into stages
The division of the route is purely arbitrary, though for most people it is constrained by the location of the refugios, whether they want to use the opportunities for sightseeing, particularly in the big cities., and whether they want rest days or half rest days. For example, there are no refugios between St.-Jean-Pied-de-Port and Roncesvalles, so you cannot do a lesser distance, and few people are inclined to do more! Pamplona, Burgos and Leon all have enough sights to fill several days if you have the time.

St.-Jean-Pied-de-Port
Stage 1 25 km - 58 pictures
Roncesvalles
Stage 2 26 km - 76 pictures
Larrasoana
Stage 3 15 km (to allow sightseeing
in Pamplona) - 36 pictures
Pamplona
Stage 4 25 km - 40 pictures
Puente la Reina
Stage 5 21 km - 24 pictures
Estella
Stage 6 22 km - 22 pictures
Torres del Rio
Stage 7 21 km - 28 pictures
Logroño
Stage 8 29 km (+40 km detour
to Clavijo) - 44 pictures
Nájera
Stage 9 21 km (plus a 40 km.
side trip to Yuso and Cañas
monasteries)- 28 pictures
Santo Domingo de la Calzada
Stage 10 23 km - 23 pictures
Belorado
 
Belorado
Stage 11 24 km - 29 pictures
San Juan de Ortega
Stage 12 27 km - 24 pictures
Burgos
Stage 13 39 km - 30 pictures
Castrojeriz
Stage 14 25 km - 28 pictures
Frómista
Stage 15 19 km - 20 pictures
Carrión de las Condes
Stage 16 38 km - 30 pictures
Sahagún
Stage 17 18 km - 10 pictures
El Burgo Raneros
Stage 18 19 km - 10 pictures
Mansilla de las Mulas
Stage 19 17 km - 16 pictures
León
Stage 20 22 km - 12 pictures
Villadangos
Stage 21 26 km - 34 pictures
Astorga
 
Astorga
Stage 22 21 km - 32 pictures
Rabanal del Camino
Stage 23 33 km - 50 pictures
Ponferrada
Stage 24 23 km - 38 pictures
Villafranco del Bierzo
Stage 25 28 km - 65 pictures
O Cebreiro
Stage 26 39 km - 29 pictures
Sarria
Stage 27 21 km - 46 pictures
Portomarín
Stage 28 24 km - 36 pictures
Palas de Rei
Stage 29 29 km - 42 pictures
Arzúa
Stage 30 39 km - 42 pictures
Santiago de Compostela
Page 31 42 pictures
The extension to Finistere
Page 32 48 pictures
The city of Santiago de Compostela
Waymarking
The waymarking along the route is, in general, extremely good. In France, the route from St.-Jean-Pied-de-Port is part of the long-distance GR65 footpath, and is marked by the red and white flash of the GR network. There are separate red and white to indicate changes of direction, and a red line crossed with a white one to indicate that you have taken the wrong turning. In Spain, the official mark is the stylised scallop shell on a blue background, which is often placed on the walls of houses well above eye level to indicate the route through villages and towns. In open country, one frequently encounters these signs are often found embedded in small concrete pillars. There are also signboards with this mark at the top, a pedestrian sign in the middle, and a direction arrow at the bottom; these are much used at road crossings. The red and white GR flashes are also found from time to time in Spain. However, the most common mark is a yellow arrow, which may be painted on trees, rocks, kerbstones, storm water gutters etc. Sometimes a yellow stripe is painted on trees as a continuation marker for reassurance. Some other waymarks incorporating the scallop shell can be found in the photographs.

Waymarking can never be perfect - logging operations appeared to have removed all the marks at two points on this trip, though it was reasonably obvious which way the path continued.

For pictures of many of the different varieties of waymarks, please visit our waymarks page
This page has had     visitors including yourself since 24 May 2002. Thank you for your visit - please come again!

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