Hi, Kahu,
Jan's answer is in a post entitled "Starting the Camino Aragones in France." If you go to the Camino Aragones section, I think you'll see it. But I've pasted in Jan's stages for you here. I hope to walk this way in September, so I'll look forward to hearing from you about it!
Here's the text of Jan's earlier post:
Below the route we walked from Lourdes in France to Puente la Reina in Spain in June 2007 via the Somport Pas:
First our stages:
day 1: from Lourdes to Asson, 24 km, 7 hours incl. rest, Asson has
pilgrim accommodation.
day 2: from Asson to Arudy, 19 km, 6:45 hours, Arudy has B&B facilities
and camp site.
day 3: from Arudy to Oloron-Ste.Marie, 23 km, 7:45 hours, O.S.M. has
pilgrim accommodation.
day 4: from Oloron-Ste.Marie to Sarrance, 21 km, 8 hours, Sarrance has a
monastery, phone in advance!
day 5: from Sarrance to Borce: 22 km, 6:45 hours, Borce has pilgrim
accommodation.
day 6: from Borce to Canfranc Estacion, 25 km, 9 hours, Canfranc Est
has privat refugio.
day 7: from Canfranc Estacion to Jaca: 25 km, 6:30 hours, Jaca has
refugio.
day 8: from Jaca to Arres, 25 km, 7:45 hours, Arres has refugio.
day 9: from Arres to Ruesta, 28 km, 8 hours, Ruesta has refugio.
day 10: from Ruesta to Sanguesa, 22 km, 6:45 hours, Sanguesa has
refugio.
day 11: from Sanguesa to Izco: 18 km, 5:30 hours, Izco has refugio.
day 12: from Izco to Tiébas: 23 km, 6:15 hours, Tiébas has refugio.
day 13: from Tiébas to Puente la Reina: 18 km, 5:30 hours, Puente la
Reina has refugio.
We camped two times, in Lourdes (lot of camp sites) and Arudy (camping municipal, no facilities, only a water point!!, so free) All the other places I thought to camp, we did not do so because the camp sites were too far from town or at the wrong side. Our advice:
do not take your camp gear with you!!
The signs to follow along the route in France are sometimes very confusing: signs with
'voie de Piemont' (yellow, arrow-like posts), GR signs (red and white paint), shells are thrown together. You have to know your directions, carefully seek your way, especially when walking in woods. One time, after Oloron Ste. Marie we came in a wood, where they were exploring, we had to split up two times to find some sign!
From the border of Spain, the Somport-Pass, it is easy again, just follow the yellow arrows!
The way: from Lourdes to Oloron-Ste Marie it is about 40% walking on foot paths, 60% pavement, much ups and downs, but not very high. If the weather is (or was) wet, some paths in the woods are muddy or when going through fields and these fields are not mowed, you will be wet up to your waist.
From Oloron-Ste.Marie the route goes up to the Somport-Pass through the "Val d'Aspe", the valley of the river Aspe. We walked a lot on the main road through that valley, N 134, specially
from Sarrance, because signs along the route warned not to go on the foot path for safety reasons due to the heavy rainfall early 2007.
We did not stay in the refugio on the Somport-Pass because otherwise we
had to walk to Jaca 32 km, only descending, so we divided the stages Borce to Canfranc Estacion and Canfranc Estacion to Jaca into two stages of 25 km. From Borce it is ascending 18 km and descending to Canfranc Est. 7 km. From Canfranc Est. it is only descending to Jaca, so rather heavy!!
The day after Jaca we did not go to the monastery of St. Juan de la Pena, but walked straight westward along the N 140, only the last 3 km of that day were not paved, climbing up to Arres. Arres to Puente la Reina it is walking along quiet roads and foot paths, sometimes the foot paths can be muddy and even slippery (when we walked there), so one (or two) trekking poles
can be helpful.
The accommodation: in Lourdes one has a lot of possibilities, hotels, pensions, B&B and huge pilgrim houses. In Asson there is one gite d'etape on your left side when entering the village (near the church), you have to make a phone call to the number on the sign and wait a couple of minutes. In Oloron Ste.Marie there are two gites d'etape, both in the 'Rue de Revol', but it has more possibilities.
If you want to sleep in the monastery in Sarrance (you can make a meal there yourself, they do not serve you a meal) you have to call one day in advance, but there is also a pension/restaurant. Borce has a little chapel (St.James) with gite d'etape for 6 persons and one little bar/foodstore. The chapel/gite is the first building on the left side when entering the village!
Jan Brilleman
