Markings on Baztan

[MickMac]

Is the Baztan well marked.

 

[Mark McCarthy]

I made one wrong turn which cost me about 2km and there are few points where you have to trust the signs will reappear and they do.

 

[timr]

@MickMac I agree with @Mark McCarthy - there is the occasional possibility of making a mistake(!) but it is fundamentally well marked, thanks I presume to the dedication of local helpers. Two or three times you pass through a forest and this is always and everywhere a little challenging for waymarking. BUT - a lovely quiet route.

 

[NualaOC]

Hi @MickMac, welcome to the Baztan fan club!

It's well marked, but as @timr and @Mark McCarthy said, you need to be careful in a few places. These are my recollections:
1. For the first couple of days, there are signs for a few walking routes - make sure you pay attention and only follow the Baztan ones.
2. If you stay in Esplette, don't follow the arrows when you leave the next morning. From what I can remember, they are for pilgrims wishing to connect with the Camino del Norte in Irun. It's better to follow the road signs for Urdax - you'll connect with the route a few kms later. Alternatively, there's a more rural road that runs roughly parallel to the main one (easily seen on google maps). It also connects with the Camino.
3. If you take the alternative 'mas dura' route from Berroeta, the markings are very sparse and faded. It's a good idea to have GPS tracks on your phone - e.g. the ones from the Ray y Rosa website.

The Buen Camino app is very helpful for those moments when you aren't 100% sure if you're on the right track.

Nuala

 

[MickMac]

Thanks Nuala.

Just read your old posts great help and will be going early next year , always like to plan ahead, hope all is well.

Best Regards

Mick

 

[MickMac]

Nuala

Just a quick question did you have to go off route to stay in Esplette, might go early to catch pepper festival. ?

 

[timr]

@MickMac You don't have to go off route to get to Espelette, but you will surely find there is no vacant accommodation there during the festival. It is a pretty little town which drags every last ounce it can out of its appellation d'origine contrôlée pepper.
Don't get TOO excited......
You can buy T-shirts, baseball caps, place mats, pyjamas,six foot inflatable plastic peppers etc. I bought a little jar of the peppers and put it in a deep side pocket of my rucksack. I found it there unopened, two or three caminos later!!

 

[NualaOC]

Nuala

Just a quick question did you have to go off route to stay in Esplette, might go early to catch pepper festival. ?

Hi @MickMac, Esplette is slightly off the route, as you can see on the Gronze map. However, most pilgrims stay there, rather than in Souraïde. The waymarking will take you very easily to Esplette, but it's not so reliable for getting back on the trail the next day.

As @timr said, it's a touristy place with lots of pepper-related merchandise. I didn't buy a jar as they're readily available in any good deli at home - but I was very excited about the dark chocolate with peppers in the artisan chocolate factory! I imagine that the pepper festival would be good fun, but probably insanely busy with bus tours etc.

Happy planning and Buen Camino!

 

[MickMac]

@MickMac You don't have to go off route to get to Espelette, but you will surely find there is no vacant accommodation there during the festival. It is a pretty little town which drags every last ounce it can out of its appellation d'origine contrôlée pepper.
Don't get TOO excited......
You can buy T-shirts, baseball caps, place mats, pyjamas,six foot inflatable plastic peppers etc. I bought a little jar of the peppers and put it in a deep side pocket of my rucksack. I found it there unopened, two or three caminos later!!

timr.

Will that "six foot inflatable plastic pepper" fit on my Ryan Air flight?

 

[Rick of Rick and Peg]

timr.

Will that "six foot inflatable plastic pepper" fit on my Ryan Air flight?

Ask if they come with a paddle.

 

[VNwalking]

It's mostly well marked but we got off track once by missing a faded arrow guiding us to a smaller turn-off to going left off a larger two-track path.
As Nuala says, when you are leaving Esplette, a track on your phone would be useful. Another place where that's so is after the pass (on the way down to Lantz), where there are a welter of different track choices which can be confusing.

 

[Afri-Can]

We found the markings for Baztan quite good and only had a problem once at Souraide. If you look at the attached photo, we somehow came down the hill on the right and went into town while we should have come up the main road and up the hill on the right before going into the town. The little signboard is a little confused as it shows the Baztan going into town and up the hill.

Luckily we made the mistake, went into town and had lunch at the hotel there.

 

[NualaOC]

We found the markings for Baztan quite good and only had a problem once at Souraide. If you look at the attached photo, we somehow came down the hill on the right and went into town while we should have come up the main road and up the hill on the right before going into the town. The little signboard is a little confused as it shows the Baztan going into town and up the hill.
View attachment 67186
Luckily we made the mistake, went into town and had lunch at the hotel there.

That’s really helpful information, @Afri-Can. I think you’re the first person so far to post here on the ‘official’ route through Souraïde. The rest of us walked via Esplette and didn’t detour back the next day. Thank you!

 

[Afri-Can]

That’s really helpful information, @Afri-Can. I think you’re the first person so far to post here on the ‘official’ route through Souraïde. The rest of us walked via Esplette and didn’t detour back the next day. Thank you!

Just to clarify ...... we were just following the Buen Camino app's route. The app clearly shows that you are not supposed to go into town but to cut left up the hill just before the roundabout at the entrance to the town. I wasn't looking at the app all the time but remembered that we had to turn left before the town and I think we made an early left turn up the hill at a road previous to the one we should have taken. We would have been OK because the 2 roads to the left intersect at the top of the hill but instead of making another sharp left along the route we went down the hill at the intersection with the 2nd road and ended up in town because there weren't signs at the top of the hill from where we came. But if one followed the route correctly one would not need a sign at that location.
We might also have misread the direction signs that you can see on the left of the road on the photo above but I'm pretty sure that it pointed the Baztan into town and up the hill. There are other routes around that area so we might have just misread them.
No harm done though. Sorry for the long confusing explanation.

 

[Afri-Can]

If posted a closeup of the sign post and you can see it shows both directions for the Baztan but with other routes (except if I'm reading it wrong).