Walking between St Jean Pied de Port and Valcarlos

[Tim.proctor]

By way of introduction I am Tim Proctor ex owner of Errecaldia B & B in St Jean Pied de Port now retired and living just off the pilgrim route on the frontier Arneguy/Valcarlos. My post concerns two issues, the first is general security while walking on a public road. First point always wear brightly coloured clothing, not drab colours. Secondly always walk on the side of the road facing on coming traffic in other words always walk on the left side of the road. This advice is general but most important on the D933/N135 St Jean Pied de Port to Pamplona road which is a major highway (it might not look it but it is) and used by heavy trucks and coaches.
My second point is that you should not be walking on the D933/N135, you should have left that road immediately after leaving Uharte Cize which is a suburb, if you like, of SJPdP. There is a clearly signposted turn off the D933 on the right which takes you down a short very steep slope then across a small river onto a bridge. After that you simply follow the signs along the traffic free back roads until you reach the border shopping area of Pekotxeta. Walk through the shopping area then take the road which runs between the river on your left and the Repsol service station to your right, DO NOT CROSS THE BRIDGE. This lovely little back road with banks covered with wild flowers will take you to Arnequy where you should cross the main road (D933 now N135). Leaving the frontier police station to your left cross the river and take the road up the side of the fronton (Pelota court) then follow this lovely little road all the way to Valcarlos. Please take this advice and be safe.

 

[Rick of Rick and Peg]

Dark blue line (part is hidden) - Camino
Light blue line - is actually a river
Red line - the border (the river forms it here)

 

[Camo]

By way of introduction I am Tim Proctor ex owner of Errecaldia B & B in St Jean Pied de Port now retired and living just off the pilgrim route on the frontier Arneguy/Valcarlos. My post concerns two issues, the first is general security while walking on a public road. First point always wear brightly coloured clothing, not drab colours. Secondly always walk on the side of the road facing on coming traffic in other words always walk on the left side of the road. This advice is general but most important on the D933/N135 St Jean Pied de Port to Pamplona road which is a major highway (it might not look it but it is) and used by heavy trucks and coaches.
My second point is that you should not be walking on the D933/N135, you should have left that road immediately after leaving Uharte Cize which is a suburb, if you like, of SJPdP. There is a clearly signposted turn off the D933 on the right which takes you down a short very steep slope then across a small river onto a bridge. After that you simply follow the signs along the traffic free back roads until you reach the border shopping area of Pekotxeta. Walk through the shopping area then take the road which runs between the river on your left and the Repsol service station to your right, DO NOT CROSS THE BRIDGE. This lovely little back road with banks covered with wild flowers will take you to Arnequy where you should cross the main road (D933 now N135). Leaving the frontier police station to your left cross the river and take the road up the side of the fronton (Pelota court) then follow this lovely little road all the way to Valcarlos. Please take this advice and be safe.

But AFTER Valcarlos it looks like N135 is only road? correct?

 

[Tim.proctor]

But AFTER Valcarlos it looks like N135 is only road? correct?

After Valcarlos the route goes on and off the N135.

 

[Tim.proctor]

By way of introduction I am Tim Proctor ex owner of Errecaldia B & B in St Jean Pied de Port now retired and living just off the pilgrim route on the frontier Arneguy/Valcarlos. My post concerns two issues, the first is general security while walking on a public road. First point always wear brightly coloured clothing, not drab colours. Secondly always walk on the side of the road facing on coming traffic in other words always walk on the left side of the road. This advice is general but most important on the D933/N135 St Jean Pied de Port to Pamplona road which is a major highway (it might not look it but it is) and used by heavy trucks and coaches.
My second point is that you should not be walking on the D933/N135, you should have left that road immediately after leaving Uharte Cize which is a suburb, if you like, of SJPdP. There is a clearly signposted turn off the D933 on the right which takes you down a short very steep slope then across a small river onto a bridge. After that you simply follow the signs along the traffic free back roads until you reach the border shopping area of Pekotxeta. Walk through the shopping area then take the road which runs between the river on your left and the Repsol service station to your right, DO NOT CROSS THE BRIDGE. This lovely little back road with banks covered with wild flowers will take you to Arnequy where you should cross the main road (D933 now N135). Leaving the frontier police station to your left cross the river and take the road up the side of the fronton (Pelota court) then follow this lovely little road all the way to Valcarlos. Please take this advice and be safe.

I will add this photo to help in finding the route. If when leaving St Jean Pied de Port on the D933 you come to this sign stop, reverse your steps by about 50 metres and take the signposted route to your left.

 

[Dani7]

Thank you so much Tim. I plan on walking this section in 2026. Very helpful.

 

[Camo]

I will add this photo to help in finding the route. If when leaving St Jean Pied de Port on the D933 you come to this sign stop, reverse your steps by about 50 metres and take the signposted route to your left.

I have added all your route suggestions to my Web-App and in fact all sections were already active in Google, so here is a screenie of the "Virtual Tour" where Google has this turn as Step 7 - you can see the steep road and bridge

 

[CityBum]

I’m confused. Is this the marked route for the Camino? If so, don’t you just follow the shells and yellow arrows?

 

[RJM]

Good advice and may I add that pilgrims should not be listening to music or whatever while wearing ear buds/earphones while walking on, alongside or even near roadways throughout the entire Camino, whichever route you take. On my last Camino Frances I saw pilgrims doing that on several occasions. That practice completely blocks out the sound of approaching vehicles. If one cannot hear a vehicle approaching one cannot avoid getting struck by it. The old cause and effect bit. It also pretty much applies to the entire Camino route as most of the walking paths are shared by bicyclists and if you cannot hear the bicyclist approaching you increase your chance of collision. It also cancels out the sound of the warning bell.
Also, for the pilgrims that regularly walk in the early morning while it is still dark, I highly recommend they get a small strobe light to clip onto their backpack especially for the sections along the roadways. If you can't get a strobe, get a piece of reflective cloth to attach to the backpack.

 

[Tincatinker]

I’m confused. Is this the marked route for the Camino? If so, don’t you just follow the shells and yellow arrows?

Yes. And it is quite remarkable just how many people are incapable of doing that; especially in the early days of Camino. The turn-off that Tim refers to is frequently missed by people powering along the road with their eyes on the prize.

Once they've got lost a couple of times people start to pay more attention.

 

[Stephan the Painter]

Good advice and may I add that pilgrims should not be listening to music or whatever while wearing ear buds/earphones while walking on, alongside or even near roadways throughout the entire Camino, whichever route you take. On my last Camino Frances I saw pilgrims doing that on several occasions. That practice completely blocks out the sound of approaching vehicles. If one cannot hear a vehicle approaching one cannot avoid getting struck by it. The old cause and effect bit. It also pretty much applies to the entire Camino route as most of the walking paths are shared by bicyclists and if you cannot hear the bicyclist approaching you increase your chance of collision. It also cancels out the sound of the warning bell.
Also, for the pilgrims that regularly walk in the early morning while it is still dark, I highly recommend they get a small strobe light to clip onto their backpack especially for the sections along the roadways. If you can't get a strobe, get a piece of reflective cloth to attach to the backpack.

Have you ever walked around wearing ear buds next to roads? I didn't ever wear ear buds on the Camino, but I walk around my town often listening to podcasts. And you can easily hear cars. As a matter fact, the problem is that the cars coming by drown out the sound from those little earbuds.

The problem you are talking about would only occur if people had sophisticated whole ear sound deadening headphones.

That said, your advice to pay attention and not do things that would distract you is good advice. I wouldn't wear earbuds anywhere I thought there was a traffic risk.

 

[Texas Walker]

Good advice and may I add that pilgrims should not be listening to music or whatever while wearing ear buds/earphones while walking on, alongside or even near roadways throughout the entire Camino, whichever route you take. On my last Camino Frances I saw pilgrims doing that on several occasions. That practice completely blocks out the sound of approaching vehicles. If one cannot hear a vehicle approaching one cannot avoid getting struck by it. The old cause and effect bit. It also pretty much applies to the entire Camino route as most of the walking paths are shared by bicyclists and if you cannot hear the bicyclist approaching you increase your chance of collision. It also cancels out the sound of the warning bell.
Also, for the pilgrims that regularly walk in the early morning while it is still dark, I highly recommend they get a small strobe light to clip onto their backpack especially for the sections along the roadways. If you can't get a strobe, get a piece of reflective cloth to attach to the backpack.

"if you cannot hear the bicyclist approaching you increase your chance of collision. It also cancels out the sound of the warning bell"
What bell? More and more, the bikes don't use bells and seem not to have them. I remember a lady on a bike, with no bell, on the Portugues some years back, saying "Ding, Ding" as she rode along. I wish we could rely on the bike riders to shout out "buen camino" as they go, but sometimes they're looking at their phone keyboards and don't even know someone is in front of them. As they ride directly toward someone who is already clinging to the edge to let them pass.
/complaining.