St Jean Pied de Port – Pamplona 80km

El Camino de Santiago, or more specifically its French passage, Camino Frances, is probably the most famous hiking trail in the world. This 800km long hiking trail starts in France, from St. Jean Pied de Port. The trail goes over the Pyrenees Mountains, across the Northern Spanish highlands, finally ending at Santiago de Compostela near the Atlantic coast. The name “Santiago” refers to ST Jacob, San Jago in Spanish, whose gravesite was the birthplace of a European pilgrimage culture.

Even though today’s hiker’s motives have at least partly been a victim of ‘secularization’, there is still a lot of intriguing mystique surrounding the legendary Santiago road. The hiking trail used today is following very closely the original El Camino de Santiago, that pilgrimage trail from the middle ages which traverses the northern parts of Spain.

My first day dawned a bit rainy, which is usual in North Spain at this time of the year. But that didn’t seem to harm the feeling of the morning, many wayfarers started their walk smiling. Day’s route goes over the Pyrenees ending up in Pamplona. But the legendary bullrun won’t happen until next month. Maybe it’s better like this.