Where does the Camino Begin? The St. Jean-Pied-de-Port fetish

Route Napoléon, 1998

©eop

Why and how did the peculiar idea that the Camino to Santiago de Compostela somehow starts at the  French tourist-trap St. Jean Pied-de-Port get its start? Most of the guidebooks in English describe the route of the Camino Francés from that point onward (though at least one of them, the CSJ guide, discourages starting there), and all too many reminiscences of walking the route describe the horrors of the Pyrenees crossing  following the Route Napoléon as the first day on the Camino. Several pilgrims of my acquaintance have either terminated their walk at Roncesvalles or seriously considered doing so because of the rigors of beginning in St. Jean, even when walking the Valcarlos route, lower in elevation and somewhat safer in bad weather, into Spain.

While St. Jean Pied-de-Port has its charms, the Route Napoléon over the Pyrenees is the worst of all possible trails for a pilgrim, especially one from outside Europe (or from more distant corners of that continent) to begin the walk to Santiago. Arriving late in the afternoon after a long flight or set of flights and then a long train, taxi, or bus trip, the pilgrim begins the next morning a 25 km alpine hike including a nearly 1300 meter climb followed by a nearly 400 meter descent into Roncesvalles. Especially enjoyable and easy if one comes directly from North America, out of shape from several days of travel and with a 6-9 hour jet lag to recover from! In fact, that combination of distance and elevation change is likely to tax a hiker who is in first-class condition. If penitence is the goal, why not get off the plane in London, walk to Dover, swim the channel, and then walk on to St. Jean? At the foot of the Route Napoléon, the North American pilgrim would then be in reasonable condition to face the Pyrenees crossing.

In the Middle Ages, only the relatively few pilgrims from the local parish would have started in St. Jean. Almost all others following the route would have had days of walking behind them with the consequent conditioning. And those pilgrims were more accustomed to walking and heavy exercise in their daily lives than most modern people are. Following the path of least resistance, early walkers would have likely selected the lower and somewhat less challenging Valcarlos route. Once in Spain, only one section of the Camino Francés offers a similar challenge, the climb to O Cebreiro, and that comes well into the route, after the pilgrim is accustomed to walking carrying a pack (and it is easy to arrange for transport of the backpack to O Cebreiro from Villafranca del Bierzo) and climbing.

And for all the rigors of alpine hiking it demands of the pilgrim, the vistas afforded by the Route Napoléon are pretty but hardly awesome. The true grandeur of the Pyrenees is not apparent until one gets quite a distance further east. The far western Pyrenees have a landscape not too different from the mountains of West Virginia, while the eastern portions compare favorably to the more rugged parts of the Rockies or the North Cascades. If one wishes to include some true Alpine walking as part of their Camino, it would be better to start in Pau, Oloron, or at the top of the Somport Pass, all readily accessible by public transport. Uphill to Somport is challenging but gentler and far more gradual than the uphill out of St. Jean. Downhill from the top of Somport to Jaca is a beautiful walk, and it is followed by several days along the bucolic and lovely Camino Aragonés, with a view of the high Pyrenees in the distance, before joining the Camino Francés at Puente la Reina.

The St. Jean fetish has bothered me since I first walked the Camino in 1998 and discovered what a terrible place it is to begin. My second walk started at Oloron via Somport to Jaca, and it was a far more satisfactory beginning. The Somport route is quite as historic and culturally important as that through Roncesvalles. Some pilgrims from far western Europe, the ones who did not make part of their trip by sea or follow the coastal route,  passed through St. Jean. A huge number of pilgrims from Italy, the Rhone Valley and parts of Europe north and east of there, including Poland, Switzerland, Scandinavia and much of Germany, crossed the mountains at Somport.

Why then do so many walkers work so very hard to arrange transport to St. Jean in order to face the unnecessary rigors of the Route Napoléon? It was but one of the routes into Spain in the great age of pilgrimages, but it has few special distinctions other than offering a somewhat lower pass than is available to the east. The convergence of the St. Jean and Somport routes at Puente la Reina really marks the commencement of the Camino Francés suggesting that the Camino begins there. Most Spaniards consider they have done the entire Camino when they start at Roncesvalles. Starting at St, Jean, in short, makes no sense!

From a practical point of view, using public transport it is easier to get to Pamplona than Puente la Reina, and as a matter of time and personal conditioning, I plan to begin this autumn's walk at Pamplona. If I had the extra time and felt I was in condition to do climbing early in the Camino, I would begin in France at Oloron St. Marie. If it were absolutely essential to pass through St. Jean, I would arrange to do a week of walking on the Chemin in France prior to the ascent on the Route Napoléon.

Camino Aragonés near Ruesta

©eop