Domi and I arrived in Obanos just before 3 this afternoon, the last day of our Chemin d'Arles / Camino Aragones.
We left Arles on Friday 1 April and have walked for 33 of the 34 days since then - taking one day off (Day 19) to explore Toulouse. According to our guidebook, we have walked just over 900 kms (we think maybe a little less) and avoided an additional 50-60 kms of bitumen road and traffic by taking a train or bus in and out of Montpelier, out of Toulouse and on the French side of the Col du Somport.
When we began this adventure, we thought our last day would end in Puente la Reina. Most reference books and websites say the Camino Aragones meets with the Camino Frances at Puente La Reina, just one or two said Obanos. Puente La Reina is at the end of the typical stages recommended by most Camino Frances guidebooks, and about three times the size of Obanos, so perhaps that's why it's more often cited as the end point. But we can confirm - having walked the path today - that the two Caminos come together in Obanos, and that's where we wanted to stay tonight to mark the end of our Arles / Aragones Way.
Judging by the number of pilgrims we have seen this afternoon - even staying in this quiet village - we are happy to be here rather than the larger Puente la Reina but mildly anxious about what we will encounter tomorrow when we walk 'upstream' to Pamplona, against the tide of pilgrims heading west. We both know the path and recall some narrow 'single file only' sections high up on a ridge. Hope we don't get knocked off the mountain. Yikes.
But back to our Camino. The French and I have enjoyed every day of the last 34. We loved the peacefulness of this path, the variety of the landscape, the at times challenging terrain, even the crazy winds high on the mountains. And the interesting people we met along the way - pilgrims and hospitaleros (both gite owners and volunteers). In fact, staying in a different town or village every night (bar our two nights in Toulouse) on this quite solitary route, we met more hospitaleros than pilgrims! We tallied up that in our 28 days in France we saw about a dozen pilgrims (including our friends Guy and Marrtine) and around the same number in our 6 days from Jaca to Obanas. Most often our encounters were in gites or albergues in the evenings; we rarely saw any other walkers during the day. And we loved it.
Of all the people we saw along The Way, there was just one whom we met on our first day and again on our last, and for some days in between - the 82 year old 'pelerin lorrain' (pilgrim from Lorraine) - Didier. There is something special about this quiet man that seems to touch everyone who crosses paths with him. That was certainly the case for The French and I. We were happy to have seen him every day since Jaca and especially today.
Didier is in Puente la Reina tonight. While he continues on his way west to Santiago, we will walk in the opposite direction to Pamplona, where we will meet our friend Raymond the Suisse. We have a date for 'un aperitif' at 7 at Cafe Iruna (the famous Hemingway haunt) in the Plaza del Castillo, and then tapas! More on Raymond and Pamplona tomorrow.
And the day after - we are heading to the coast and the Camino del Norte! Et nous marchons. And we walk.
Hasta luego
J X
