Camino Aragones here I come

Somport in the Pyrenees - where my Camino begins

I leave  Durban on Sunday 16 September for my second Camino, this time following a different route, the Camino Aragones,until it joins with the Camino Frances at Abanos.  I arrive in Madrid on Monday 17th at 1.45 pm, catch a bus to the Madrid train station, then takea train to Zaragoza, the capital of the Aragon region.  From there I catch the 7.00 pm bus to Jaca, arriving at 9.30 pm.  I stay the night in an albergue and then catch the bus at 8.30 am the next morning to Somport, to begin walking at 9.30 am.

The Camino Aragones is 170 km through Aragon, eventually meeting up with the Camino Frances at Abanos..  It starts on the 1640 m high Pyreneen pass of Somport, which is on the Spanish side of the Pyrenees on the French border. Somport is basically a skiing resort.  The Camino Aragones follows the Rio Aragon and  at Jaca it swings westwards into the Canal de Berdun, the wide valley of Aragon. This is an historically rich area, associated with the foundation of the Spanish state in 1469 with the marriage of the King of Aragon and Isabella of Castille .  It gained particlar importance during the recapture of areas of Spain occupied by the Moors.

This is a map of The Camino Aragones, starting off at Somport in the north-east and ending at Obanos in the north west.  From there I join the Camino Frances