3 Berantevilla to Olite
Stage 1 Berantevilla to Peñacerrada
Stage 2 Peñacerrada to Bernedo
Stage 3 Bernedo to Santa Cruz de Campezo
Stage 4 Santa Cruz de Campezo to Los Arcos
Stage 5 Los Arcos to Larraga
Stage 6 Larrage to Olite
4 Olite to Murillo de Gállego
Stage 1 Olite to Ujué
Stage 2 Ujué to Sos del Rey Católico
Stage 3 Sos del Rey Católico to Petilla de Aragón
Stage 4 Petilla de Aragón to Biel
Stage 5 Biel to Murillo de Gállego
5 Murillo de Gállego to Graus
Stage 1 Murillo de Gállego to Loarre
Stage 2 Loarre to Bolea
Stage 3 Bolea to Arguis
Stage 4 Arguis to Nocito
Stage 5 Nocito to Paúles de Sarsa
Stage 6 Paúles de Sarsa to Ligüerre de Cinca
Stage 7 Ligüerre de Cinca to Tierrantona
Stage 8 Tierrantona to Salinas de Trillo
Stage 9 Salinas de Trillo to Graus
6 Graus to Gironella
Stage 1 Graus to Lascuarre
Stage 2 Lascuarre to Puente de Montañana
Stage 3 Puente de Montañana to Àger
Stage 4 Àger to Hostal Roig
Stage 5 Hostal Roig to Messanés
Stage 6 Massanés to Oliana
Stage 7 Oliana to Cambrils
Stage 8 Cambrils to Sant Llorenç de Morunys
Stage 9 Sant Llorenç de Morunys to Sant Lleïr de la Vall d’Ora
Stage 10 Sant Lleïr de la Vall d’Ora to L’Espunyola
Stage 11 L’Espunyola to Gironella
7 From Gironella to the coast
Stage 1 Gironella to Lluçà
Stage 2 Lluçà to Alpens
Stage 3 Alpens to Ripoll
Stage 4 Ripoll to Sant Pau de Segúries
Stage 5 Sant Pau de Segúries to Oix
Stage 6 Oix to Besalú
Stage 7 Besalú to Banyoles
Stage 8 Banyoles to Orriols
Stage 9 Orriols to Sant Martí d’Empúries
Appendix A Route summary tables
Appendix B A Spanish coast-to-coast
Appendix C Useful contacts
Approaching Noguera-Ribagorçana (Section 6, Stage 3) in the Sierra del Montsec
INTRODUCTION
The Pyrenees from Lluçà (Section 7, Stage 1)
The Sendero Historico (or GR1) is a trail that combines great scenery with a gentle lesson in Spain’s fascinating history. Spain has an impressive selection of long-distance paths and experienced Spanish walkers would tell you that this is the best of them – little known outside Spain as it may be.
Traversing the north of Spain it sits in the shadow of world’s most famous walk, the Way of Saint James (the ‘Camino di Santiago’), and offers a completely different experience. The ‘Camino’ had one aim: to get pilgrims to Santiago de Compostela as quickly as possible. It’s a sort of medieval motorway. The GR1, on the other hand, is a relatively modern invention and it’s in no rush. There is nothing direct about this route. Designed for walkers, it meanders through some of the best scenery northern Spain has to offer and, at the same time, visits key locations in the development of modern Spain.
Walking in Spain is a special experience. Spain was the last country in Western Europe to experience rural depopulation, and the remnants of an ancient infrastructure where everyone walked are still there. The GR1 follows paths and trails that, until the 1960s, were the main way people and their animals moved from village to village. Although, sadly, the days when every village had a bar, cantina or hostal have now gone, there are still just enough to make walking from place to place the best way to travel.
Travelling from west to east across Spain, the Sendero starts at the Puerto de Tarna, a pass on the regional border between the Asturias and Castilla y León, heads east along the southern flank of the Cantabrian Mountains, the plain of Navarre and the foothills of the Pyrenees (‘Prepirinio’ in Spanish) and then finishes on the Mediterranean coast at Sant Martí d’Empúries near L’Escala. Although it’s a long walk, some 1250km, and mountainous, involving over 39,000m of climb, it’s not difficult. If you’re reasonably fit, the only thing you need to enjoy it is time.
The route crosses six Spanish ‘Autonomous Regions’ – the components of what is a very federal country. The original idea was to establish a coast-to-coast walk from the Atlantic to the Mediterranean, but the first two regions on the route – Asturias and Galicia – didn’t buy into the vision hence the Puerto de Tarna start. For those walkers who want to dip their toes in both oceans this guide
