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Guidebook to the 1250km of Spain's Sendero Historico (GR1), traversing northern Spain from Puerto de Tarna in the province of León in the west to the Mediterranean near L'Escala in Catalonia, through fascinating, varied landscapes and the Pyrenees foothills. Described in 53 stages, about 25km each in length, with detailed mapping.
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A guidebook to trekking the GR1 Sendero Histórico through northern Spain. Suitable for fit experienced trekkers, this quiet 1247km (775 mile) route stretches from Puerto de Tarna on the edge of the Pico de Europa National Park, across the southern flank of the Cantabrian Mountains, through the Basque Country and Catalunya, to Sant Martí d’Empúries on the Mediterranean coast, and can be completed in around two months.
The GR1 is divided into 53 stages of 11 to 36km (7–21 miles). These are presented in 7 sections, with start and end points that are easily accessed by public transport, for the benefit of those who wish to walk only part of the route. An extension to Finisterre and the Atlantic using GR routes is also included.
Map key
Overview map
Introduction
Topography of the route
Climate and vegetation
Agriculture and wildlife
History
What the trails are like
Staying in Spain
Eating in Spain
When to go
Breaking the GR1 into chunks
Planning your walk
What to take
Finding your way
Using this guide
The Sendero Historico
1 Puerto de Tarna to Reinosa
Stage 1 Puerto de Tarna to Salamon
Stage 2 Salamon to Prioro
Stage 3 Prioro to Camporredondo de Alba
Stage 4 Camporredondo de Alba to Cervera de Pisuerga
Stage 5 Cervera de Pisuerga to Brañosera
Stage 6 Brañosera to Reinosa
2 Corconte to Berantevilla
Stage 1 Corconte to Pedrosa de Valdeporres
Stage 2 Pedrosa de Valdeporres to Salazar
Stage 3 Salazar to Paresotas
Stage 4 Paresotas to Bóveda
Stage 5 Bóveda to Espejo
Stage 6 Espejo to Fontecha
Stage 7 Fontecha to Berantevilla
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
August 2024
Many thanks for this very helpful trip report from Stuart Smith, Waco, Texas
We picked Oliana as our stopping point as there was bus service from there to Andorra, and we wanted to visit Andorra before heading to Barcelona. We took a train to Pamplona and then a taxi to Sos to start our trip. We started in Sos rather than Olite as we had about 20 days allocated for hiking and starting in Sos would save a couple of days. This segment, which is a little over 400km, fit into our time schedule just fine. We took rest days in Rodellar and Graus.
We did not see any other hikers doing long sections of the GR-1. Many days we saw no one else. Between Rodellar and Paules de Sarsa we saw a number of hikers who seemed to be doing a 6-day loop.
Sec 5, stage 3 We stayed in Casa Loft Bergua in Arguis, which has several small apartments. It is on booking.com. There is a restaurant in the village but it is closed Mon and Tues. There is a vending machine outside the bar. Since we were there on a Monday, we carried food from the previous village, which we could cook in the kitchenette in the apartment.
Sec 5, stage 6 There is a bar in Arcusa. It is in the former city hall and appears to be a community run bar. There is also a new fancy boutique hotel in the village
There is a reroute from Castejon de Sobrarbe to go south of Pardina; however, one section is so overgrown with brambles near Latorre we cut through a field to get to Latorre and back to the road. So the description in the book actually works better than the reroute.
Sec 5, stage 7 We contacted Liguerre de Cinca about staying at one of their properties. We were there on a Saturday night in early May. There are two locations that are several kilometers apart. The property emailed us to explain that the big hotel on the lake is off limits on Saturdays due to weddings. The small hotel and campground at Liguerre are available on Saturday, but the restaurant at that location is not open in May. We carried food and stayed in a cabin so we would have a kitchen.
Sec 6, stage 1 We stayed near Laguarres in an excellent Casa Rural called Casa Cholavila, which is on booking.com. This makes for a short day from Graus and then a longer day the next day, but the Casa Cholavila owner will give you a ride to Lascuarre if you like. They don’t normally do supper but likely will if you arrange it beforehand, which is what we did. No place to eat in Laguarres. The owners are a Dutch/Spanish couple and she grew up up in Laguarres and they have moved back here. They have a really nice property with great gardens, and they grow a lot of the food.
Sec 6, stage 2 The GR-1 has been rerouted off the road if you take the shortcut skipping Luzás. The shortcut seems to be the official route now, according to the Aragonese website and the sign boards posted at the beginning and end of the stage. There are some overgrown sections. There are up-to-date tracks on Wikiloc from the Aragones Mountain Club when they hiked it last year. In fact, they hiked all the sections in Aragon and posted the tracks on Wikiloc.
Sec 6, stage 3 There is a coffee and gift shop at the north entrance to the Congost de Mont Rebei park that sells snacks.
Restaurant del Congost in Corca is closed and for sale.
Sec 6, stage 5 Masai Massanes is closed.
We walked to Vilanova de Meia rather than doing the Hostal Roig version since we knew that Masai Massanes was closed. Rather than try to arrange transportation from and to Massanes just to get in those last two sections to Oliana, we decided to walk about 22km down to Artesa de Segre, which is on a highway with plenty of transportation options. We found some dirt roads on a map, which kept us off the paved road most of the way. From Artesa we took a bus to Oliana where we stayed at the delightful Hostal Victor and then went on to Andorra. So the net result was that we missed the last two stages that we had planned to do from Hostal Roig to Oliana but we missed only one day of walking since we walked the day from Vilanova down to Artesa de Segre.
July 2024
Thank you to Gill for the following updates:
In Sant Llorenc I strongly recommend Casa Rural Cirerer (booking.com) - almost on the GR1 as it comes into the village and a really lovely little house. There are good shops for self-catering.
Mas de Pujol is still open - quite quirky and a massive walkers' dinner!
Cal Majoral near Espanyola only opens the restaurant for dinner on Fridays and Saturdays. The food is very good but it's essential to tell them you want dinner.
Lluca no longer has accommodation so we detoured to Prats de Lluçanes - there's a very comfortable, small hotel (Hotelet) with friendly owners - they sorted out a taxi for us when it transpired the bus to Alpens that we'd planned to take almost certainly didn't exist on Sundays, despite what the bus company said on the internet. There's a good bar nearby for dinner and breakfast.
Alpens - only self-catering accommodation and mostly only accepts booking for 2 or more nights so we skipped a day (LLuca to Alpens) and taxi-ed there. Taxi driver Joan lives in Prats, was v helpful and speaks good English: 649 996 742/630 994 933.
Bar Casino is I think where the Fonda used to be and does a big trade serving brunches etc to cyclists.
The Hotelet in Sant Joan de les Abadesses is fine - they do breakfast from 8am, which is a plus. Getting dinner is difficult midweek - as it was almost everywhere.
There's a new-looking hotel more or less half-way between Sant Joan and Sant Pau de Seguries, Les Planes del Grau. It is right on the GR1 and seemed very tidy and pleasant, with a pool and restaurant.
The hostal in Oix is still there although the bar/restaurant was closed to non-residents and I wondered if the owner was winding down. It would be such a shame if that closed!
As ever the GR1 was very quiet indeed. No major issues although here and there it's been re-routed a bit. The stretch from Ripoll to Sant Pau was my least favourite of the trip, with so much of the walk near the road. We had a good time in Camprodon (2-3 hours on from Sant Pau on a well signposted trail - then a direct PR (also well-marked, good views, quite steep downhill at times) from Camprodon to Oix after a couple of days off).
Camprodon is a good little town with an attractive old part and famous bridge as well as very good bus links - we took a tiny bus to Setcases on one "day off" and had a beautiful walk back with stunning views. With hindsight I might have skipped Ripoll to Sant Pau and taken the train direct from Ripoll to Ribes de Freser and walked from there to Camprodon - it's supposed to be a lovely walk and only about 21km.
Anyway, Besalu was a great place to finish our GR1 adventures - the mention of Sos del Rey Catolico in your book took us back to the Aragon leg that we did before Covid and made us nostalgic for all the lovely places we've had the privilege to visit over the years on the Sendero.
October 2023
Many thanks to Louise Heinemann for her updates on Stages 1–3 of the GR1. Louise managed the route without GPS and used the guide and waymarks.
Stage 1
On leaving Olite, the route is via an underpass below the railway which fills with water - locals appear to ignore it and cross the railway line.
There appears to be an error in the text, with the Canal de Navarre being placed a paragraph and an hour before it actually arrives.
A wildfire in June 2022 burned a huge area on the other side of the canal - the path with waymarks is clear at the moment but following it may become more difficult as the vegetation returns. There is an old cross at the junction not mentioned in the guide but a useful landmark.
Stage 2
There is now an obvious zig-zag descent into Gallipienzo. Opposite the new hotel there is a waymark and a path
The first half of the route to Caseda may have been changed slightly. It was adequately waymarked but waymarked from the opposite direction (i.e walking East to West) so check behind as well as front. Overall, the route to Caseda is now clearly waymarked following minor rough roads. A bit tedious at times, but absolutely obvious.
Stage 3
Louise had to climb the gate described in para 3 page 143 and local hunters are clearly trying to discourage hikers - the hunting season is between October and February.
Accommodation
Ujue – Casa Rurale Isolina had a great view and friendly people
Sos del Rey Catolico – the youth hostel has excellent views, friendly staff, free tea and coffee and is only 20 euros. It was virtually empty; probably best to check as they do have large groups of children.
Petilla de Aragon – Hostal Santiago Ramon y Cajal, run by Roberto and his wife, great value and strongly recommended
Biel – The town hostel is still operational
Aguero - the bar has closed, and the sandwich maker only seems to operate only in July and August, Louise recommends the casa rural, the Villa Garibaldi (tel 658817922) on the edge of town.
Riglos – The refugio is strongly recommended
October 2023
Fiestas are a huge feature of Spanish community life and every town and village has a least one a year.
Depending on how hard your day's walking has been they can either be a wonderful distraction or a sleep-destroying pain in the neck. Louise Heinemann recently returned from walking the GR1 and found September a particularly busy fiesta month.
Fiestas are a huge feature of Spanish community life and every town and village has a least one a year.
Depending on how hard your day's walking has been they can either be a wonderful distraction or a sleep-destroying pain in the neck. Louise Heinemann recently returned from walking the GR1 and found September a particularly busy fiesta month.
April 2023
The author, John Hayes, has produced accommodation updates to the GR1. These are best accessed via his blog
June 2022
In Arguis - p168 - the Hostal Migalon is closed and looking for a new owner, as an alternative walk down the road to Hotel El Capricho (extra 2km).
The castle at Liguerre de Cinca (p183) is now open only for weddings - consider Casa A Chaminera in Escanilla run by the very helpful Ana (974500166 or 629274250).
p264 - the hostal marked on the map is closed and there are no facilities available between the start and finish of this stage.
p272 - the cave museum at Serinya is probably overrated by locals and does not appear to be open any more.
p275 - the signs have been removed on the way into of Orriols and given dogs it may be better to join the N11 at K13 at walk into the town that way. The hotel is now closed but alternative accommodation is available at Bascara where the Hostal Fluvia is recommended.
p276 - to avoid walking along the road after the village, head into Llampaies, and join a forest trail that starts near the centre and rejoins the route further along.
July 2016
John Hayes is keeping update information for his book listed on his own blog.
This can be seen at: http://www.johnhayeswalks.com/p/the-gr1.html
John Hayes is a retired management consultant with degrees from Liverpool University and University College London. Immediately after finishing work in 2011 he embarked on an epic 5,000km trek across Europe, walking from Tarifa in Spain to Budapest. John has written for numerous walking and trekking magazines, and has written four walking guides and a cycling guide for Cicerone.
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