Camino Francés
20.7 km, 288 m up and 390 m down, through 3 places, 2 of which have somewhere to sleep. Where you stop is up to you.
Every place on the path in order, with the distance from Sansol. Most are too small to sleep in — a fountain, a chapel, a bar that may or may not be open — but they are what the day is actually made of.
The descent from Sansol to Torres del Río is steep and short. You'll wonder why anyone built a town at the bottom of a valley with so little defensive advantage — the answer is the Río Linares and easy access to water.
The stretch between here and Viana — about 11 km — has frequent ups and downs on exposed terrain. The only shade and service point is at the Capilla de la Virgen del Poyo, where a seasonal food kiosk sets up. Carry water.
Leaving Viana, you cross the border into La Rioja. The transition is gradual — the landscape opens up as you descend from Viana's ridge toward the Ebro valley. The Ermita de la Virgen de las Cuevas marks the old boundary, and from there the approach to Logroño is flat and increasingly urban.
A 17th-century ermita by the river, traditionally considered the border between Navarra and La Rioja (the official modern boundary is closer to Logroño, but nobody uses a paper factory as a landmark). A picnic area with …
Leaving Logroño requires navigating the city — plenty of arrows, but many are painted low on curbs and hard to spot before dawn. From the cathedral, head straight along Calle del Marqués de San Nicolás, pass through two roundabouts, and turn left at the third. The route crosses the western suburbs before reaching open country toward Navarrete.
Distance, climb and descent are measured along the GPS track for this camino — 341 recorded points across this span, the same track the app carries. The town-to-town figures in my data put it at 20.8 km.
Esta entidad ha sido beneficiaria de una ayuda del Programa de incentivos a la movilidad eficiente y sostenible (MOVES III), gestionado por la Xunta de Galicia a través del Instituto Enerxético de Galicia (INEGA) en el marco del Real Decreto 266/2021, y cofinanciada por la Unión Europea — NextGenerationEU, dentro del Plan de Recuperación, Transformación y Resiliencia.