24 May - Stage 4 - Oloron Ste Marie to Sarrance - 23 km

 Text from the brochure of the walk.

The Camino takes you south through the French countryside. (The path doesn't turn west until you leave Jaca, Spain, several days away). A lot of the Camino Aragones is on dirt paths and feels wilder than most places along the Camino Frances in Spain.

To leave Oloron Sainte Marie from the Cathedral, go over the Gave d ‘Aspe and bear right up rue Labarraque. From Oloron almost to the Col de Somport we follow the valley of Gave d’Aspe along the GR653.

There is a café and a restaurant at Eysus. At Saint-Christau, midway up the D918 is the Bar Hotel Au Bon Coin but nothing else (16 c church but no facilities). There are no facilities at Escot.
From Oloron Sainte Marie the route goes up to the Somport Pass through the "Val d'Aspe", the valley of the river Aspe. If it has been raining heavily, rather walk on the N 134 through the valley than on the GR 653 route because of possible slippery and muddy conditions. Although the path is clearly way marked and in good condition, there are some very narrow, rough and rocky places and sheer drops to the river below, so extreme care must be taken. If you suffer from vertigo or if the weather is wet, take the road – or the bus.

Sarrance is a lovely little town nestled in the foothills of the mountains on an old main road. The hotel is right at the entrance to the village. It has a restaurant for lunch time diners, a post office and bus station. From the tiny bridge chapel of Notre Dame de la Pierre, a flight of steps leads down to the fountain beside the Gave d’Aspe at the site of the miraculous discovery of the Black Virgin (the Sanctuary of Notre-Dame-de-Sarrance founded in C14th to commemorate the miraculous discover of the Black Madonna, discovered next to the river by a shepherd in the 14th century. The Sanctuary is now occupied byte Fathers of Betharram.