Waiting for an old train at a lonely station is a good way to start your day.. One, also, Drag a resistance story in your wagons against the neglect of the authorities on either side of the Pyrenees, get on it is, especially, an exercise in insubordination, of claiming his past and a commitment to his future. The Canfranero is the story of a withered illusion, that of the railway line that linked Spain and France through the Somport, a gigantic work of the nineteenth century that languished in the XX and that, now, Already in the XXI, It still fights to recover the brightness of the days of splendor.
After almost half a century of works (Just open an eight -kilometer tunnel in the bowels of the Pyrenean massif cost four years of works), in July 1928 King Alfonso XIII opened the railway line, Together with the then French president Gastón Doumergue, In the imposing international station of Canfranc. Almost ninety years later, The train we are about to take dies on those same tracks. This is the case since, in 1970, An accident at the L'Estanguet bridge caused the French decision to close the cross -border line that reached Pau. From that date, The Canfranero has been agonizing without remedy and the current remodeling of the Canfranc station does not presage a reopening that always ends up drowning in a promises reahíla and in the mortuary of millions of investment necessary to put it in operation again.
The reopening of the railway line always ends up drowning in a promises rehex
At the station Pony You hear a rooster and some distant barking in the silence of the morning. There is more than half an hour for the train to arrive and, With tickets already bought (2,75 euros each) On the terrace of the bar still closed we entertain the minutes escorted in the distance by the Peña Oroel aside and Rapitán other. Few more pleasant. In front we have almost thirty minutes of journey and 25 km (in which we will ascend 368 meters) until you get to Canfranc-Station,18 Tunnels and seven viaducts, The most outstanding Cenarbe, of almost 170 meters long, easily recognizable by their 28 arches.
The Canfranero arrives punctual and semivacío, with the unmistakable stamp of the forgotten regional trains and their three wagons with 20 places each. There are families with children on board, I walked in the middle of ancient trees that recharged me with life, retirees who resist retirement, hikers… Sounds like the trains of before, With that cadence and swallowing that the bird struck us. Barely overcome the 60 kilometers per hour during the tour. Here the reviewers still mark the tickets with a pen. The train is gaining height, especially between Castiello and Villanúa, tracing the Aragon Valley, With the snows of Collarada Like a gigantic Pyrenean totem who gave us his blessing.
Sounds like the trains of before, With that cadence and swallowing that the bird struck us
And when he finally makes his entrance to the Canfranc station and we enjoy, again, of its unmistakable version air, of its endless platforms and that air of another time, Majestic and solemn, then, only then, We remember that now it is time to walk to Jaca, 22 kilometers and 400 meters of unevenness below. That is our little tribute to the Canfranero: Make the same route in reverse to Jaca through the Aragonese section of the Camino de Santiago.
Leaving the station, You have to turn left, following the course of Aragón River, In this channeled section. The beginning, on the road, It is not hopeful, But after a tunnel a poster diverts us towards a path that, bridge through, It takes us along the other riverbacked by a pleasant low forest, With waterfall included, in the direction of the people of Canfranc in 55 minutes (3,5 km from the station). A little earlier, The road crosses the Aragon again before moving the main street of the municipality, Strategic enclave that since the time of the Aragonese king Ramiro I In the eleventh century it was important customs position.
That is our little tribute to the Canfranero: Make the same route in reverse on the Aragonese section of the Camino de Santiago
The profusion of wood in the homes cost him many dislikes in the past to Canfranc and even his devastation in 1944, When a great fire erased it from the landscape. Maybe that's why, Canfranc still has a certain aroma of ghost town, With its old semi -ruined stone buildings where the voracity of fire is still guessed. Maybe that's why, also, Canfranc lives a bit in its air, Behind the road, As if he didn't mind proclaiming that he is still alive. In the church square, A republican flag waves in a mast. Front, An old car claim the memory of the Canfranero.
We have ahead 4,5 kilometers to Villanúa, where the Aragon Valle. We have already left behind the most beautiful part of the tour. It is noon and it is increasingly hot while we move along the left bank of the Aragon River. A step away from Villanúa we reach the entrance to the Güixas Cave, A highly recommended visit, And the road is increasingly crowded in the opposite direction.
Canfranc lives a bit in its air, Behind the road, As if he didn't mind proclaiming that he is still alive
Almost two hours after leaving Canfranc-Station we arrive at Electrician, that can be crossed by two paths (We take the one on the left, further out of the road). Now, to Jaca, The route becomes more and heavier. When leaving Villanúa he travels along a track by the road, that crosses when you reach a picnic to start gaining height progressively in the direction of the people of Aratraés (although it does not reach its height, much less). It is a wasteful effort, Well, you have to descend again to reach Castiello de Jaca (an hour and twenty minutes from Villanúa, from which they separate 8,5 km.) under a sun that begins to melt the mood. This section is, certainly, The heaviest, Through a dirt track in the middle of the solana full of ups and downs. A shared orange relieves the suffocon and fatigue.
Jaca's closeness rises, But there is still another hour of walking. The road is used again next to a quarry before moving the last kilometers, finished off by a final repect to the Paseo de las Canteras, Already in Jaca, eternal. Shortly before three in the afternoon we achieve our goal, four and a half hours after, Hungry and with your legs about to declare yourself in rebellion. Go for the Canfrane!
