Camino de Santiago - Explore
On September 7, 2016, my sister Cathy and I started the 500 mile journey from Saint-Jean-Pied-de-Port, in the foothills of the French Pyrénées, to Santiago de Campostela near the west coast of Spain. We arrived 42 days later.
There's a lovely tradition at Refuge Orisson, our first stop on the Camino Francés. After the communal dinner, we were encouraged to stand up, introduce ourself, and say a bit about our upcoming journey. Here's a short video with the voices of four solo peregrinas we met that night. It's a work in progress, all of it.
Los Cuatro Peregrinas - Senderismo Solos Juntos
Explore Camino Francés using Google Maps tech tools.
Instructions:
- Click on each day's map to open a new tab with a Google Map in satellite view of that day's destination.
- Click on the day's photo to open the Google Street View of that photo's location, where available. While in street view, you might need to click on the 'compass' icon in upper right for 360 VR mode.
- You can explore further from either view. The Google explore tools are fun and educational, and often their selection of photos is quite good. Hit the explore arrows icon in the lower right hand corner, if the tools are hidden.
- Finally, there is a button gateway to each day's media - photos and videos where available. This will also open in a new tab.

Reaching the peak at the village of O'Cebreiro, where Queen Isabella once slept, we could see far into the vast province of Galicia, home to Santiago de Compostela. The nearby village was originally a Monastery, settled in the 11th century. The queen stayed here in 1486 on her pilgrimage to Santiago.
Note: Google Street view was not available in this remote village, so clicking will get a view of the ancient village.

As the sun came up we found ourselves just off the Camino, standing on one of the surrounding earthen walls of a Celtic Hill-fort. A bloody Celtic Hill-fort in Spain! Below us was pre-Roman Celtic village, built sometime between the 4th and 2nd Century BC, and unearthed in an major archeological excavation. The rest of the day we walked through beautiful Galician landscapes and villages.
It's a good walk