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Stage 3

Stage from Toulouse to Zerain

km 33,0

Time 08H 15’

Difficulty Medium

Hostels 1

Available without an Internet connection

The Camino leaves behind the region of Tolosaldea and succumbs to the Goierri

Information about the stage 3: Stage from Toulouse to Zerain

Enlarge map

Points of interest in the stage 3: Stage from Toulouse to Zerain

22 Jauregi Palace
21 Church of Santa Maria
20 Zerain Portal
19 Convent of the Franciscan Conceptionists
18 Church of Our Lady of the Assumption
17 Kurutzeta hermitage
16 Church of San Miguel
15 Church of St. John the Baptist
14 Igartza's monumental complex
13 Church of the Assumption
12 Church of the Assumption
11 Plaza Mayor de Ordizia, market scene
10 Humiliadero de Santa Cruz
9 Church of San Salvador
8 Ermita de Nuestra Señora del Pilar
7 Church of San Lorenzo
6 Church of St. John the Baptist
5 Chapel of the Christ
4 Sawmill
3 Rural road
2 Puerta de Castilla
1 Church of Santa Maria

The route

Already used to rolling through the interior of the Basque Country, we face the third day before the Baroque façade of the church of Santa Maria. Leaving it to the left we reached the plaza where the Town Hall of Tolosa is located and after it (eye, not crossing the bridge over the Oria) we continued through Zerkausia Kalea to the square where the portal of Castilla is located and the former headquarters of the Provincial Council, from when Tolosa held the Guipuzkoan capitality. In this same place he rotates left hand to penetrate through a passageway that leaves next to the Oria. We follow the margin of the river and cross it through the second bridge we find, then advancing with the flow to our right. Glued to the river, we continue along the Iurramendi Promenade, village of townhouses and provided with bike lanes. At the end of the rail we crossed the Oria again by a pedestrian bridge. At this point the route has been modified, before the Camino was directed to Alegia saving a strong echo along a rural road and a steep descent by forest. It is currently recommended, after the bridge, to continue along a bike and pedestrian (bidegorri) rail that leads without loss to Alegia.

Optional: Those who want to test the old route to Alegia (still reflected in the stage profile), with little signage, hard and meaningless, surround the sports complex on the outside, follow the parking and turn left to pass under the A-1. They will enter the industrial estate of Usabal. As soon as you get access, you climb up the right in a strong echo and, with a more privileged view of the polygon, you reach a rural road born on the right hand (Km 2,8). On a hard climb they leave behind the hamlet Alejo Nea (Km 3.8) and continue in front. At the next bifurcation they choose the option on the right and 300 meters later leave the paved floor when they take a detour to the left. The Camino is injected into a robledal hayedo and, below, to the right, you can see and hear the transit of the A-1. The presence of pines announces the descent, which quickly overcomes a fitted path that leads to the foot of a sawmill (Km 5,6). Soon they will arrive near the church of San Salvador of Altzo Azpi and then enter Alegia, not without crossing the river Oria.

Both options go by the City Hall and the church of San Juan Bautista (Km 6,7). At the exit of Alegia we take the bidegorri that sticks to the asphalt of the GI-2131, a route that scrupulously follows the trail of the Oria River. Along with the Andarines, who religiously comply with their morning walk, and cyclists who take advantage of these lower traffic density roads, we are fulfilling the distance that separates us from the center of Ikaztegieta (Km 9). We will soon realize that the stage has become a monologue of itself. At the exit of Ikaztegieta we take the bidegorri of the GI-2131 and continue to Legorreta. We cross the Oria before reaching the center of this town, where is the church of San Salvador (Km 12,6). We are now officially in the Goierri region. The corridor we walk through is the only near-flat option in this valley of strong slopes and meadows that are discovered from the mountains. Towards Itsasondo more of the same: bidegorri and GI-2131. In the center of Itsasondo we reached the kilometer 15.5 of the stage and at the exit of the town we fired from the GI-2131 to take the diversion to Ordizia by the GI-4761. Without the protection offered by the bidegorri, we went next to the hermitage of San Juan de Lateran, prologue of Ordizia, a town famous for its weekly fair where the best products raised in the rural bowels of the Goierri are offered. We enter Ordizia through Filipineta Street, arriving at the Paseo de los Fueros, and continue in front by Calle Mayor (Km 17,5) and then by Calle Urdaneta, which meets the Oria and transfers the witness to Beasain. It melts from one town to another and passes through Beasain long, more after first crossing Ordizia. We must pay attention when we arrive next to the monumental complex of Igartza, on the edge of the Oria and recognizable by the stone bridge, the mill, the ferreria and the palace. Since June 2011 the Friends of the Camino de Santiago de Guipúzcoa manage a hostel of pilgrims at this point and it is already possible to divide this difficult stage. See availability in the comments section (Km 20,6).

The second ameno section of the stage finally comes, so we cross the bridge over the Oria and deliver the N-1 over a walkway, to take up a rural road that leads us next to the hamlet Altamira (Km 21,7), point where we drift through the right track to pass the Garitain farmhouse and finish the climb to Olaberria (Km 23,8). We cross the population and at the exit, by the road, we take a road that is born to the left hand and that leads us, after a turn to the left, to the dwelling Aldasoro. A signal is 3.3 kilometers to Idiazabal. On a paved rural trail we will reach later to the imposing manor house of Oiarbide (Km 25.9).

Then there will come a fountain with an inscription in Euskera and below the small nucleus of Nafarrasagasti, where we turn left on a road that reaches a stream and discovers the rough road Artsugarats. It brings us closer to Antia and the Gurutzeta Shrine.

A few meters away, due to the marked deviation, we walk down the road of Uzkanga, used by the neighbors of this area to go down to Idiazabal and formerly known as eliz bidea. You have to go down with caution because the skipping that saves makes it more of a ladder than a road. We arrived at Idiazabal, opposite the church of San Miguel, and we tore left. After the humiliation we turn on the first of the right, cross a regatta and, on a hard hill, cross the A-1 for an underground step to reach the viewpoint of Lobio, excellent watchtower over Idiazabal (km 28,5).

We resumed the march by track and, after several divers, we ended up with a roundabout of GI-2637. Due to the absence of signs at this point, we continue left by the bidegorri of this road to the same village of Segura (Km 31,2).

From Segura the Camino de Santiago departs through the portal of Zerain, and takes the bidegorri (bike lanes) that leads to Zegama. When the bidegorri ends in the Gozategi area, when it reaches an industrial estate, it crosses the road and follows a road that conditioned the town hall to the urban centre of Zegama, without touching the road at all.

This is the complete outline of the Tolosa–Zegama stage, prepared by the Basque Government.

The difficulties

Remarks

In images

What to see, what to do

ALEGIA:
- Chapel of the
  
  Christ: Located at the entrance of St. John Street. It's a simple hermitage made of masonry and sillarejo.
- Church of St. John the Baptist:
  
  It dates from 1643 and is a transition between the Gothic and the neoclassical. Besides the tower with pointed arch that gives access to an atrium, the carvings of San Juan Bautista and that of a Gothic Christ stand out inside.
IKAZTEGIETA:
- Church of San Lorenzo:
  
  Construction of the late Gothic reformed in the 17th century. The modern bell tower and the bleaching of the facade have hidden its old appearance.
- Ermita de Nuestra Señora del Pilar:
  
  At the exit of Ikaztegieta, next to the road. Simple construction crowned by a small bell tower. It looks a small oculus on the facade and at the door is the inscription Pillareko Ama Birjina (Virgen del Pilar).
LEGORRETA:
- Church of San Salvador:
  
  Gothic, 16th century and hexagonal tower. The altarpiece is baroque.
- Humiliadero de Santa Cruz:
  
  Declared a good of cultural interest in the Basque Country. The interior is decorated with scenes of the passion of Christ.
ORDIZIA:
- Plaza Mayor, market scene:
  
  Every Wednesday morning the producers of the Goierri present their agricultural and livestock products in Plaza Mayor de Ordizia. The first fairs date back to the 11th and 12th centuries, but it was from 1512, after the tragic fire of the villa, when Juana la Loca granted "the real power to hold a weekly free market every Wednesday of the year."
- Church of the Assumption:
  
  It's from the 16th century and it happened to another earlier of the 13th or 14th centuries. The tower is baroque in the late 18th century. It preserves a gothic size of the Virgin Mary of the 14th century.
BEASAIN:
- Church of the Assumption:
  
  Located on Andra Mari street, in the upper part of Beasain. It's single-nave and octogonal apse. It has Gothic, Baroque and Renaissance elements.
- Igartza's monumental complex:
  
  Located on the banks of the Oria is recognizable by the stone bridge, the mill, the ferreria and the palace.
OLABERRIA:
- Church of St. John:
  
  In the 'Goierri Balcony', as is called Olaberria, the current church of San Juan is a construction that began to expand in the seventeenth century. The works ended in the 18th century, when the largest altarpiece was designed.
IDIAZABAL:
- Kurutzeta hermitage:
  
  After going up the road of Artsugarats you can reach the Antia Farmhouse and this hermitage, the old parish of Idiazabal whose altarpiece contains a size of the Virgin dated at the end of the 13th century.
- Church of San Miguel:
  
  The entrance door, from the 12th or 13th centuries, is a transition between the Romanesque and the Gothic. The largest altarpiece of the 18th century stands out.
SAFE:

Segura was founded in the 13th century as a walled villa with the objective of protecting this Interior Road that entered Guipúzcoa through the San Adrián tunnel. It was for centuries the most important villa in the region, and it retains for that reason a historical hull with large caserons and some of the old entrance doors to the villa. Since that time, an imposing procession of Easter has been celebrated in Segura, one of the few preserved in Guipúzcoa.
- Church of Our Lady of the Assumption:
  
  Historical Artistic Monument, the Church of Segura was built in the 16th century and is a clear representative of the Basque Gothic. The altarpiece is Churrigueresco baroque and has sculptures by Luis de Carmona.
- Convent of the Franciscan Conceptionists:
  
  Old monastery of Santa Isabel. It was founded in 1519 and retains a precious Gothic Christ.
- Zerain Portal:
  
  Portal located on the western flank of the villa, so called because it allows the passage to the nearby village of Zerain. It has suffered several destructions and subsequent reforms. Its present appearance is in the 17th century.
ZERAIN:
- Church of Santa Maria:
  
  The first construction is dated in the first half of the 15th century, but its current aspect is due to an important reform of the 18th century. Its most precious treasure is a 12th-century Romanesque cross cast in copper and decorated with precious stones.
- Jauregui Palace:
  
  It is located next to the church and was the residence of the nobles of Zerain. It was built in an armchair and retains a gothic arch and a coat of arms.