July 09 Bolea to Arguis

Gorgeous walk today, tough, but gorgeous. There were thunder storms last night and more predicted, so I was concerned when I left at 5:45 and heard the (last) faint rumbles.  Last night I looked up, "What to do when you are out in the middle of nowhere in a thunder storm (or some variant of that question)?  All the answers said, "Get into a car." If all else fails, and all else definitely would have failed, they show you this miserable crouching position to assume.  People of certain persuasions would have just as much luck praying.

I was going to do one of those get-picked-up-go-to-nest-day's-accommodation-be-returned-in-the-morning routines because there is shopping at then next destination and it is nicer.  However, in a moment of great clarity, I decided to stay at the hostal in Arguis because getting started the next day would be much easier.  And now that I am in Arguis, I can say, that that is definitely true.  I would have spent a half hour trying to find the path that runs behind the cement works when I would need that time to get ahead of the heat.  Anyway, now I will tell you about the Hostal.

It is cheap:  $28.00.  That it is more basic than basic is not the problem.  The problem is that it is run by the nastiest, rudest young women. (Maybe they are friends with that woman back in Prioro.) "Here is the key, this is the code, goodbye."  Wi-fi password wasn't being accepted.  They did not care, but I did.  Turns out that I am the only person staying here and the wi fi equipment, which looks like it s from the '80s is just opposite my room in a little "office" area.  So, Alex, I unplugged the router and plugged it back in again.  Then there was another thing, probably a modem (so I don't know the difference between the router and the modem).  To this device I took a paper clip and stuck it in the little hole to restart it (I assume), and guess what?  I got it to work. I keep losing the connection, but if I put the computer within two feet of the blinking lights, I get it back again.

Clouds misting away:

The hills are covered with yellow flowering gorse:

A silent pine forest

Thought this was the remains of old lead mines, but it is a certain kind of rock peculiar to Aragón

July 8 Loarre to Bolea

Last night I had company in the B and B, a very personable Italian man, Luca, a science teacher, who was walking a different walk in a different direction.  He was one of those guys who carries everything in his back pack, which was not all that big, and, who, when the dueña tells him that there is a restaurant at the beginning of the town, is perfectly pleased with that vague instruction, but to which I would have answered, "What are you talking about?"  Also, he was the kind of guy, who, when he cannot get a place to stay—because he did not make reservations back in November or December or even last week—walks an extra nine miles—if he is lucky and it is only nine miles—  to the next town despite the fact that he has already walked a goodly amount and it is 90+ degrees.  Oh, and he is the kind of guy who only uses a little guide book for navigation and maybe a map, no GPS for him.  He also speaks Spanish (really well), English (pretty well), and French (I don't know how well). In other words, he is the kind of guy who is capable of this sort of adventure, while I am so wanting.

Today's walk was short even though I went off the designated path about three times. It was humid, which is the worst, so I was happy to arrive at my destination at about 10:30.  Let's call it a rest day.  I am staying in a room over a bar where men talk,  drink, and play cards all day, so it is kind of noisy.  But I have a lot of space and light, even if no amenities, e.g., no window in the bedroom, but there is a "sitting room," the wifi is reliable and there is a fan.

Bolea has a shop.  On Monday it is open only until 1:00, so it is a good thing I did not take that optional excursion to an ermita an hour and a half away, up a hill. About three people can fit inside the shop at once.  There was a modest selection of fruit and vegetables and a tiny refrigerator section mostly filled with yogurts.  But amid the packaged ham, guess what there was?  A vacuum packed roast chicken!!  I bought it!  Then, would you believe, in the bar, they sell locally made cherry jam. so I bought a jar of that, too!  (I transferred about half into a series of plastic baggies, and hope it will stay contained.

Leaving Loarre:

The non-metaphorical silver lining!

Jul 07 Murillo de Gallego to Loarre

Today's walk took in some dramatic scenery and was a civilized 13 miles.  Thank God I had asked Jose at the hotel how to get to the bridge:

(which, in real life, was not blurry)  about 3/4 of a mile after the start of the walk because it turned out that the narrative in the book and the GPS data were completely unrelated. Fortunately, View Ranger matched the book, so I had GPS backup.  Complications were few.  Barking dogs, though audible, were invisible.

View from bridge:

If you don't want neighbours, move here:

Town at the base of dramatic rocks:

Choo-choo near dramatic rocks not passing by at the moment:




Other dramatic rock in the sun:

Some olive trees have  trunks that fan out:

Aren't they great?

July 6, Biel (Fuencalderas) to Murillo de Gallego

5:45 a.m. pick up by taxi only it was later because taxi and I were not waiting in the same spot.  But anyway, it was a good thing there was a place to start some 7 km from Biel because it became very hot and there was a section in the mountains where finding the way was extremely time consuming.  I was VERY CAREFUL.  At every "where the heck do I go from here" stage, I made sure to NOT GO far if I did not see a waymarker where I thought there should be one. I just went back to the previous one (although finding it was not so easy, since the markings were on stones half buried in tall grass and there was no path), but bit by bit, I got to the "ruined farmhouses" which I had been looking for as a beacon, but since they were ruined right down to the ground, you could not see them until you were right on top of them, at which point you say, "Oh, they do exist."  Actually, I find this no path, and I mean none, in mountainous areas most disconcerting.

Yesterday was the day of the cow.  Today was the day of the view.

Rocks with trees:

Pointy rocks without trees:

Dramatic rocks:

Ten commandment rocks?

View from my window, which looks like Ayers Rock even though I have never seen Ayers Rock:

A stream, which, at some times of the year you have to take off your shoes to cross, but not now:



OK enough prettiness.  Today there was the dog incident.  Two dogs, unchained, were barking madly as dogs here do, but were not really bothering me until one of them decided to go after me.  "Grrrrrrrr" he said, which is both Spanish and English for this is not good and I felt his teeth snap at my leg.  I turned around and yelled at him (in English) and waved my poles madly.  Guess who was alpha then?!

And in case you miss cows, here are two, sad for having been left out yesterday:

July 05 Biel to Biel

The circular walk I was going to do informed that you had to go to "a parking" two miles north of Biel to get started.  I could not find said road on a map, so I decided to walk part of today's walk in reverse and walk back to Biel, another round trip.  It was a pretty good walk, 14 miles and darn hot at the end, so it was especially nice that the very kind owner of the apartment (tonight's lodging), drove by—I think he was looking for me—and gave me a ride as I was trying to figure out how to get here.  But back to the  walk and more about Alvero later.

First there was one cow:

Then there were a couple more:

Then there were a whole bunch!

Now, you see that black one?  She was trying to mate with the brown one (not the red one), but it did not work out for either one of them:

Good bye, cows!

So back to Alvero el dueño.  He gave me fresh eggs, straight out of the coop, and tomatoes, cucumber and lettuce from the community garden that he runs, AND oil and vinegar for the salad.  Oh, and since the panadería was closed today—after all, it is Friday—he gave me bread, too, which I toasted.  

Tomorrow, I am knocking 6-7 km. off at 25 km. day.  This is due to the heat.  I really do not want to be walking after about noon. Also, that section looks like a misery.  

July 04 Sos del Rey Católico a Petilla de Aragón

A nice walk, only about 9 miles. The only navigational problem was getting to the place where the path started.  Yes, I did figure it out yesterday, but it is over half a mile from hotel through a maze of streets that all look the same.  After that slight challenge, the waymarking was E for excellent.  I mean there were really red a white stripes on poles or trees or stones and, though overgrown, there really was a path.  It was hot but not unbearable, but this was with an arrival time of 10:15 a.m.!

Sos del Rey, actually a view from yesterday's walk.  This clustering of houses on a hill seems to be the standard shape and arrangement of towns in these parts:



Casita:

Group of horses; one horse eating, three not, at the moment:

Horse absenting self from the group:

Hill of trees:

One reason I decided to stay in Sos del Rey three nights was because it has a grocery store, nay, a supermarket, and I will not have a tienda for at least four more days, and the fourth day is questionable because the store there closes at 1:00, not to reopen until the next day, unless the next day is Sunday or Tuesday or some other day when it might not be open.  Well, this is the store for which I had to make complicated taxi arrangements:

The store is known as Simply, pronounce that Seem-ply, and the sign does not lie.  It has a tiny produce section, but don't touch anything!!  You will point to your selection and the señora will choose it, and weigh it, y ya!

Had I stayed in Petilla de Aragón, today's destination, I would have been able to walk the next stage to Biel since, being right there, I would have been able to start out before 6:00.  However, since it will be in the 90's, and the walk has no escape route AND it has lots of climbing, and I could not arrive at the start point until after 6:30, and the walk is seven hours+ change (I usually beat the time predictions by at least an hour, but even so), I decided not to do it.  I spent hours on the computer and with my phone trying to see if the taxi could take me to a point further along, but there is no road that goes near it.  So, I will go to Biel, the end point, and do a circular walk.  I feel quite bad about all these stages not walked, and doubtless there will be others.  Oh, and wouldn't you know I lost my list of mileage. It disappeared from Notes; vanished.  I think there is a message there.

July 02+03 Ujué to Caseda (not to Sos del Rey Católico)

Walk to Sos was 34 km (21.13 miles), which I had planned to do and then have a rest day.  But I decided that 21.13 miles was just too much once you factor in "issues" along the route.  So, I decided to sacrifice the rest day and walk as far as an ermita about 1/2-2 miles outside of Caseda, a town with a grocery store.  That was the plan.  I never made it to the ermita.  I trudged into Caseda after almost 17 miles, at about 1:20, (start time was 6:20) and was not interested in walking another step.

Navigation issues were a nightmare.  There was ONE waymark!  One!  I followed a route that turned out not to be a route.  The cost over an hour.  Way over.  And while all this "looking for the path" was going on, there were loud rumblings of thunder and flashes of lightening, but Baruch HaShem, the deluge did not come.

Before the thunder and lightening:



It would have been a beautiful walk:



had it not been for that "error" near the beginning—and several other incidences that I shall not bother relating.

Part of the problem is the GPS track. In some places, this being one, the track, or the graphic of the track, is off, so you  think you are on the route, or that you are supposed to turn, but you are not.  sometimes there are three or more paths going pretty much in the same direction, so it is not all 90 degree turns or anything so obvious. The waypoints are clearly too far apart to create an honest representation on a GPS.  And the Garmin map of Spain is a joke.  There is barely a feature on it:  no side roads, nothing. Viewranger is helpful, but all devices have limitations.  So while my ineptitude may be a contributing factor to finding the path—assuming there is one, it is only one.

It is so thoughtful when someone makes a little cairn:




Very old steps in a very old town:



When I got to the hotel, I read the description of the second part of this walk that I had planned to do tomorrow.  It read like a nightmare: disappearing paths, un-navigable  stretches "where you may have to go north for a while and then turn back south."  Though I must be driving Cristina—I really am sorry Cristina— absolutely batty with my changes, I decided not to walk the walk tomorrow.  I'll do another ida y vuelta (out and back) and and explore the town.

Sos de Rey Católico, from here on in to be called Sos, admits no cars.  The streets are too narrow, so I thought it best to figure out where to go to meet the taxi....like for when I leave.  As I stepped out of the hotel, I saw, among the paving stones:

Turns out that from the 12th C until the expulsion of the Jews in 1492, Sos had a Jewish population.  Yes, thirty families.  

Rest day has been sort of a rest day.  Looked for the start of tomorrow's walk—that took some doing—and then planned to walk the last major section of yesterday's walk but instead found myself on a different trail, one I had gotten on-line, and that was good enough for me!!  It was only 8 miles, but it was enough.  You know, once you start to become delinquent, skipping this and that, it is not so difficult to keep right on missing and skipping.  

Julu 01 Olite to Ujue

Today, another taxi to meet, in Ujue, at 10:30 to be taken back to Olite.  If you are wondering why so many taxis, most often it is because there is no place to stay at the end of the stage.    

It was quite an easy (10.6 miles) and pleasant walk, and I do love those 5:30-5:45 start times an hourish before sunrise, allowing you that first light, which is beautiful,, and you get to see the one or two little towns off in the hills still lit up.  Of course, this start-out technique requires knowing FOR SURE the day previous how to get to the start of the walk.  There are no waymarks.

Still in farm country:

 

A red door:

The area around Olite is the Napa of Navarra:

Hard at work:

Approaching Ujue, a sweet spot for a little sit down:

Ujue is a medieval town, narrow streets—yes, your arms outstretched can touch the houses on both sides of a street—set on a steep hill, dominated by a big church.  Unlike Olite, it does not have shoppees (at least, none that I saw), but it does have bars and restaurants, none of which were open when I arrived.  

Pedro showed up at 10:30 as promised, and since he cannot take me where I have to go at the walk's end tomorrow, he arranged for Ricardo up in Sanguesa to come and get me at the Ermita de San Zoilo and I hope he does!!  I am a bit on edge about this arrangement!

Anyway, back in Olite, I grabbed a double chocolate Magnum and went "sightseeing."  I did not, I must admit,  give the Palacio Real my all despite its being impresionante de verdad, because despite the wow factor of these phenomenal structures, every large space seems, after a bit, to look like every other large space.  Oh, the best, was this guy who was sashaying around looking for the best spots to take selfies!  

A one or a two bell tower?

In the above photo, you can see a bit of one of these gargoyles screeching its little stone heart out:

A closeup of a section of last night's view from my window:

The big excitement of the day was finding big, soft dáteles (dates) in one of the grocery shops.  

June 30 Ida y vuelta (round trip) de Larraga

"More of the same," said John about today's stretch from Larraga to Olite, only shorter.  At 17.5 miles as opposed to 25, that is true.  But 17.5 is still a lot of miles; even a 5:30 a.m. departure would not allow one to beat the noontime heat, and that worried me.  So with a rare and display of flexibility, I designed my own walk for today and later went with Rojita nd Mochilita to Olite en taxi.  (I did walk 13 miles but that is a good hour and a half less than 17).  

First of all, John, this section is definitely more interesting than yesterday's, at least the first couple of hours of it. For one thing, the local farmers have introduced irrigation:

And devices that look like a cross between an airplane an a grasshopper.  Whether these machines fertilise or kill weeds or spray pesticides, I do not know, but they do something:

which allow the growing of—inter alia—little trees that will, one day, become big trees, God willing:

The hay industry, however, is not forgotten:

Always a happy sight:

About a mile or a mile an a half past Larraga is the one town on the route.  Lots of birds have made their homes there:

Walking back towards Larraga, you can see the town nestled on the hill.  Notice the church.  (How could you not?)

The church steeple  up close:

Got to Olite around noon, but check in time was not until 2:00, not a minute before.  Now Olite is a really cute walled town with two main squares, a few semi-artsy shops, lots of bars and cafes but not being a bar or cafe person, I just sort of wandered in the heat.  I saw a very elderly woman with a loaf of bread under her arm.  Although she did not speak Spanish, I did understand her French, fortunately, and learned that there was a boulangerie open, and, Mon Dieu, this is Sunday!!  It took lots of searching, but at last I did find the bakery and then a small grocery store that was open until 1:00.  This is most unusual in a small town in Spain. 

Finally 2:00 rolled around. After much ado, I got checked into the hotel, which, though not ornate or even done up, is really comfortable.  This is the view from my window:

You know what 105 degree heat is good for?  Drying your laundry.