11.08.08 Monday. Ventosa to Santa Domingo de Calzada We start early because the rest of the dormitory is rising around 0500. Out of the village by torchlight we see very few of them. We think that we are faster at getting going in the mornings, usually a litre of orange juice between us and whatever …

10.08.08 Sunday. Viana to Ventosa through Logrono. Not a good night, the combination of a large Spanish town and Saturday night seems to mean that quiet does not start until about 0100hrs. Since many peregrinos start the day at 0400hrs and today there was one, some what stereotypical Irishman who took over 30mins with a …

09.08.08 Saturday. Villamayor de Monjardin to Viana. Not as early a start as usual, the hostel is so small that Ralf, (the German tax inspector/guardian) and his colleague try to stop people getting up before 0600 and provide a breakfast from about 0615 to encourage this. It worked reasonably well and since we did not …

08.08.08 Friday Puenta la Reina to Villamayor de Monjardin. We got some food and had a light evening meal before an early bed, but in a large hostel of over 100 beds, there was an inevitable amount of noise and we did not sleep till around midnight. However we got up at 0530 as usual …

07.08.08 Thursday. Monreal to Puenta la Reina. In order to avoid a 600m climb over a large massif the Aragonese Way takes a course north west around the edge of the high ground, generally skirting the edge of the cultivated land and the woods on the lower slope it loops around until it reaches Tiebas. …

6.08.08 Wednesday. Sanguesa to Monreal. Another great days walking, but first the things we forgot yesterday. After the church of St James we had a walk about town and were directed to the garage of an 84 year old Spaniard Nicolas Navallas Martiz who makes models of the churches and other buildings in Sanguesa (in …

5.08.08 Tuesday. Ruesta to Sanguesa. After a second good meal post siesta, there was little to do but complete the blog and go to bed, the whole dormitory agreed that 0530 was a good start time so we could get up with the lights on instead of creeping round in the dark tripping on things. …

04.8.08 Monday. Berdun to Ruesta. What a day, we are told that Spain is in the grip of a heat wave (Scorchio!), what a relief we thought this was normal. It is supposed to break on Wednesday. We have been walking down the valley of the Aragon river travelling west towards Pamplona and we are …

03.08.08 Sunday. Jaca to Berdun. After a walk round Jaca we had an evening meal with George our friendly car salesman from Valencia tasting some local red wines by the glass. The hostel closes at 10pm and we just made it back in time, George hung around down stairs with a cigar and let a …

2.08.08 Saturday. Canfranc Estacionnes to Jaca (pronounced hacker). This morning we said goodbye to Ralph our latest visiting pilgrim, and P.I.S.S. (Pilgrims International Support Services), many, many thanks Karl and Claire in making it so easy for us to shed the load of gear we no longer need now we are on the Camino proper. …

1.08.08 Friday. Refuge Pombie to Canfranc. Quite a big day, some slight rain in the morning at about 0500 but the clouds were below us when we emerged from the refuge after breakfast. We climbed steeply up to the Col de Peyreget. On the way up we saw several chamois know locally as Izards. They …