14.08.08 Thursday. Burgos to Hontanas. The start of the Plains of Castille. First the city of Burgos redeemed itself somewhat. Although the new modern area around the old centre is vast and takes forever to penetrate, the old part and the magnificent cathedral are worthwhile. The deafening peal of the cathedral bells rang out as …
13.08.08 Wednesday. Villambistia to Burgos. A tough day, we started at the usual time having been fed a great meal the night before by the parish and the bar we were in (bar is parish rooms and centre of village and internet resource for local kids). Meet and chat with in the evening, a German …
12.08.08 Tuesday. Santa Domingo de Calzada to Villambistia. Last night in Santa Domingo there was the third night of four of an outdoor local production of the life of St Domingo. This runs from 2200-2400hrs. We did not attend but it is preceded by a street procession past the hostel. We did watch this complete …
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 …
31.07.2008 Thursday Refuge d’Arremoulit to Refuge de Pombie (2032 metres) We started with a descent to 1392m into the valley leading to Col de Pourtalet. We surprised ourselves by a time of a bit over 4 hours for 8 miles and 800m descent and 600m ascent. The view of the back of Pic de Midi …
30.07.2008 Wednesday Refuge de Respumoso to Refuge d'Arremoulit (2285m) An excellent evening was had at Respumoso. This refuge was in Spain and a cut above the refuges we have stayed in in France. There were hot showers (if you let the water run for long enough!) as well as 14 person dormitories all en suite. …
29.07.2008 Tuesday Refuge Wallon to Refuge de Respumoso (2200m) The night was enjoyed by all (especially Jonathan for whom is was a big adventure). After breakfast Karl & Jonathan left us to return to Pont d'espagne leaving us and Ralph to ascend to Col de la Fache. Ascent up an excellent path over streams and …
28.07.2008 Monday Cauterets to Refuge Wallon We left Cauterets by bus this morning to go to Pont d'Espagne (not breaking any of our self imposed rules as we walked here and back earlier on in the week). We are accompanied by Ralph, Karl and Jonathan. Claire & Alex have been left the un-enviable task of …
27.07.08 Sunday Cauterets A day for Karl’s boys to see the mountain tops and experience a cable car and ski lift, weather fine and a great picnic up in the Cirque de Lys. We also had our first sight of marmottes having heard their characteristic whistle in the valley earlier in the morning.We have now …
26.07.08 Saturday. Happy Birthday Tim aka Buster Merryfield. After the arrival of Ralph, Karl and family the weather rapidly deteriorated leading our Scouting heroes to erect the basha from a tarpaulin which had been purchased earlier. A glass of real British beer was very welcome at this stage in that curiously lukewarm state so beloved …