Bolea to Sarsamarcuello, May 15

 He headed out of Bolea through fruit and nut orchards, and worked our way along the hills toward the small village of Anies.  It's great to be out of the flats and heading into more mountainous terrain.

Anies

Just outside of Anies we saw this very modern house.

 

A few more kilometers through the hills brought us to this view of the Castillo de Loarre.  According to our Spanish friends, it is one of the best restored castles in Europe, and has been the location for a number of films.  Our path stayed below the castle and brought us through the small village of Loarre where we took break for a cool drink and a sandwich.

From there it was only about 4 km more to the village of Sarsamarcuello.  This is a very small place, with no stores at all and a bar only open in the evening.  After a bit of wandering around we found someone who gave us the keys to the albergue.  Did some exploring  around the village for the rest of the afternoon.  Although there are no stores, once a week (fortunately on the day we were there), a couple of trucks come through to sell groceries.  The first had cold items: meats, cheeses, and the like.  The second was filled with fruits and vegetables, so were were able to pick up a few bananas and oranges.

approaching Sarsamarcuello

fruit and vegetable market

We headed over to the bar shortly after it opened at 7.  When we ordered sandwiches, the bartender called home with the order; about ten minutes later he ran home to bring them back.  People were very friendly.  We talked about the weather, the shitty economy and challenges of rural living.  We got some guidance for the next stage of the camino.  The bartender (about 30 years old and with dreadlocks) is a rock climber, and he showed us pictures of the local cliffs.  People insisted we try the local wine (after we'd already had a couple of beers).  A great way to spend the evening.

Sarsamarcuello to Estacion La Pena, then to Jaca, May 16

Today's stage began with a very steep climb up a rocky trail out of Sarsamarcuello.  

We set a steady pace, and  within a little over an hour we were at the top of the ridge looking at the ruins of the old Castillo Marcuello.  The castle was abandoned in the 1500s and the people moved downhill to the town of Sarsamarcuello.  What looks like a square tower to the right is really just a single remaining wall.  The building to the left was a monastery.  

Soon thereafter we were descending the other side of the ridge.  Each corner opened up new vistas of amazing rock bluffs and distant valleys. 

The going was rough in places, but as we descended were mostly on easy gravel or dirt roads.

Panoramas of the Pyrenees to our north opened up.

By early afternoon we arrived at the bottom of the valley in the small town of La Pena.  There is a bakery, a bar/restaurant, and a train station.  We went into the bar for lunch and to discuss our next move.  The next albergue on this camino is in a small village (about 10 km up the next mountain)  with no services available at all (no store, no bar, no food).  We could have bought a couple of sandwiches to carry with us, but decided instead to take the train from La Pena into Jaca.  We wanted to do a few city things, and this is the last one we'd see for a while.  La Pena marked 280 km on the Camino Catalan from Montserrat.

 

The train was a pleasant hour ride, followed by a km or two walk into the center of town.  We found a reasonable hotel in the old center of the city (built in 1875, and filled with period artwork and furniture).  After cleaning up we went out for some great tapas and wine.  We've been taking a rest day (Ellen still has some nasty blisters), picking up a few supplies, and will start tomorrow on the Camino Aragones west from Jaca toward the monastery at San Juan de la Pena.

Postscript: I bought a new sim card today, from a different cell provider which is supposed to have better coverage in rural areas.  It's not yet working well.  Best way to get in touch remains email to  econodan@gmail.com.

Jaca to Santa Cruz de la Seros, May 18

Yesterday was rest and errands day in Jaca.

In the late afternoon, while Dan was at the cell phone store (for the third time) getting the new sim card working, a strong thunderstorm blew through.  Ellen was sitting on our hotel room balcony, and managed to catch this lightning strike.

Today's stage took us out of Jaca (very well marked, in contrast to most cities we've passed through), and on trails paralleling the main road west from town.  After about 15 km of walking and just before the village of Santa Cilia, we picked up a side trail heading up into to the mountains toward the Monastery at San Juan de la Pena.  We've read quite a bit about this site, and planned to detour from the main camino to see it.  Because of the distance, we are spending the night near the monastery in the small village of Santa Cruz de la Seros.  

But first, we had quite a climb: about 6 km of mostly rough and rocky trail.  After a couple of km we passed through the small village of Binacua.  Most of the buildings, like this church, have stone roofs.

 

After about two hours of walking, we arrived at our destination.  Santa Cruz is a magical place, and a popular tourist destination and weekend retreat.  It dates to before 1000, and was originally the site of a convent strongly linked to the royal family of Aragon.

We took a room at the hotel, which is like a mountain lodge and right across from the main church.  This pic is the view from our little balcony.  After comida (which included a large carafe of wine), we spent the rest of the afternoon walking around and exploring the village.

 

Another milestone: Today marked 300 km so far on our camino.  We have now finished the Camino Catalan, and are embarked on the Camino Aragones.

 

Monasterio San Juan de la Pena, May 19

After an early breakfast at the hotel, we headed up the trail toward the Monastery San Juan de la Pena.  It was a very steep and rocky 4 km climb, but with some great views of the valley below.

The monastery is truly one of the world's wonders.  It was built into and underneath rock cliffs, and has been long connected with the royal family of Aragon; several kings are buried here.  We explored the various rooms: open spaces where the monks lived, chapels and other sacred spaces.

 

 

 

 

After exploring the old monastery, we took a short shuttle to the "new" monastery (built and occupied in the 18th century) and museum, then headed back down the trail to Santa Cruz to pick up our packs and have a bite to eat.  As we headed down the road toward Santa Cilia sometime after three in the afternoon, we could see storm clouds over the rocky ridge behind us, and could hear the approaching thunder.  We still had about 6 km to go.  As we heard a car approaching from behind, Ellen put out a thumb, and a camper van with two French rock climbers stopped to give us a ride.  They dropped us at the entrance to the small village of Santa Cilia just as the rain started to dump.  Less than five minutes later we were in the albergue, relatively dry.

We shared the albergue with a young Japanese woman who is writing a book about the camino, and a Swedish man on the way back home after two months hiking around Spain.  This was the first albergue we'd stayed in with separate rooms for men and women.

After washing up and exploring the village a bit we walked over to the village bar for something to eat, but the bartender explained that they were out of bread so he couldn't make us anything.  Seeing our long faces, he took us back to the little store area in the back, and we bought a couple of tins of sardines, a container each of asparagus and artichoke hearts, and a package of crackers.  This was our dinner.  Later, we went back to the bar for a couple of beers and great conversation with the bartender before turning in for the night.

Santa Cilia to Artieda, then on to Sanguesa, May 20 & 21

Outside the window of our albergue in Santa Cilia were grazing sheep.  They seemed to have something to say about popular culture.

The weather has turned unseasonably cool, with high temps only reaching the mid 40s.  We walked a bit in the village before setting out.

Today was a long stage, a little over 30 km.  We had a consistent and cold headwind as we worked our way west through the broad Rio Aragon valley.  Quite a change from the high temps we had just a short time ago.  At one point, we saw what is a familiar sight to Ashlanders: stacks of rocks along the trail.

Occasionally the clouds would part a bit and we'd get glimpses of the high Pyrenees to our north.

A little before 4 in the afternoon we started the final climb to the small village of Artieda.  It has an albergue, but our friend Annie stayed there a few nights ago and received many bedbug bites, so after some calling around we located a room in another small house in town.  

Although we met only a few other pilgrims during almost two weeks on the Camino Catalan from Montserrat, this Camino has more. We joined the other pilgrims for dinner in the bar below the albergue: two German women, a French woman, and a Danish couple.  There were quite a few languages flowing with the beer and wine over dinner.

The next morning was even colder, with a stiff wind and light rain, as we headed out from Artieda.

Ellen had started to show some symptoms of a urinary tract infection during the night, and as we walked things went downhill for her.  After 10 km we stopped for a break at the former village of Ruesta (now a ruin, but with an albergue).  

 

 

Ellen decided she needed to get started on some medication, and the nearest town with a pharmacy was a good 20 km distant.  We called a taxi, made it to Sanguesa just before the pharmacy closed at 2, and found a hotel for the night.  The good news is that she is feeling better already, and we should be back on the camino in the morning.

Sanguesa to Izco, May 22

We started off from Sanguesa in a light drizzle, and the weather continued wet all day.  Except for about five minutes, the Gore Tex shells stayed on for the entire stage.  We initially headed out of town toward an alternate route, but after a couple of kilometers walking along a highway the yellow arrows ended.  We spent some time searching, but eventually gave up, walked back to town, and started off in a different direction.

We've seen a lot of wind power generators all along the Camino.  On this blustery day, they were really cranking.  We continued to see similar windmills lining the ridges all day long.

Our path climbed steadily above the wheat fields and occasional vineyards.  As the day went on, the trail became muddier, and eventually turned to a sticky clay mud.  With each step it tried to suck the shoes off  our feet, and as it accumulated our shoes became heavy.

 It was a long slog, but eventually we climbed into the small village of Izco.  About 50 people live there, and there's an albergue for pilgrims, but no stores or restaurants.  But, the albergue has a stock of basic foods available for purchase, plus a well-equipped kitchen, so we were set.   When we arrived, there were already a few pilgrims ahead of us: four Spanish men from Valencia, plus a German and Frenchman traveling together.  The sleeping room has four bunkbeds, and as the last arrivals Ellen and I took the two remaining top bunks.  In the evening the village bar (conveniently located in the albergue) opened up, and we enjoyed a few glasses of wine with our companions.

Entering Izco

With eight people, ages mid 50s to mid 70s, sharing a small room, it was a symphony of snoring all night long.

Izco to Tiebas, May 23

We woke up early today to clear skies.  Although it was still quite cool, it was a welcome change from the wet weather we'd been experiencing.  We headed out about 8, and by 10:30 we'd covered our first 10 km and were in the village of Monreal. Our Spanish friends were sitting outside the bar enjoying a beer and sandwich; we decided a sandwich would be great for us.  We bought two, one to eat on the spot and another wrapped up for a snack later.

A few kilometers past Monreal we passed a man on the trail who turned out to be the village priest.  He engaged us in a long conversation about politics and religion.  It turned out he had studied Judaism and the Hebrew language extensively; before we parted he blessed us in the name of Elohim and also in the name of Saint James.

Today's stage mostly stayed just above the farm fields along one side of this valley.  Although it was a fairly straight shot, we were walking uphill or down (often very steeply) almost all of the time.

A little before 1 we stopped in the small village of Yarnoz for a break next to the small 13th century church.  There was a great flat rock in the sun, just perfect for eating our remaining sandwich.  You can just make out our trail in the picture below, snaking along between the farm fields and wooded area above.

As the day went on, we encountered more of the mud we'd experienced the day before, but not nearly as pernicious.  Still, it made for slow going, and the 15 km from Monreal to our destination took much longer than we'd expected.

We rolled into Tiebas (which is a bit south of Pamplona) a little before 4.  The albergue here is quite new, and must be one of the nicest and best equipped anywhere.  In addition to wifi and a full kitchen there is a washer and dryer, and the attendant ran a load of laundry for us.  This is the first time our things have been washed other than by hand in the sink since arrival in Spain.

The town itself is mostly very new, and based on two large rock quarries just above the town.  The main attraction is the ruin of a 13th century castle (really, just a few remaining walls), which we explored before heading up to the local bar for dinner.