A shortage of beds in Laguardia........

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....... and so we are in Fuenmayor, staying in a very swish apartment with three bedrooms which means we each have a room to ourselves tonight.

I began walking from Genevilla soon after 8.30 this morning, leaving Pam and Julie behind as they had decided to give the mountain a miss.  Instead they caught a lift with Guy (pronounced Gee), our host for last night.  The plan was that he would drop them at the village of Kripán, from where they would walk the last 11.5 kms.  I planned, and did, walk the 27 kms.  The only thing is that we all got lost, and consequently I walked just over 29kms!
Sue and Jeremy heading into Cabredo.  It was soon after this that we started climbing the mountain.
The view from the the top looking back towards where we stayed.
The path after leaving Lapoblación skirts around  the bottom of the mountains, more or less following the contours.

There was one stetch, only small, of about 1.5 kms where the signs disappeared altogether, just after the village of Kripán.  The directions said to follow an indistinct path, which I did for quite a while, pushing my way through a prickly scrub until prudence took over and I retraced my steps.  I had been walking with Jeremy and Sue (two walkers, though not on our way, that stayed with us last night) on and off throughout the morning and so I waited for them to appear after their lunch break and made use of their superior directions along with the GPS that Jeremy had.  We found our way, as it transpired did Pam & Julie - with the help of a phone call to Guy.  Phillipe, our French pilgrim friend, managed to get lost not only here, but in another place as well and went many kilometres out of his way.
Looking across to the hot dusty road along which we trudged, and to the view beyond.
Again, looking back, this time from Laguardia to the distant village that had been a lunch stop
Sue & Jeremy exploring the village of Kripán.  It was soon after this that I got lost, as did Phillippe, and Pam & Julie!  

Somehow I got ahead of Sue & Jeremy and didn't get a chance to thank them for sharing my day.  I hope they read this and know how grateful I was.

Climbing the mountain during the overcast morning was easy compared to the afternoon of walking on an undulating dirt road in the blazing sun.  By the time I walked into Laguardia I had abandoned any thoughts of walking on to Fuenmayor and after having some refreshments I organised to catch a taxi the 15 kms there, which Pam and Julie had done a few hours earlier.

There were a couple of treats today.  One was seeing the red peppers (or maybe chilli's) hanging from windows to dry in the sun.  The other was seeing  a couple of flocks of sheep in the fields, and in particular having to wait for one to pass by as it was being led by the shepherd onto the fields.  This is one of my favourite sights in Spain but I have never actually had to negotiate the flock as I had to today.
Chilli's hanging from a first floor window and drying in the sun.
The shepherd leading his flock, on the outskirts of Meano.
The flock not only had sheep but a good sprinkling of goats, numerous dogs, and three mules.

Laguardia is a lovely town - very old and on top of a mesa, a flat topped hill of which there are a number in this region.  This has been the last day of walking in the Pyrenees.  Now we are in Navarra and the scenery is predominantly vineyards (and bodegas - the wineries).  Tomorrow we continue in wine territory - though there is only one of the three of us who partakes!
We by-passed the village of Meano, cutting across the upper side of it. This meant we looked down on the roofs!




Comments

  1. Kiwi Nomad25 September 2016 at 13:18

    What a wonderfully interesting part of Spain this is- even if the path is not so clear! I love the landscapes and the villages.

    ReplyDelete

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