Camino Catalan week 3

Day 15 Algerri to Tamarite de Litera 20 kms

Algerri

I woke at 6, hopefully this is the last time. The sky was grey but it was not raining. The countryside was the same as yesterday, wheat and fruit trees, but  most of the blossom is just coming to an end. The Serra Llarga continues, it looks like the back of a sleeping dragon, a very long dragon.
 
In Alfarras I stopped for a coffee then  I continued into Aragon.

The countryside became more undulating but the dragon continues.
There are new signs here.
  
Tamarite is the first place I have seen where the albergue is advertised but the first where I have had difficulty getting in. The key is supposed to be with the local police and I have a mobile number for weekends but no one is answering the phone. In the end I asked the Guardia Civil and was told to go to the bar next to the Town Hall. I had done a shop as soone as I arrived as it is Saturday and the albergue is donativo. I needed change as I only had a €50 note, this meant that I had been wondering around with a bag of food, complete with a bottle of wine:-) I was very glad when I eventually got into the albergue.

Day 16 Tamarite de Litera to Monzon 21.6 kms
It was the night the clocks spring forward. I changed the time on my watch and then tried not to go to sleep too early. I had  decided to wear ear plugs, not because I expected noise but because whenever I wear them I seem to wake up at 8 thinking, 'where is everybody?'
I woke at 4am feeling cold, not desperately cold but my legs were aching, I managed to reach a cover off a neighboring bed.  I had a blanket on but it kept slipping off but this new one was a heavy counterpane and stayed put.  I got comfy and went back to sleep. When I woke again it was daylight, I looked at my watch, 6.55, I was really warm and comfy, I could have cuddled down for another hour but I had set myself a 40km day so I needed to get started. On the way to the bathroom I realized it was really light, light enough to walk, that couldn't be right. I looked at my watch again, 8a.m.! I rushed back to look at my phone, it was right. I had overslept! This seemed to have put an end to my walking to Berbegal,  the next albergue.
I got ready and left at 8.30, to find that the car park was full of cars and cyclists, there was s sponsored cycle race. They must have been arriving for ages and I hadn't heard them. It just shows how effective ear plugs are!
The route still followed the dragon.

I still hadn't quite made up my mind how far I would walk. There were no villages and nowhere to stop until Monzon, but I  was feeling much better after a good nights sleep.
The day started really cloudy and after a few hours it started to rain.  Not heavy rain but the soft stuff that wets you! I decided to pass on walking further so I have stopped in Monzon. Hopefully this is the last hotel, from now on there are albergues.




Day17  Monzon to Berbegal 20.6 kms


One of those 'You must be joking moments'

I woke up at 7.45. This was fine as I wanted to post a birthday card at the post office before leaving. It wasn't raining but it was cloudy and the weather forecast was ambivalent about my part of Aragon so I dressed 'wet weather' and set off, via the post office.
The clouds soon passed over, it became very warm and humid and I was pestered by little flies that kept going for my face, especially my eyes and my ears. My wet weather gear was uncomfortable.
In Selgua I stopped for coffee. I found it has a lovely hostel. In Tamarite, the girl who showed me to the albergue, asked if I was going to Monzon or Selgua. I didn't understand the question as my thoughts were between Monzon and Berbegal and I didn't know there was a hostel in Selgua. From what I saw of it I reckon it would have been worth the extra walk.

A few kms further on there was a sign, only 936 kms to Santiago, there's a pleasant thought.

The hermitage of Santa Aguedo

I planned to have a beer in Ilche but there was no bar, so I just had a rest.

Berbegal in the distance

My current info is from Eroski and it is much more detailed and reliable than what I had before. I am heading for Berbegal because the albergue is recommended by the Eroski site, as is Pueyo de Fañanas tomorrow.
In fact the albergue in Berbegal is super, it has everything, even a washing machine, so I have managed to get all clean. I was a bit dubious about whether my clothes would dry but they have.

The view from the albergue

 About 9.15 2  other pilgrims turned up, they had done the 42 kms from Tamarite, but I think they had also spent a little while in the bar before I saw them. they showered and went out for meal and returned about 3 am, giggling like school kids. they're friendly but not exactly what I had in mind when I wished for company.
Day 18 Berbegal to Pueyo de Fañanas 27kms

The view in the morning!

I had a coffee in the bar and started about 8. The first 7 kms were flat to Pertusa, where I stopped for another coffee.

After that the route was gently up and down. I started by wearing my jacket, as I have needed to recently but I soon realised that I didn't need it and had to stop and take it off. At Antillon I looked for a bar, I didn't find one but I found a kind of museum to the making of olive oil.
 
I wish I knew more about wild life. I thought I saw 2 eagles today but then they were joined by 2 others so I don't think they can have been eagles. They were big and black with rough wings and white heads. Also I have seen animal prints,one I think may have been a stoat or a weasel, if stoats or weasels are native to Spain. then there was an enormous print.

No, I didn't find a watch I put it down to measure the foot print!

One big question is: where are the sheep? I never see any and all the land is cultivated but every so often the paths are covered with tracks of large flocks of sheep. I thought the ' via pecuaria' or 'camino real' was something historical  but the sheep here just seem to go for long walks.
Day 19 Pueyo de Fañanas to Huesca 17kms

It was a grey morning but not raining, though rain is promised. I started walking with the sound of Louis Armstrong singing 'It's a wonderful world' in my head. Today is no more wonderful than any other but the route is through the country. It passed through 2 villages but Ola, the first, was too small for a bar then I read that Tierz, the second, is 500 metres off the route so I decided just to stop at a convenient spot. I took my break at the highest point and sat on a convenient rock, then I saw that the tiny yellow flowers around me were daffodils, I think they are the smallest I have ever seen.
 
After a rest I got up to continue. 'Oh my God'. I knew I was on a plateau but the way up had been gentle, the way down was horrendous, steep and tortuous.


Thank God it wasn't raining and hadn't rained. I think this was my hardest descent, but maybe I'm just forgetting the others. It was certainly the first time that I had to sit down on a rock to get my feet to the next level. I'm an embarrassment to myself when I am going downhill, I'm always glad that there is no one to see me though this time I was grateful that there were people somewhere behind me. Once I got down the rest of the walk was flat.

The 'Caseta Redonda'

Looking back

Hermitage of Sta Maria de Salas, once a pilgrim hospital

The albergue in Huesca is modern and purpose built and has every thing one needs. It opens at 13.30 though this time of the year that just means you can phone someone after that time. I phoned the first number on the list. An elderly man came, he said he was cooking lunch for some men friends and kept asking me to join them. He assured me I would enjoy it and maybe I would have but I'm not that out going. I went for a walk around, had some tapas and stocked up on my food supplies.
Tapas to die for!

What can I say, it's on the Cathedral wall, it must be art!!

I also decided that it would be a good idea to stick to the same stages as the guys as the walk up to San Juan de la Peña is going to be hard, especially if it rains but when I got back to the albergue they weren't there, no sign of them. I'm a bit peeved that they said they would be here and aren't. Anyway I am going to stick to my plan, The weather forecast says it will rain heavily for the next 2 days but the weekend should be warm and dry so I hope that on Sunday the path will not be too wet,
Day 20 Huesca to Bolea +/- 20 kms
The query over distance is because my sources don't agree.
I got up to pouring rain so it's 'wet weather'  gear again, off to a bar for breakfast and then on my way. The rain is moderate but not too heavy.

It didn't take much rain to wet the paths.

The route, according to the profile, is uphill but it wasn't really. It's mostly flat, with no major surprises. I passed an ancient reservoir, built in 1501, by order of the Knights Templar of St John of Jerusalem, who had considerable power in Aragon at that time. Not surprisingly it looks pretty natural now.

Then to Chimillas, the only village I will pass, so I stopped for a coffee and a read of my info. There's supposed to be a castle somewhere and a split in the route, easier but longer to the right, more ins and outs to the left.
Initially I think to the right, as it is raining, but I never saw the split. The castle more or less passed me by as well. It turned out that there are 2 big farms, both called castles, both ancient, both had chapels. The first is reputed to have been a 'hospital' for pilgrims, if the second was then it has changed, there were so many signs saying; 'private property, keep out ' and ' beware of the dogs' that I thought I had missed the path and almost overlooked the little arrow that showed the path through the farm properties.

Most of today's  route was on, what had been baked hard mud, the paths I preferred until today. Today they were soft, slippery, and claggy.

Mud, and sheep prints!

If I wasn't trying to stay upright I was wiping pounds of mud off my feet. My new boots are now well and truly broken in. I'm glad I bought them because my old boot would now be soaking wet and I would probably be in line for blisters tomorrow.

Bolea in the distance

This albergue is small and rather quaint, it has a kitchen and very hot water but no heating. I was going to look around the village and find the village shop this afternoon but the rain is so heavy now that I haven't been out at all. I am just grateful that I have plenty of food. I also have warm clothes.
For those who know me well and are wondering how I can pass on a glass of wine let me explain. I buy a bottle of wine alternate days and  decant half into a plastic bottle and carry it for the next day, together with a rice pudding or greek yoghurt and a piece of fruit, plus my dry emergency supplies. Today I also had some chicken pieces, half an onion and some garlic, so I managed a tasty meal.

Day 21 Bolea to Sarsamacuello 15 kms
The rain stopped in the late evening and a strong wind blew up. There was a big metal door open downstairs and it kept slamming. The albergue is next door to the Sports Hall, but separate, I could see the door but I couldn't get to it. I went to bed with ear-plugs, which almost deadened the sound. I was warm in bed, the blankets were incredibly warm. I slept moderatley well despite the slamming door. I woke at 6ish to see a clear sky and stars but when I woke again the sky was cloudy so I decideed not to take a risk  and dressed for wet. I went to the bar for breakfast and to return the key but the barman wouldn't let me pay for my breakfast, which was very nice of him, he said that it was; 'For the camino'.
The emblem of Bolea is the cherry so I reckoned that the blossom I saw as I left the village was cherry blossom.

The wind, once again was a very cold head wind but it had had the effect, overnight, of drying most of the paths, no muddy patches to slide on today but still some streams to cross. I spent most of the day just trying to maintain my equilibrium i.e remain upright.

Very soon after leaving Bolea I could see the castle of Loarre, I fondly imagined that the castle was not on my itinerary, it wasn't quite, but we had to go very close. Today was almost entirely uphill.

 

When I got near to Loarre I had to take a slight detour as a farmer had blocked the track, both top and bottom. A bit unkind!
Loarre is a very touristy little town, with a smart hotel, along Parador lines but not a national chain. I stocked up with food here, as there is no shop in Sarsamacuello, and I continued the last 4 kms. By this time the clouds had completely disappeared and the sun was shining, though the wind persists. Ideal weather for doing a little washing, as yesterday it had been impossible.

I got here too soon really but I'm just making use of the albergues as they occur and I certainly couldn't have walked any further yesterday because of the rain, and tomorrow is 24kms. Also I want the sun and the wind to dry the paths up to San Juan de la Peña. I've nearly finished this phase of the camino, I juust hope I manage that last ascent.

Walked - 464kms