Week 4 + Camino Aragones

Week 4 Jaca to Arres 25 kms
I found a bar open and managed to start with a coffee today. The route back to Sta Cilia was easier than I found it yesterday.


These funny men were all along the edge of the wood!

An alternative route to San Juan de la Pena

This part had been beautifully paved but they forgot about water spilling over the stones!



I don't know it these were for heating or cooking but every old house has one

The bridge at Puente de la Reina de Jaca

Looking the other way

Some more funny little men!

The final 3 kms were first uphill and then along a narrow path, it was very pretty but seemed to go on for ages and there was no sign of a village, suddenly I rounded a bend and a tiny village appeared, up on the hillside. 

Some more pretty flowers

The Albergue is lovely and there are volunteer hospitaleros who cook dinner and provide breakfast.

Day 26 Arres to Ruesta 30 kms

We agreed to get up at 7 and have breakfast at 7.30. It was actually one of those mornings when I could have slept for longer. It was another lovely morning, the walk was mostly flat with an occasional slight rise.

Now on the other side I would have had to wade through this.

I hope she had another pair of boots!

There was only one village between Arres and Ruesta and as that was 0.7 kms off the track I decided to pass it by. I had enough food with me to manage a small picnic. I wanted to stop overlooking the reservoir but there was a picnic area just outside Artieda so I decided to stop there, I couldn't be sure of finding such a suitable place further on.

My first view of the reservoir.

The countryside is littered with these eroded hills, they look like someone has just dumped a load of cement, though some are positively lunar.

When I got near the reservoir I found they are building a road along the edge so I was a bit perplexed by these signs protesting at the enlargement of the reservoir but, apparently the new road is just a service road, to transport materials down for the enlarging. The Camino de Santiago will be very different in a year or so.

The albergue here in Ruesta is in a completely ruined village. It is a real shame, the village had a castle and a Gothic church but the people were impoverished and left without a means of livelihood when the valley was flooded.

Day 27 Ruesta to Sanguesa 22 kms

Having been 6 at Arres we turned out to be only 2 in Ruesta, but we agreed in requesting breakfast at 07.30 and then set off. In fact I had a walking companion for most of the day, very strange for me, I don't usually walk with anyone. The walk started by descending steeply, then it went up again more gradually.

Last view of Ruesta

Then down again, fortunately not so steeply this time. Then to Undues, at 11 kms, by this time I was gagging for a coffee and a rest. It is a strange little town, very well preserved and cared for but lacking in life and atmosphere.

This poor pilgrim turned to stone!

From Undues it was flattish into Sanguesa, we passed into Navarra.

Sanguesa seems to be a town that has seen better times, it has some impressive historical architecture but many places are run down and businesses are closed or closing.

The albergue here is run by an Association for the mentally incapacitated. I didn't realise at first, I couldn't understand the attitude of the hospitalera  and I missed the little notice outside. I felt very guilty about judging the lass when Andreas pointed it out.

Day 28 Sanguesa to Izco 18kms

We had breakfast in the Cafeteria/Panaderia near to the albergue, where my croissant was stale! You would imagine that in a bakers you could get fresh bread.

The walk out of town was fine but from then it was 6.6 kms steadily uphill. It was really hard going, then there was a little bit downhill and then even more uphill. The path was horrible, dried mud, but not at all smooth, it had been ruined by something in recent rain, plus there was mud and water in every dip. I got gradually more and more fed up and walked slower and slower. In the end I decided that this is the end, I'll pass on Burgos and Sto Domingo de Silos. I decided that if I were to stop at Izco I would arrive in Puente de la Reina on Sunday and would be able to get home on Monday or Tuesday.

Actually the walk was through lovely countryside but I was so busy looking at where I was putting my feet that I missed most of it.



 Day 29 Izco to Tiebas 23 kms

Izco has a strange albergue and I didn't like it. It is part of the Social Club but not separated. it is as if someone had a bright idea that if they put some bunk beds in the spare room they could call it an albergue and make money, without limiting their own uses of the premises. They also had a monopoly on food and drink as they run a kind of shop and the only bar is the one in the social club, and the prices are raised for pilgrims. What really turned me off the place was when I found men just wondering through the albergue and using it as a through way, it might not have been so bad if I hadn't been on my own. It happened in the evening, if it had happened earlier in the day I may possibly have left and walked on.

The first 9 kms from Izco were on a concrete path, someone had stamped on these shells. I started walking without my fleece as it seemed warm but there were storm clouds brewing and a cold wind so I had to stop to put it on. Fortunately the storm never materialised and I soon had to take my fleece off again. I stopped for a coffee in Monreal, there is a small shop in the bar so I looked to see if there was anything I should buy, but I wasn't sure what I would find in Tiebas and I understood that there is a shop there so I didn't buy.
After Monreal was on a path, there were several small villages and a path through a wood with lots of pretty flowers.

Vista of Pamplona

I think this is Alto de Perdon, but I may be wrong.

The castle of Tiebas

There are large quarries, the stone is beautiful.

When I got to Tiebas the albergue was shut and my phone wouldn't work, probably because I had dropped it at one point. I went to the bar and, fortunately, found the hospitalero there. There is no shop but the albergue has a small store of provisions, fortunately I had mostly what I needed. It's a very well equipped albergue, with washing machine and dryer, but nowhere to hand small washing and I had done a big wash in Ruesta. There is also a TV and as I was on my own I watched films in English, I actually got to see the end of 'Crocodile Dundee' I don't think I'd ever watched it through before:)

Day 30 Tiebas to Puente de la Reina 18 kms

I got up to find threatening clouds again but they cleared quickly. It was a lovely day and a lovely walk. I was happy and walking well. My theme for the day was; 'I was born under a wandering star', I haven't felt like singing for the last few days so I must be feeling better.

The village of Eneriz was supposed to have a bar but if it had it was well hidden, I wanted a coffee but I had to do without.







 I was in a hurry to reach Puente de la Reina as the battery of my mobile was almost flat and the last time I was there there only seemed to be one plug, at least I remember seeing lots of mobiles dangling off a plug in the bathroom, I needn't have worried there are more now!

Eunate was closed so I only saw the outside.

The last time I was there it was also a miserably cold day so I didn't look around too much, this time I had a good look, and took photos. There are lots and lots of pilgrims.

Day 31 The end!

When I arrived in Puente de la Reina I felt a bit ambivalent about stopping but being woken at 6 by people banging around quite convinced me that it is time to stop. It may have been quiet, and sometimes lonely on the Catalan, and even the Aragones, but that was preferable to hundreds of people rushing around. If I ever do the Frances again it will be early Spring or late Autumn.

So, it was a bus to Pamplona where I managed to get the last ticket for the train home. I hadn't thought about Holy Week being a problem for travelling and, being British, the idea of numbers of travelers being limited just never occurred to me. In Britain you get a ticket alright, you just have to stand:)

I won't be doing my 4th Monastery this time, Sto Domingo de Silos will have to wait but the other 3 were wonderful. I have really enjoyed this camino, despite my moans, and I have been exceedingly fortunate with the weather because some days could have been very different. If you are thinking about doing it go for it. Ultreia!

Walked 663 kms