GR11 - Days 3, 4, 5 & 6

I haven't had much of a chance to post anything. We arrive so late at destination, that by the time we've showered, done laundry and eaten, it's simply too late. I am discovering the Atlantic Pyrenees that matches my preconception of a lot of greenery, and I'll tell you why it is so - if it doesn't rain, you're right in the cloud, mist or fog. The humidity is amazing. When we are walking through the forest, the paths are cushy, sometimes way too much and the leaves turn to mush and everything is slippery. The millions of snails you step on also help you to slip and slide. When you leave the forest, you are either walking on grass or the hillside is totally covered in ferns. It is actually quite pleasant to walk in a path through the ferns. Every now and then, the path is so rocky, you would think you are walking in a dry creek bed. We rarely walk on asphalt, which is nice. When we are on roads, they resemble our fire roads. We are not encountering anyone walking in the opposite direction. It seems that the only living creatures we encounter are sheep, horses and cows. The trails are littered with poop. It always makes me nervous when we stop for a lunch break. The flies are all over and I know very well where they are incubated and bred and where they probably were sitting a few minutes prior to landing on my sandwich!

The destination after Elizondo, Puerto de Urtiaga, is simply a crossing of roads. It makes you wonder why there is a name at all. The suggested camping spot was horrible. We walked a half km back to where we had seen a suitable site. We were all nicely set up by 8:00 pm with nothing to do. We settled into our sleeping bags, and after a nice sunny day, wouldn't it start to drizzle. It did worse than that. By 11:00 we were awakened by thunder and lightening like I have never seen in my life! I was terrified. Our tent poles are metal, we were parked directly under a big tree, everything they tell you NOT to to. I hardly slept a wink all night, because it didn't let up for a long while. At least it had stopped by the time we got up. At about 2:00 am, Peter had squirmed all he could squirm, and finally had to go outside to relieve himself. I thought I would be helpful, and reached in the vestibule for his boots. My hand landed on the hugest, slimiest snail I have ever seen. The screech I let out would have awakened the dead! We hadn't fixed the ground sheet properly in the vestibule, and the rain ran from the fly on to the ground sheet and into the vestibule. Peter's things were all wet in the morning... We had to start our day by drying out. Luckily that was possible.

Our next three days deviated from both our Guide book and our GPS. The Navarra government finally decided to mark their trails decently. They were notorious for bad markings. All the blogs we read told tales of getting lost. On the whole, the new marking are good, but it is obvious that it was marked going from east to west, as there were crucial corners that we missed because the mark was in such a stupid spot. We soon learned our lesson, and if we didn't see the mark within 5 minutes, we would turn back, and on our return, we could easily see the mark that we missed...

Some of the grassy spots that we walk on would be impossible in thick fog. No way on earth could you see from one mark to the other. When there were visibility problems, I would stay by the waymark, and Peter would wander until he found the next one, holler at me to come on, and off we went. That worked quite well for us. I don't know what people walking alone would do.

In Burguete, we met Manolo, the painter from Madrid. He's also walking the GR11. We've been sleeping in the same spots ever since. He has saved up 4 years to be able to do this. His wife and kids, 16 and 21, are okay with this. You really have to want to do this to do it all by your lonesome.

From Burguete, we went on to Hiriberri, where we slept in what we think must have once been a barn. My goodness, for 27 euros in Burguete, we had a beautiful room with balcony, and washroom down the hall. For 20 euros in Hiriberri, we were in a dorm with bunk beds, and shower stalls that a lot of people that I know wouldn't want to set foot on!

Today, we made our way to Ochagavia. The first part of the trail wasn't a trail at all, not even a cow trail. They made us go on a ridge walk in the clouds where we couldn't see anything. There was absolutely no trail, only jagged rocks at horrible angles. The spaces between were filled with stinging nettles - and we were in our shorts... Not only that, for a long while we couldn't see the waymarks at all. We were starting to despair and think we had to go back. Thankfully, we were logging our trail on the GPS, so that would have been possible. Then all of a sudden, out of the blue, here was this beautiful red/white waymark. Phew!! Once we got over that hurdle, the going was really good. It's too bad that we were in the clouds, because this was a ridgewalk day. We did get to see some scenery, but it would have been marvellous in the sun. On the ridge, I swear the wind was 100 km per hour. When you would put your leg out for the next step, the wind would push it over. Someone watching us walk would have thought we were drunk! We finally arrived in Ochagavia in good time to eat, and do our shopping for tomorrow. We ran into Manolo again. He is also sleeping in the same Hostal.

This new route has made us gain a day, so that is good. I don't know what tomorrow will bring. Hopefully the weather will be good. We really deserve it. I'll stop for now. Writing 4 days worth is an awful lot. I could go on with my stories, but they will have to wait.

¡Hasta la vista!

GR11 - Day 2 - Bera de Bidasoa hasta Elizondo

What a wonderful day. We were off at 7:15 am and were on beautiful grassy trails as soon as we left town. Those are the kinds of trails we walked on all day. Sometimes we were walking in the middle of fern fields, other times in oak and beech forests. We did walk through one grassy expanse, exactly of the type I thought the early parts of the Pyrenees would look like. The trail was well marked all the way and no confusion was had. The weather was perfect for walking, about 17 degrees Celsius with a light breeze. The day would have been perfect if it had not rained on our last hour. It took us a bit over 9 hours to get here, so that wasn't all too bad. It's a good thing we were walking on soft, giving surfaces, otherwise the feet would have been sore. Elizondo where we are is a bit like Bera de Bidasoa, but right now, it seems to be one huge construction site, so it takes away from its beauty. The hostal we had picked out and were never able to make reservations for because they never answered the telephone was also a construction site. I guess that's why they weren't answering. They only open the restaurant part right now. That's why there was someone there when we arrived, and she obliged us and rented us a room in spite of the mess. They are in the middle of repainting the stairwells and hallways, so we have to be careful not to touch anything.

Tomorrow will be our first tenting experience. The weather forecast is for sunshine and partial cloudiness (no rain!), thank goodness. That also means we have to drag tomorrow's evening meal as well as breakfast.

If anyone is interested in seeing our route on Google Earth, send us an email at our usual email address at shaw.ca and we will send you a copy of the file. It's actually kind of neat to see. You can see the profile of the mountains, valleys and all.

It will now be a few days before I post anything else

¡Hasta la vista!

GR11 - Day 1

The weatherman was correct - it rained and drizzled all day. Luckily we had Roman's GPS, otherwise the day may have been a little longer. It is so easy to make a mistake as there are so many small roads that criss-cross one another all over the place. We didn't have a steady downpour all day, so really, it wasn't so bad. It would have been nice to enjoy the scenery, but such is life in the mountains. Every now and again, the fog and mist would lift and we could see what a beautiful countryside there is around here. I was quite surprised to see that the mountains begin nearly right away. I was expecting the landscape to be grassy, green and hilly. We unfortunately walked on way too many concrete roads. Our guidebook described them as gravelly farm roads, but someone must have voted the right way, and now they have all been repaved. It makes it a lot harder on the feet. We had a few head scratching moments as the red and white marks which indicate the GR11 were not always set out according to the guide book. The maps that Peter downloaded from Wikiloc matched our guidebook, so in those instances, we ignored the marks. We read so many horror stories about the trail in Navarra, how certain locals purposely change the signs so that hikers stay off certain trails, and how so many people get lost and walk hours and hours for nothing. The GPS, or the chefe, as our friend Longinus likes to call it, solves all the problems. What a marvelous little machine. We set off at 7:30 a.m. and reached destination at 2:30 p.m., without any problems whatsoever. The body, feet and knees are still all intact. We found our Hostal in Vera/Bera de Bidasoa right away. The first thing we did was head for a restaurant so that we could eat almuerzo (lunch). We were afraid that they may no longer serve the menu del día, but we made it in time. The portions are still as huge as what we remembered. The primero would suffice, but you also get secundo and postre (dessert). We were so full that in spite of having walked so much today, we went exploring. What a picturesque little town Bera is. You would nearly think you were in a German-speaking country. The houses are all white stucco. The salient feature is that there are huge blocks of stone around every window and door, as well as on all four corners of the house (from the sidewalk all the way up to the eaves). The colours can vary from brown or beige to grey. The shapes of these blocks are completely random, so it gives the houses a particular look. Many of the houses are timber houses similar to the Black Forest area. They mostly all have wooden balconies loaded with flowers - mainly red geraniums. Of course, the roads and narrow and curved, which adds to the charm. Tomorrow is a big day, 30 km and 1150 m elevation gain. Hopefully it will go as good as today. Hopefully the rain will stop and give us a chance to enjoy the scenery.

¡Hasta la vista!

¡Hola desde Irún!

Let's hope that all the bad things have come to an end. We started off with a delay of one and half hours in Calgary. They fiddled with the toilets, and finally we left with toilets only on one side of the plane. We arrived late in London, but that was of no consequence because Jackie was at work anyways. We took the train in from Gatwick to London, and had to walk to Jackie's because of a stike in their tube system. That was a blessing in disguise, because all the walking and sunshine (believe it or not in London!) really helped us to combat jetlag. The GPS which Roman lent us was wonderful. We followed the indications and arrived at Somner Place Mews without getting lost. Without it, that would have been easy because the streets go in every which direction and it is very easy to lose your north. The area that Jackie lives in (Kensington) is just gorgeous as is neighbouring Chelsea which we had to walk through. You could easily imagine yourself dancing in the streets with Audrey Hepburn in My Fair Lady, the curved streets with white colonaded houses. We found the key and were greeted by Annie, the cat. We didn't waste any more time indoor and started exploring the neighbourhood. She is just a few blocks away from the celebrated Hyde Park, so we spent the rest of the afternoon walking around in there. After a nice Indian supper, we hit the sack around 10:30. I couldn't sleep past 2:15, so I got up and finished off a small project that I hadn't had the time to finish at home. At 4:30, I gave it another try and managed to sleep another 4 hours. We got up feeling fairly refreshed and spent the rest of the day walking around - to Buckingham Palace, down the Mall (road leading up to the palace), Trafalgar square with Nelson's famous statue, then followed the Thames on the Thames walk until the Houses of Parliament (Big Ben) and Westminster Abbey, which was closed to visitors. We made a U-turn on the next bridge to find ourselves on the other side and continued admiring the buildings along the river. What a good choice that was. It totally altered the impression of London that I had when we visited the first time back then in the 80's. Walking in the streets can be a little unnerving because you always feel like you will be run over. They must have squashed one tourist too many, because at every street crossing, at your feet, in big letters, are the words "Look Right" or "Look Left". That really helps because your instincts are all wrong. We met Jackie at 7:00 for a nice Italian meal, sitting outside gazing at the Tower Bridge and the Tower of London, where they kept the bonny price prisoner and where Henry VIII decapitated the wives he was tired of!

The next morning we were off for Biarritz. Our traveling luck followed us. We had to evacuate the airport because of a fire alarm! Thank goodness it was a false alarm and our plane left with only 5 minutes delay. We were pleasantly welcomed in Biarritz by Mary and Longinus, the Spanish friends we made on the Via de la Plata. That was a wonderful surprise. We didn't have to scratch our heads trying to figure out how to get to Hendaye, the last French town, and how to cross the border into Spain. We settled quickly in our hotel and went off to visit San Sebastian. It is noted for its beautiful beaches. The place was just bustling. We walked the entire length of the promenade along the beach, then went off to a nice little secluded restaurant. The only problem is that the street was cordoned off at the restaurant level for an oncoming parade. Everyone wanting to continue on their way parked in the restaurant parking lot, so we had a hell of a time parking. We were treated to a typical Basque meal - fish soup, bacalao (cod) served with spicy green peppers. This morning, we had to start our GR11 (Gran recorrida 11) in earnest. We walked from the hotel back into France, around the beaches of Hendaye, around the beaches of Hondarribia, and up to the lighthouse at Cabo Higuer. With great difficulty, we managed to crawl down to sea level and wet our walking sticks. We walked the part of the route that starts at the Cabo, back along the beach, and ended at our hotel (which is just two steps away from the route). Now, instead of having to walk 30 km tomorrow, we can look forward to walking only 23 (if we don't screw up like many preceding hikers have done). The forecast is for rain, but according to Mary, the weatherman absolutely cannot make a reliable forecast (just like the Calgary weathermen!). With a bit of luck we won't get soaked. Today we walked around 20 km and encountered a few sprinkles. Enough to make me take out my rain cape, but still too little, because I chose the drizzle to sweating inside the rain cape. Now my hairdo is full of unmanageable curly waves. Tomorrow we head for Vera de Bidasoa, where I will probably encounter an Internet Cafe, so, ¡Hasta la vista!

Two days left before we undertake our next expedition, crossing the Pyrenees from Atlantic to Mediterranean. We've already logged over 1200 km since the beginning of the year, mostly with our backpacks, in preparation for this. Hopefully we didn't wear ourselves out ahead of time!