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!