An early-ish start. While we would like to beat the heat - so far it just hasn't been that hot. And dinner is late so why rush. Who cares. Take time to smell the roses. I think we are starting to get in tune with the rhythms of life. Although we are just walking through it. It has to be said that we have met many people and they have to a person been nice and helpful.
Spain is great.
Spain is great.
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| Wide open - big skies |
An up and down day. To be honest most of them are. But some looking at the book - which is making up for its earlier out-datedness - some will be up - down and up and down. Hmmmm.
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| Junius - the competition |
The geography is slowly getting bigger, higher more mountainy. The Pyrenees are getting bigger. We stood and counted the number of Nees - we got to 25 which is the predicted walking time, in days, for that stretch. So a Nees a day, sounds about right. Maybe it was just the power of suggestion. But they certainly used all of the power of perspective as they disappeared into the distance. they were the horizon for a very long way.
We bumped into Junius again, here, above, he is resting. He soon caught us up - just in time for lunch by a beautiful pond in the middle of the forest. The place was idyllic, at least until we had almost finished lunch. Then as if launching a coordinated campaign - all of the cows in the area came charging into our picnic area to have a swim, bath, pee, poo and or drink.
They were big, with horns and young calves. So discretion being the better part of valour we quietly but quickly left them to enjoy. but not before snapping a few pictures. They may just be cows - but they are beautiful cows.
Our destination was just short of Isaba. Another night in a tent - the book said there were some excellent dry camp sites. and by now - In Cicerone we trust. Not that we had any choice and everyone we met who was walking had the same little blue book.
We finally came out of the forest and into a series of clearings. They were perfect for camping as foretold. So perfect in fact that the valley was full of scout groups - occupying all of the best bits. So we had to settle for the second bet bit which to be honest was still pretty awesome - river, forest, cow bells.
W put the tents up, ate and went for a stroll to find our neighbours. We didn't. It seemed they were all out. Scouting.
There is a saying that in the mountains you can't see what weather is coming. This is very true. A storm appeared from nowhere and started to hail on us.
We took cover and after it stopped we collected some of the ice balls. It didn't last long but was accompanied by strong winds which seemed to be nicely funnelled by the valley. making the tents dance like flimsy things in a very strong wind.
This didn't worry us - we had light but good tents. At least this is what the man in the shop and YouTube had told us. MSRs - the lightest we could find in Slovakia that were fit for purpose. They wouldn't lie? Right?
After the hail we played for a bit before retiring for the night. There isn't much to do at night in the wild when camping so we did what we could and were preparing for bed when nature put on another show for us.
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| Dining companions |
Our destination was just short of Isaba. Another night in a tent - the book said there were some excellent dry camp sites. and by now - In Cicerone we trust. Not that we had any choice and everyone we met who was walking had the same little blue book.
We finally came out of the forest and into a series of clearings. They were perfect for camping as foretold. So perfect in fact that the valley was full of scout groups - occupying all of the best bits. So we had to settle for the second bet bit which to be honest was still pretty awesome - river, forest, cow bells.
W put the tents up, ate and went for a stroll to find our neighbours. We didn't. It seemed they were all out. Scouting.There is a saying that in the mountains you can't see what weather is coming. This is very true. A storm appeared from nowhere and started to hail on us.
We took cover and after it stopped we collected some of the ice balls. It didn't last long but was accompanied by strong winds which seemed to be nicely funnelled by the valley. making the tents dance like flimsy things in a very strong wind.
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| The hail in Spain... |
This didn't worry us - we had light but good tents. At least this is what the man in the shop and YouTube had told us. MSRs - the lightest we could find in Slovakia that were fit for purpose. They wouldn't lie? Right?
After the hail we played for a bit before retiring for the night. There isn't much to do at night in the wild when camping so we did what we could and were preparing for bed when nature put on another show for us.
The setting sun and the left overs of the storm got together and put on a display worth of any great art gallery.
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| Sky on fire |
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| Limited head room |
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