Day 9 GR1 to Miranda de Ebro

Yet another lovely day, nice mix of easy walking, pleasant scenery and interesting things to see.
For once there was nowhere to stay on the GR1 within walking distance of Espejo and Miranda de Ebro, a town well to the south of the GR1, was the best option. Rather than walk all the way along a road to Miranda de Ebro I thought I would make a virtue out of necessity, leave the route at Fontecha, catch a bus or thumb a lift, get to the hotel early and have a bit of a rest. So today's walk was a relatively short one at 18 kilometres.

Left the party of teenage schoolchildren preparing to set off on their racing bikes god knows where. They were very excited and dressed to the nines in lycra racing gear. To English eyes it all looked incredibly impressive. My bible on Spain (apart from Juan) is Giles Tremlett's book "The Ghosts of Spain" and he argues that the Spanish education system puts an enormous emphasis on socialisation and I guess going away for the weekend and flying around on bikes is part of that. Looks great to me.

Another cloudy morning, perhaps a bit colder than of late, but with the occasional snatches of sunshine beautifully illuminating different parts of a very green landscape.

Day 8 GR1 to Espejo

Despite being in the wrong casa rural last night I had a very pleasant evening. A Mexican construction worker took his evening meals there and he spoke excellent English, we ate together with the owner, and with the Mexican as translator, had a really interesting conversation. Lot of talk about "the crisis", local wild life and a breed of small tough black horses which are unique to the area. Late dinner though so of course I didn't sleep very well.

30 kilometres today which is my ideal length, particularly on this sort of going. It involves around 8 hours walking which means when I arrive at the destination I have at least an hour to wander around aimlessly trying to find where it is I'm supposed to be staying.

Today's walk was a good one, fine scenery and lots to see. The landscape, with its huge limestone cliffs is a gentler version of the Vercors.

Day 7 GR1 to Boveda

This is the 7th day and for the first time I have had to get my waterproofs out. The weather was dull in the morning but started to rain by lunchtime and in the afternoon there was a full-blown thunderstorm. At least today was a short one, just 27 kilometres, and would have been shorter still if I hadn't taken a couple of detours, one voluntary and one involuntary.

Bad weather makes for bad pictures. Not only is the light bad, but everything is hidden away to avoid the wet. I've got two cameras, one on my iPhone, which I use for this daily blog, and a bigger Panasonic GR3, which I use to update everything when I get home. The Panasonic goes into deep store in the rain. Today's pictures are particularly poor.

The walk can be broken down into three parts: a fairly dull walk through a pine forest; crossing the valley created by the River Jerea; and the climb over the pass at Puerto de la Horca and descent down into Boveda.

Day 6 GR1 to Oteo

Special thanks to Richard and Nicola who were such kind hosts in their beautifully restored casa rural in Nela. They provided me with a huge packed lunch which was just as well because the walk today was long with limited opportunity for refreshments on the way.

The forecasts continues to be bad and it should have been raining today but instead I was treated to perfect spring weather. In fact it felt like the countryside was coming alive, lots of skylarks singing, the fields greening up under the warm sunshine and the farmers starting to get busy. Today I moved into a gentler countryside. Still had some limestone cliffs but much smaller and the cultivated space between them now dominates.

Day 5 GR1 to Neva

Yesterday's blog was just a bit downbeat. Last night I had a cough, a bad throat and I was worried that I was getting ill. Turned out that all I needed was a good night's sleep.

I'm sorry but although I love the Spanish food, eating so late is big challenge to my sleep patterns. Last night I managed to wangle an early meal, didn't drink any wine, opened the window wide and for the first time since I've been in Spain, slept all night. This morning the cold had gone.

To avoid 20 kilometres of foot hammering along a busy road I got a taxi to Corconte, which is at the westerly end of the Ebro Reservoir. Confounding yesterday's weather forecast it was gloomy but definitely not raining.

Day 4 GR1 to Reinosa

Arriving at Reinosa marks a transition point in the walk - very much the end of a stage.

Firstly at a distinctly unremarkable spot we crossed the watershed between the River Douro, which flows to the Atlantic, and the mighty River Ebro which flows to the Mediterranean. In one respect it's downhill all way although I've still got something like 900 kilometres to walk.

Secondly I have crossed the border between the region of Castile and León into the region of Cantabria. This was significant today because as soon as it was crossed the way marks disappeared.

Thirdly the run of good weather I have enjoyed for the first 4 days looks like it has come to an end. It's now milder and rain is forecast tomorrow - in places the route is already a quagmire and with the amount of snow on the ground it will probably get worse as a thaw kicks in.

Day 3 GR1 to Brañosera

What a tough day, really hard work and I'm now waiting for my dinner totally knackered.

It was harder for two reasons: it was five kilometres longer than expected, 32 instead of 27; and the conditions were terrible - deep wet energy sapping snow.

My route is based on Juan's trail which he has plotted on several trips over a number of years. The route was not nearly as well signed when he did it, has sometimes been re-routed, and sometimes Juan chose to ignore the official route and visit something he was particularly interested in. Today it was an ancient oak sitting high up on a hill and surrounded by deep snow.