Day 30 GR1 to Oliana

Guest blog by Christine

Having sworn blind last night that this was the last of John's trips I wanted to come on, I woke up this morning feeling fresh as a daisy and looking forward to a walk. The sun was already pouring through the window and there were 2 donkeys quietly grazing outside.

Breakfast was something else. The woman who ran the Casa (or did all the work) brought a wooden trencher to our table that had a sort of miniature tree coming out of it, on which hung 6 or 7 varieties of home cured dried sausage, all of which had to be tried with our tosta and olive oil. This, combined with home made jams and cheese washed down by gallons of coffee, made for a feast. I sneaked an inch of salami into my trouser pocket for later.

Day 29 GR1 Sant Cristofol

My perfect walking day, on these long distance treks, is 8 hours. Less and it feels you're not covering the ground and hanging around too long in hotels; more and it feels you're on your feet all the time.

Today's walk was a tough 11 hours, the toughest of the trip (so far), and Christine was in open revolt by the time we struggled into the casa rural.

The story of the day is how long it was. I would like to report on the brilliant views but low clouds blocked what would have been amazing views of the Pyrenees.

I did know today was going to be long. When Juan did it he got a taxi at the Coll de Comiols, the only place on the route where you cross a significant road, and that would have taken a couple of hours off. Juan and I agreed however that organising a taxi on Good Friday would be very difficult and even then it would have to take us a long way to find somewhere to stay. The better but painful option was another 8 kilometres (or so) down to a casa beyond Sant Cristofol.

Day 28 GR1 Noguera-Palleresa

Juan has gone so we are now doing all the food ordering on our own - last night we got lemonade instead of sparkling water and for breakfast Christine managed to order a belly pork sandwich. We watched them cooking huge slices of belly pork over the open fire, thinking what strange person has belly pork for breakfast - the strange person turned out to be Christine

We also thought Juan had taken the good weather with him back to Madrid. It rained heavily all night and the forecast for today was terrible. It actually turned out to be OK.

We planned to walk to Ager, and then get a taxi to Noguera-Palleresa. We have a big walk tomorrow and two heavy days in a row would be a bit much for Christine who has only been walking for four days. We had a great day's walking although our accommodation at the day's end was a bit "different".

Day 27 GR1 to Puente de Montañana

Today, for two basic reasons, was a tougher walk than I expected.

Firstly it was longer, 28 kilometres rather than the 23 we had expected.

Secondly the going was difficult, a lot of it muddy and "claggy", often overgrown, and occasionally disappearing across a muddy gully. It was just hard work.

Tough trail

Day 26 GR1 to Roda de Isabena

Roda de Isabena isn't on the GR1 Sendero Historico so today was a Juan Holgado variant and well worth it too. The little hill top town hosts one of the first Romanesque cathedrals in Spain and given that the theme of this trip seems to be stunning hill top towns it would be a crime to miss it. We will be back on the straight and narrow tomorrow.

Roda de Isabena

It rained heavily all night but the weather this morning was bright and fresh, Christine's run of good continues but the odds look stacked against her for tomorrow. We left Graus via a taxi and started our walk from the little village of El Sofer. The views were wonderful with fresh snow on the mountains in the distance.

Dozens of griffons

Perhaps the dominant feature was a beautiful set of red cliffs to the north west - the Morrón de Güell. As we approached them the sky literally filled with griffon vultures - dozens of them swirling above our heads- Spain really is the vulture capital of Europe.

Ermita de la Virgen de las Rocas

The first objective for the walk was the little church, the Ermita de la Virgen de las Rocas set high up under the lee of the cliffs. We dumped our bags under some bushes and for a time it looked like we were going to share our trip with a group of elderly Catalans who had come up the track in cars, but the muddy trail put them off. Like the church at Grustán yesterday the Ermita was built on the border between Moorish and non-Moorish Spain with the original parts of the structure dating back to the 10th Century. Fantastic views in all directions and well worth the climb.

Morrón de Güell

After picking up our bags, which somehow had got heavier, we set off towards Roda de Isabena. Interesting route which involved crossing a series of gullies apparently carved out of an ancient river delta formed from sediments eroded from the Pyrenees. Very interesting to amateur pontificating geologists like Christine and me. The views back to the Morrón de Güell were amazing.

Cloisters to the catherdral

The deepest gully was the one immediately in front of Roda de Isabena - nice walk down but a tough walk up, particularly after we lost the trail and had to do a bit of scrambling. Christine was determined to get there as quickly as she could preferring a late lunch to a late dinner and for once she didn't slow down in the afternoon.

Staying at the Hospederia, which I think is owned by the Aragon government, very nice, and the hotel restaurant turned out to be part of the cathedral. Lovely food.

Had a trip round the cathedral later in the afternoon, very interesting. We heard about Eric the Belgium who about 20 years or so ago stole the cathedral's most precious piece of furniture, a ninth century boxwood chair, and in the process broke it into small bits. Eric is a famous Belgium in these parts.

Streets in Roda de Isabena

After the Cathedral tour, Juan tried to persuade us to walk down the hill to look at an ancient bridge. We declined saying we could imagine what it looked like. Sorry Juan but after a lunch like that there is only so much sight seeing you can do.

If you want to see where we went today on a map then please go to the following link

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Day 25 GR1 to Graus

Christine's luck continued into a second day. Wonderful sun all morning until about 2pm. Then cloud and wind, but it didn't start to rain until we got to the hotel in Graus.

Great breakfast at casa rural in Salinas de Trillo, again everything homemade. Four different sorts of cured meat, cheese and of course sweet Spanish tomato pulp to put on your toast. There was a litre of red wine on the table but no takers, but the cafe con leche with this morning's fresh goats milk went down very well. The cost per person, by the way, was 38 euros for dinner bed and breakfast and as much red wine and other home made beverages as you can drink - Spain offers great value.

When we left we really felt like we had made some new friends. Would be great to go back there.

Day 24 GR1 to Salinas de Trillo

First day for Christine and so far she has been 100 per cent lucky, gorgeous sunny morning, clouded up just a bit in the afternoon but both the thunder storms missed us, one to the north and one to the south.

Got better views of Liguerre de Cinca this morning (it was dark when we got there last night), great location and carefully restored. Very much like a Parador, the trade union has done a great job.

Liguerre de Cinca