Sunday 9th September Esaba to Zuriza

"En las montañas, hay que ir despacito". (with mountains, take them slowly). Sage advice to me from an old basque shepherd. Today we left the alpine pastures and high hills of Navarra and entered the hard rock, steep peaks of Aragon. From here on, it is the very big mountains of the Pyrenees. We left Esaba after a day's rest and straight into a hard climb to the top of Peña Ezcaurri (2047 mtrs see foto). After grinding up 1000 mtrs over 9 kms, at first through forest then pushing our way up above the treeline into the high country, we were faced with a 300 metre high wall of rock that we had to go up and over. Unbelievable. We could see it from quite a distance and I was thinking the whole time as we got closer that "surely we won't have to climb over THAT!!" As the pommie twit writer of our guide book states "One can hardly believe that one is expected to surmount this obstacle". It took me an hour and a half of hand over hand vertical climbing to cover the 300 meters. As always the 20 kilo pack on my back was answering the call of gravity the whole way. Chris J and B were a bit faster than me so it was an incredible feeling to finally pull myself over the edge of the last section and see their smiling faces looking down at me. It was exhilirating and I was tired but the view from the top was breathtaking. We had been seeing large vultures (2 metre wingspan) the whole walk, now we were looking down on them as they floated on the thermal air currents, their giant wings extended and motionless as they swooped up and down. After having a good look around the top and checking out all the different views, it was a 900 metre near vertical drop to Zuriza on the steepest downhill track so far. I was really glad to have my walking poles because with the weight of the pack, once you started moving downhill momentum starts to take over and if you can't slow yourself down in the difficult gravelly and rocky terrain then you would end up going for the tumble of a lifetime which would not probably end for another 100 meters of vertical drop and a few broken limbs as a souvenir of the trip. By placing the poles in front of me I was able to both slow my descent and, with the more vertical drops off the edge of rock steps, reduce the shock of the landing taking away the risk of damage to knees and ankles. We come back down into forest but the sheer verticality of the track never diminished. Finally we came out onto the main road and after about 500 metres walking on tarseal with the soles of our feet burning from the friction of the climb down, we arrived at the camping ground of Zuriza. Like all establishments of this type in Spain, sensibly they have a bar. We availed ourselves of its services and downed several cold beers in succession. Feeling quite elated with the day's events we set up the tents and had a hot shower followed by a hot dinner in the camping ground bar / restaurant. Sleeping was not a problem.

Peña Ezcaurri

"One cannot believe that walkers are expected to surmount this obstacle". Comment from GR11 guidebook.

Climbing Peña Escaurri

Santuario de Idoya

Mountains, mountains everywhere.

Friday 7th Sept

We stayed at a hotel in Ochagavia. 3 to a room and shared bathroom with the other rooms. But a good dinner with excellent navarra rose wine. Friday was a 24 km plod thru boring pine trees but after 5 hours we arrived at a high point with our 1st real look at the really big mountains that we were soon to face. A bit scary I have to admit. Then once again a steep drop off thru dense beech before arriving at a small 13th century church, the Santuario de Idoya. A narrow rocky path led us to Isaba, an ancient high mountain village with cobbled lanes and more importantly a bar. We downed 4 beers each in 10 minutes. We decided to stay 2 nights here and hav a rest day. The body needed some r + r. Sunday will be the toughest day so far and Im not looking forward to it. A climb up to 2050 mtrs with a 20 kilo pack will be no picnic.

Thursday 6 Sept

These blog entries hav 2 be short as i am tapping them out on a mobile. It would b nice 2 put in a bit more of the daily events but my thumb gets 2 tired. Wednesday and Thursdy were 2 big days. We walked over 50 kms over rugged terrain. Water has become an issue as we move away from the moist Atlantic zone and we hav 2 carry all of our daily needs. Weds night we hav 2 make an unplanned camp at 1100 mtrs just below the treeline as we run out of daylight. Next day we follow the track downhill thru beech forest to the Irabia lake and on to Irati then a hard climb up to the top of Abodi 1469 mtrs. From there a steep drop to Ochagavia villa. The drops r worse than the climbs. Harder on the feet and knees and they are always at the end of the day when u r most tired.

La vista de Alto Aragon desde Navarra

There are some big mountains coming up.

En route from Orbaiceta to casas de Irati

Burguete to Ochagavia

We had been advised yesterday afternoon by the local bakery that if we wanted to buy fresh bread in the morning, to get there early. The crowds of foreign visiting Camino de Santiago walkers had to be seen to be believed. We hadn't noticed them yesterdsy evening but there was a queue at the panaderia at 7am, and after buying enough bread to see us through 3 days, we found a cafe to have a coffee and breakfast. It was packed with Camino walkers. I asked to overworked proprietor if it was like this all the time and he said no, in the summer it was worse. Well i figured the guy was making a small fortune selling coffee and sandwiches to tourists so i didn't feel too sorry for him, though i have to say he earned his money. Navarra is beautiful. It looks like Switzerland. Walking out of Burguete we finally have sun, and instead of immediately having to launch into a vertical assault as so often you have to start your mornings with on the GR11, we had a pleasant, level stroll along the road to Roncesvalles. For the next 20 kms we are walking through part of the Camino de Santiago though in the opposite direction, in other words away from Santiago. Roncesvalles is the first group of buildings the Santiago walkers come to in Spain, after walking up and over the Pyrennees from France, crossing the border at Gainekoleta (Gaine means mountain pass is Esukera, the Basque tongue). From Roncesvalles its a slow grind uphill to the pass and then we climb above the treeline to meet the French border again. We can't help but notice the wide, well surfaced and well signposted track that the Camino de Santiago walkers get to enjoy. We also can't help but notice the c rowds that are walking it. Fortunately, shortly after we get to the French border, our path diverges and we follow the remains of an old Roman road at an altitude of about 1000 mtrs above sea level. Finally we leave the tourist crowds to their tourist walk and we move up into the hills and the quiet of the countryside. As soon as we are out of earshot of the tourist hordes, we stop and make sandwiches for lunch,enjoying the solitude, The weather is perfect and for the first time looking east we can see the peaks of the high Pyrenees in Aragon.

The hills of Navarra

 

Roncesvalles + Burguete in background.

At last, sunshine. Por fin ha salido el sol pero aun hace un biruji.

day 5. To Burgete.

Muchas gracias a los de Casa Pablo por ayudarnos. After thanking the two "guardians" of Casa Pablo for good food and a good time, we got an early start this morning + walked immediately into a steep 350 mtr vertical climb. Heavy mist, rain, + 30 knot wind. Almost lost our way again up on the tops due tn lack of visibility, lack of signage, and an error in our guide book. We stumbled around in the rain up in the high meadow, finally hearing a couple of Spanish hikers yelling at us from a small shelter. They were heading in the opposite direction to us and were also lost, but we were able to give them directions to get down to Casa Pablo, and they were able to direct us in the direction from where they had come from! So we found our way down to the next valley and into the village of Burguete (Auritz in the Basque language). We had walked only 10 kms but the weather was too bad to continue and we were soaked so the rest of the days play was called off. We knew that tomorrow we would be starting on a 3 day section of the GR11 without passing any villages so we would need to purchase food. Also we were wet and needed to dry out. After stopping at a store to buy food, we strolled into the town to investigate accommodation. At this point we had figured out that here in Burguete, and for part of tomorrow's walk, the GR11 runs parallel with the Camino de Santiago. What we didn't realize is how much of a mass tourist business the Camino de Santiago was. Finding cheap accommodation in Burguete was impossible. The cheap places were full so we finally found a "Casa Rural" which is sort of like an English Bed and Breakfast place but without the breakfast. The elderly widow whose house it was, ran it like a Nazi concentration camp, with no noise allowed, no wastage of hot water, even going into our rooms when we weren't there and rearranging our stuff. However it was a pretty village and as the rain had stopped we had a good look around and found a bar with food for dinner.

1st time camping

Urkiaga to Casa Pablo

Woke up inside the tent to the sound of rain. Crawling out of a warm and dry sleeping bag in the tight confines of a mountain tent is hard enough without having to eject yourself half dressed into a cold rain, pack up and have a quick breakfast of cold porridge, throw 20 kilos of wet pack on your back and off uphill. The track was nothing but mud and as we moved higher the mist grew thicker. There is a poem by Antonio Machado that goes "Caminante, no hay camino, se hace camino al andar" (tr. Walker, there is no path, the path is made by walking). We had been warned yesterday about the very poor state of trail directions and markers in Navarra, and today we really began to understand how bad it was. At 1200 metres altitude, visibility was down to a distance of 20 mtrs with cold drizzle and wind . We lost the way at this point and descended steeply into a valley to try and find our way. We were lost in a thick mist. We retraced our steps, a steep half hour climb. Chris B went off to scout and found an old marker. The track was nonexistant but we knew the heading we had to take so headed downhill into another valley in the mist, taking about an hour to climb down about 300 vertical mtrs til we came to a river. We followed the river for 2 kms and came to a road. Another kilometer and we arrived at Casa Pablo, a "Refugio" with bar, restaurant and bunk rooms. We were soaked but very relieved. Lunch and a cup of hot coffee went down really well! There were only 2 other guests at Casa Pablo, 2 very fit guys from Cantabria who were determined to walk the entire GR11 in 30 days. They were complaining bitterly about the lack of decent signage on this section of the GR11 which had slowed them down. Casa Pablo was run by a couple of "Guardians", a guy and a woman who were paid by the local district council who owned the Refugio. Casa Pablo was way out in the countryside with no retail stores within walkin distance, and I needed to by some fuel for our gas cooker. I explained my problem and the guy offered to give me a lift to a gas station where I could buy unleaded petrol, which my cooker could work with. After that we sat down to a brilliant hot meal cooked by the woman, and drank wine and celebrated walking the GR11 with our 2 new Cantabrian friends.

September 2nd Elizondo to Puerto de Urkiaga 18km

A 6am start and both Chris B and Chris J very hungover from the "rest" day. Everything was shrouded with fog. Upon leaving the town, the GR 11 led us immediately into a steep, hard, 3 hour climb; we had yet to find out that this would be the standard procedure for most of our mornings on the GR11. A real grind up through misty beech forest and farmland with the dull clonking sound of cowbells everywhere. Part way up we were greeted by an elderly gentleman who was walking down the path aided by a stout walking stick. Beret (or 'boina' as it is called around here) firmly in place on his head, he informed me cheerily that he had already walked up to the top this morning and did so every morning. They breed these Basques out of tough material. We finally climbed above the cloud at 800 metres above sea level and were greeted by a few local hunters who, after hearing that we had come all the way from New Zealand, invited us into the large cabin which was there base for hunting, though I suspect it was also a place to escape from their wives. Fitted out with a rustic kitchen, long wooden dining table and lounge area, as well as bunks, it was a snug haven in the mountains. Chimney ablaze, they gave us each a strong cup of coffee and then, after hearing that my wife is from Catalonia, they broke out a few bottles of ice-cold Catalan Cava. Champagne breakfast, just what the two hungover Chris's needed. We chatted with the local hunters for a while, getting a fair bit of local knowledge about what lay ahead, and then moved on, climbing steadily. Reached the French border at 1000 mtrs above sea level, weather perfect. Our highest point so far. Began the descent noting that the track markings had deteriorated and the track itself had disappeared but navigated our way down to Puerto de Urkiaga (800 mtrs above sea level) and camped for the first time. It wasn´t the most pleasant of places to camp but it was too late to push on. We then discovered that the fuel we had purchased in a hardware store in Hondarribia was not meths as we thought it was but kerosene. The cooker didn´t function with kero so it was a cold can of sardines for dinner. Nice...not.

Leaving Elizondo

 

Climbing into the sun

 

France frontier

Altitude 1000 mtrs for 1st time. We are exactly on the border of France and Spain as indicated by the large stone in front of us. Photo taken by helpful French tramper.