On the road to Pamplona we expected to meet a lot of traffic. But yet again the road was empty, the nation was either still asleep at 10:30am or they were all already at the bullring. After we passed Pamplona and crossed from Navarra into Aragón, the clouds seemed to lift higher in the sky and then gradually disappear. At the end of the freeway the road took us down beside the Embalse de Yesa which was shimmering in the most dazzling turquoise colour under the most vibrant blue sky. On the other side of the road was the edge of a tree covered canyon topped by small cliffs that looked like castle battlements. We started to see glimpses of the Pyrenees, with the higher slopes still showing patches of last winter’s snow.
Jaca turned out to be a nice town for a short stop. The cathedral in the centre of the old town is one of the oldest Romanesque cathedrals dating from the 11C and it is very hard to see anything inside with only a few smoky windows and hardly any lights. Not far away is the Castillo de San Pedro built in 1595 to guard the border with France. It’s a perfect pentagon with all of its bastions still intact, it’s just a shame that the moat is now full of grass rather than water, or there could have been the most impressive reflection.
We picked what looked like a popular bar for a tapas lunch and confidently asked the barman for a plate. We knew the selection procedure from San Sebastian. He looked at us strangely and in perfect English, told us we should point to what we would like and he would use his hygienic tongs to put them on a couple of plates. He heated a couple of them for us and we tucked in to what turned out to be the best tapas we’ve ever had. We could have sat and eaten more, perhaps all afternoon, but we had a big dinner planned so we had to call a halt. Maybe we should have carried on; I don’t suppose we’ll ever get back to Jaca…. Our last stop in Jaca was the huge Eroski supermarket which was so devoid of customers they might as well have closed, but we were glad they were open, we needed some basics for our next few days in the mountains.
Late in the afternoon we pulled in to Camping Gavin, close to the village of……Gavin. It seems such a funny name for a Spanish village; I hope the next one is called Brian. We picked a spot on a middle terrace with lovely views of the hills to the south and some mountain peaks to the west and a cloudless sky above.
Friday was a catch-up day, physically, mentally and washing wise, but we got it all done in the morning and the afternoon was spent laying on the grass beside the swimming pool. We did manage a swim in the very chilly water and that was good for clearing out the tiredness and picking me up again.
Fairly early on Saturday morning we left the chairs, the table, the bikes and levellers on our pitch and set off on an expedition in Eileen. The blue sky had puffs of white cloud as we set off up the Valle de Tena and Rodney The Mountain Man was happy to be glimpsing snow on the higher peaks. We were off to France for the day to discover more beautiful scenery in the French Pyrenees. As we climbed higher the jagged peaks of Pená Foradada stood proud in front of us at 2,295m. Most of the villages we passed looked like ski resorts and at Formigal the chair lifts came right down to the road.
As we approached the Col du Portalet the clouds dropped lower and lower, sometimes with rainbows hanging under them and as we crossed the border, France disappeared in a thick cloud. Hmmph. I could feel the disappointment in the seat next to me. We decided to push on up to Fabrèges and see if there was any point in continuing our expedition. We drank a couple of hot chocolates in a café, walked over to the ticket office and finally decided to cancel today’s plan. There is a petit train, one of the highest in Europe, that travels for an hour up to the Lac D’Artouste for fabulous views over the Vallée d’ Ossau; with the clouds hanging so low, there seemed little point to sit on a train that would take us deeper in to the damp clouds.
So we left France and drove back to Spain, where the sun was still shining and the mountains were clear. We made another plan for the day and then changed it. Made a different plan and changed it, and finally settled on a plan to drive the 10km road through the twisting Garganta del Escalar up to Balneario de Panticosa. It was a very narrow chasm of a valley which opened out at the top into a huge bowl surrounded by some of the highest mountain peaks in the Pyrenees. There were a lot of people wandering around, but there only seemed to be a huge hotel spa and casino, plus a café and a shop. The car park was fairly full, so we assumed that they must all be going on treks up the peaks, or a herd of gamblers were in town. The tracks looked too steep for me to attempt and we were hungry for lunch, so with the café looking rather uninspiring, we drove back down to the village of Panticosa. We found a café with great views of the mountains and then walked down to the base of the village to catch a gondola ride up to the top of a high ridge on the side of the Pico de Baldairan.
The views at the top were spectacular and Rodney was itching for a good hike. We only had three hours before the last ride back down on the gondola, so we set off at a good pace up over another ridge where we could see the clouds still hanging over the French Pyrenees. We stopped when we reached the Ibon de los Asnos and I relaxed in the sunshine, while Rodney continued at high speed around the lake and up over the far ridge.
The walk back down was far quicker and the best bit of the walk for me was spotting marmots, lots of them and thankfully, when we got back to the top of the lift, we still had plenty of time for an ice cream and time-out in a deckchair on the sun terrace before catching a gondola back down to Eileen.
With an incredibly late start to Sunday under our belt, we hit the road after midday. Singing ‘Come On Eileen’ and changing gears a lot, we wriggled along the edge of the Sierra de Tendeñera; the scenery thick with pine trees on both sides of the valley. As we turned in to the Vallee de Ara the view made us both let out a “wow!”. We stopped for a while at Torla to take in the view and stroll around the core of cobbled streets.
The Information Centre was actually open on a Sunday, so we checked out a few things and picked up a map of hikes in the area; love a good map. Only buses are allowed in to the Parque Nacional de Ordesa, so we drove up to the entrance, checking out three campsites along the way and then stopped for our melon and ham lunch in a lay-by with a spectacular view of the Peña Mondarruego. Lovely lunch, spectacular view. We took a few diversions on the way back to Camping Gavin firstly through Broto, then Linás de Broto and lastly a stop in Biescas for a bank cash machine that worked. We’ve made plans for the next few days; all rather weather dependent, but hopefully we can make them work.
