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August 8 Barcelona
At about 8:00, I headed up (literally, it was very up) the three miles to the Parque Guel, a Gaudí designed park that is quite a delight. Motorcycles very popular—among women, too—here. Lots of scooters, too. At entrance to Guel Park: It is a not really a parky-park, as far as I could tell, because…
August 7 Barcelona
Got to Barcelona at 8:30, and would you believe, the hotel let me check in. It took just a few minutes to “get sorted” so soon, I went to see the sea: Then I headed over to the Picasso Museum, and at first thought I was at MOMA: Girl: There are lots and lots of…
August 6 Camallera to l’Escala
Last day of a walk deserves its own post even though nothing much happened. Today’s stage was marginally less boring than yesterday’s. At least the surfaces were somewhat easier on the feet. But really, this is cyclist territory. Exhibit A: Exhibit B: Despite the dullness, there is an undertone of giddiness that spurs you on…
August 4+5+6 Besalú to Banyoles to Camallera
The most striking thing about Banyoles is that it is a real city, with businesses, cars, traffic lights, lots of housing, parks, and so on. Getting here was easy. Short, mostly flat, not inspiring, but not so much on terrible surfaces that you are just aching for it to stop. Burros “hiding” in the woods. …
August 3 Besalú rest day
Got up early, way too early, so when it was normal early I went out to see the town void of people and walk a bit along the river. Where there is a river, there will be ducks: This one did not want to get its feet wet: There was also some art. The thing…
August 1+2 Sant Pau de Seguires to Oix to Besalu
Too much road walking: There were some watch-your-step, steep, rocky downs and ups, to be sure, so it wasn’t all a slog. I think these might be sloe, of interest to John Anderson and other gin drinkers (maybe)! Mountains still around for viewing: But so much tamer than on previous stages: This is San…
July 30+31 Alpens to Ripoll to Sant Pau de Seguires
The wildness and ruggedness of the walk in previous sections is not part of the ambience after Graus, but that does not mean that a day’s walk was, to use a groaner, a walk in the park! Still plenty of climbing and steep descents. But today’s walk had an excruciatingly boring section in the middle,…
July 29 Lluça to Alpens
Eleven-ish mile walk, neither thrilling nor dull. But I do think I am beginning to run out of steam. Maybe it is the weather….heavy air, if you know what I mean. Anyway, staying at an apartment with all the amenities for two nights. The biggest thrill is the kitchen. Again, dueño—Joan—gave me eggs, a good…
July 28 Gironella to Lluça
Gironella and Lluça are the start and end points of this stage. Since it is over 30k, I took the recommended taxi to Odan, about 4k from Gironella and made it about 1/3 of the way to Lluça. Here is what happened. A couple of hours after a lovely start, on a cool morning, on…
July 27 l’Espunyola to Gironella
Taxista picked me up at 6:00 to take me just a couple of miles to l’Espunyola—because hotel, very nice hotel, I must say— was off route—then he went on with the bags. As usual, though, it took forever to find the path, and the many barking dogs pulling at their chains did not ease the…
July 26 Masia Pujol to l’Espunyola
Yesterday, when I arrived, plum tuckered out from the effort it took to find the place, I asked el señor if there was an easier way to get back to the bridge, from which you then take a path to the abandoned church, and from there start the business of the day. He looked at…
July 25 El Corriu to Sant LLeir
Dropped off shortly after 6:00—I really don’t love these taxi transfers—to begin the walk going in the wrong direction. But it was a lovely diversion zig-zaggging through a pine forest, which really added to a rather so so day. Lots of road walking; too much. The soles of my boots have barely any tread left,…
July 24 Sant Laurenç de Morunys
Due to the heat, the description and length of the walk meant for today, which, a day later I cannot even remember—but all factors were dissuasive—I decided to do an ida y vuelta (loop walk) from Sant Laurenç. Six hours, and OK, but nothing really great. Sometimes the path was rocky with smaller stuff: And…
July 23 Oliana to Cambrils
Oliana, despite the lyrical name, is an ugly town, a pathway to Andorra, so big trucks rumble through constantly. The hotel, right on the highway, had great sound-proofiong windows and air-conditioning. In fact, it was a really up-market hotel for such a location, and the people running it were very nice.The guy even acted as…
July 21and 22 Vilanova de Meia to Masa Masanés to Oliana
Another 5:45 pick-up to return about seven miles to the walk site. This was a two part walk. The first part was fairly pleasant on decent track except for the nightmare through the trees where the path had been obliterated by fallen limbs and trunks, oh, and the part that said “cross the valley and…
July 20 not Ager to Vilanova de Meia
Everything was patas arriba (upside down) today. Dudu, el taxista, did not know where I was staying in Ager, nor did he know where to take me to start the walk even though I had given Cristina explicit instructions. Where the lack of communication came in, I do not know, but I was driven miles…
July 19 Puente de Montañana to Ager
Today’s magnificent walk through the Noguera Ribagorçana Gorge, compensated for the frustration and disappointment of yesterday’s debacle. José Ramón could not pick me up at 5:45, so his wife Yohana did, at 4:40, actually, and off we drove to Puente de la Montañana. “You know we are going 7 km past Punete de la Montañana,…
July 18, Lascuarre to Puente de Montañana
Advisement: A pictureless post Puente de la Montañana is where the walk was supposed to go, but sadly, it did not. There were two routes: the shorter one, which I opted for, was over 16 miles, (think 19+), so, since most the first few miles were on the road, I decided to have a taxi…
July 16+17 Graus and Graus to Lascuarre
p.p1 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 11.0px ‘Helvetica Neue’; color: #000000} p.p2 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Times; color: #000000} p.p3 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Times; color: #000000; min-height: 14.0px} span.s1 {font-kerning: none} I was excited to get to Graus, because it has supermarkets, and lucky for me, they…
July 14+15 Tierratona to Salinas de Trillo-Graus
Today’s walk, about 13 miles, was not all that beautiful: But this slate roof was: Oh, Doggums! You win the prize for best photo of an animal on the GR1: There is yesterday’s destination, Salinas de Trillo, and there is also Trillo about 2+ kilometres down the road. Now I will tell you how nice…
July 13 Liguerre de Cinca to Tierratona
Yesterday’s walk was long and it was hot. Today’s was longer but less hot. We are comparing 97 degrees to 90…towards the end, not the whole thing!! A major section near the beginning this morning was utterly spectacular. Fortunately there were metal cords to hold onto where the ledge was narrow and metal steps with…
July 12 Nocito to Liguerre
Couldn’t have started earlier (5:45), couldn’t have walked faster, made only one mistake, though that cost a good 20 minutes, and there were many paces where it would have been easy to miss a turnoff, and still it took seven hours to walk 16 miles. Granted it was hot. It was well into the 90’s when I…
11 de julio Not the walk
p.p1 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Times; color: #000000} span.s1 {font-kerning: none} Today I did not do the scheduled 18+ mile walk, which would be 25+ miles if you also walked the final 8+ miles on asphalt to the B and B. Other issues: there is the stream the bridge across which has…
July 10 Arguis to Nocito
I never knew 13.5 miles could be so tough, even Wikiloc, the site for all walks, classifies the stretch from Arguis to Nocito as difficult. To be sure, the scenery was impressive, spectacular, in fact, but at the end you felt as if you had walked 20 miles. What a relief to arrive at a…
July 09 Bolea to Arguis
Gorgeous walk today, tough, but gorgeous. There were thunder storms last night and more predicted, so I was concerned when I left at 5:45 and heard the (last) faint rumbles. Last night I looked up, “What to do when you are out in the middle of nowhere in a thunder storm (or some variant of…
July 8 Loarre to Bolea
Last night I had company in the B and B, a very personable Italian man, Luca, a science teacher, who was walking a different walk in a different direction. He was one of those guys who carries everything in his back pack, which was not all that big, and, who, when the dueña tells him…
Jul 07 Murillo de Gallego to Loarre
Today’s walk took in some dramatic scenery and was a civilized 13 miles. Thank God I had asked Jose at the hotel how to get to the bridge: (which, in real life, was not blurry) about 3/4 of a mile after the start of the walk because it turned out that the narrative in the…
July 6, Biel (Fuencalderas) to Murillo de Gallego
5:45 a.m. pick up by taxi only it was later because taxi and I were not waiting in the same spot. But anyway, it was a good thing there was a place to start some 7 km from Biel because it became very hot and there was a section in the mountains where finding the…
July 05 Biel to Biel
The circular walk I was going to do informed that you had to go to “a parking” two miles north of Biel to get started. I could not find said road on a map, so I decided to walk part of today’s walk in reverse and walk back to Biel, another round trip. It was…
July 04 Sos del Rey Católico a Petilla de Aragón
A nice walk, only about 9 miles. The only navigational problem was getting to the place where the path started. Yes, I did figure it out yesterday, but it is over half a mile from hotel through a maze of streets that all look the same. After that slight challenge, the waymarking was E for…
July 02+03 Ujué to Caseda (not to Sos del Rey Católico)
Walk to Sos was 34 km (21.13 miles), which I had planned to do and then have a rest day. But I decided that 21.13 miles was just too much once you factor in “issues” along the route. So, I decided to sacrifice the rest day and walk as far as an ermita about 1/2-2…
Julu 01 Olite to Ujue
Today, another taxi to meet, in Ujue, at 10:30 to be taken back to Olite. If you are wondering why so many taxis, most often it is because there is no place to stay at the end of the stage. It was quite an easy (10.6 miles) and pleasant walk, and I do love…
June 30 Ida y vuelta (round trip) de Larraga
“More of the same,” said John about today’s stretch from Larraga to Olite, only shorter. At 17.5 miles as opposed to 25, that is true. But 17.5 is still a lot of miles; even a 5:30 a.m. departure would not allow one to beat the noontime heat, and that worried me. So with a rare…
June 29 Los Arcos to Allo
Los Arcos to Allo was not the etapa (stage) for today; the stage is all the way to Larraga, 40 km. Right now, at 4:45 p.m. is 107 degrees, full sun. I left at 5:30 a.m. while it was still dark since the first mile or so was on the road so I didn’t have…
June 28 Hospederia etc. to Los Arcos
Eleven miles turned into twelve, as is so often the case! It was already warm when I started out at 6:15 and in the high nineties when I arrived before noon. Not a lot of news in that town: Car in front of barn: Closed window: Sheep: Sheep after the sheepherder gets them going where…
June 26+27 Bernedo to Santa Cruz de Campezo to….
El Santuario de Nuestra Señora de Codes. More about that later. Left la casa at about 6:15 because even though the distance today was modest—12 miles—there was a grocery store that needed getting to before it closed at 1:00. I arrived at 11:15. Google Maps, now that I have a functioning phone, directed me, so…
June 24+25 Berantevilla to Peñacerrada to Bernedo
Sergio, el taxista—remember him?—who was to return me to Berantevilla where today’s section began, refused to pick me up at 6:00 a.m. or at 6:15. He said 6:30. We compromised. He showed up at 6:23. I told him that his web site promised service 24 hours a day but he was not moved. I have…
June 23 Salcedo to Berantevilla to Peñacerrada
Sergio, el taxista, picked me up today at 6:00 to take me back to Salcedo, the start point. A good thing, too, because I made some major mistakes—missing turn offs and such—that cost me about an hour or more and it got pretty darn hot around noon, when I was thinking that I wished I…
June 22 Tuesta to Salcedo
VWB: Very wet boots. This is the same pair that looked so nice a couple of weeks ago. I have one thing to say about them: waterproof they are not. Ten minutes in wet grass, and they are soaked through. Well, that was yesterday’s story. Loved the walk today! No terrible navigation problems, though in…
June 21 Boveda to Tuesta
You see that very nice gate that has wooden slats and a waymark? It was one of the highlights of the day. In fact, it may have been the highlight of the day. It had rained and the grass was wet. It was very very wet and it was also tall. Very very tall. The…
June 20, Paresotas to Bóveda
To be consistent and continue kvetching, I will complain today about, oh, I almost forgot this one: at the start of the walk there was an arrow with a waymark sign. Let’s say it was pointing north. Guess what? You were supposed to go east. 15 minutes lost there. Then there were the wretched wheat…
June 17, 18, 19 Salazar
If memory serves, yesterday started out stunningly, and I was all excited for a frustration free day. “Ah, this is what it is all about!” And for several hours it was just glorious. There was a scenery change. John, you all know him by know, says that these stones are reminiscent of France. He is…
June 16 Corconte and then to Pedrosa
I am now at el Balneario de Corconte, a gracious, gorgeous hotel that has a spa, as the name implies. The room, on a Saturday night, is $70.00, the same price as last night’s very modest hotel. I will have lunch ($15.00 for two large courses, bread, a bottle, yes an entire bottle of wine,…
June 14 Brañosera to Reinosa
A nightmare of a day, even before I tripped on a black thing on the road in Reinosa—I was not looking for black things on the road—and whacked my forehead so that now I have a huge egg over my eye. But at least the phone did not break nor did a tooth. My opinion…
June 13 Cervera Pisuerga-Brañosera
Today was different from all previous days in that the muscles in my legs, whichever ones they are, or they could be tendons for all I know, but in any case, they did not ache at every step. And a good thing because although this was not the longest day so far —19.5 miles that…
June 10-12 Prioro-Camporredondo-Cervera Pisguerga
Left Los Apartamentos in Prioro with a slam of the door. Not that there was anyone to hear it, but it was a statement, in its own little way, nonetheless. It was 35 degrees and soon after setting out, which, again took a bit of time because, well, it is often not easy to find…
June 10 Salamón to Prioro
If it can go wrong, it will go wrong applies to today’s logistics, but first, the walk. 14.5 miles. About three quarters climbing and descending, but pretty. Had one annoying navigational situation near the beginning, so spent about 15 minutes wandering about looking for a bridge. But a man, who came outside to toss his…
Campo de Caso June 7+8
Half hour taxi ride through lots of traffic, five hours in a bus, the first four and a half of which were as flat and dull as can be, and then, all of a sudden, the mountains, some still with snow, started to appear, another taxi ride of about 45 minutes, and voila you arrive…
Madrid June 5+6, 2019
Excellent flight, slept almost the whole time, arrived at hotel at about 9:30 a.m., asked if it would be possible to check in, thinking that it would not be, since it hardly ever is, but guess what? Not only did el señor allow me access to the room, but even upgraded me to a gorgeous…
España 2019 Getting Ready
Essentials Do not be misled. The brand is not also the destination: Rojita, as I am calling her—because what if she does not roll right on over when I need her?— won out over an alluring, flat, long, neon green bag, whose name, Big Agnes (for real), was proudly splashed on the top in orange. …
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Grandma Goes Coastal 