Camino Baztan

Set off at 9.00 and arrived at 17.45. Total distance 20.1km over 5h of hiking and 470m up and 410m down. Rain was much less than feared, only at start of the day and then after our lunch break. But pretty chilly most of the day. Quite a long day, so it was great to finally reach our own little apartment after 9 hours outside.
Ina: In fact we found it was so cold that gradually both of us put on all our layers of clothing. Andrea with her superior knowledge that you lose heat mostly through your head had her head covered first by the hood of her merino jacket, then by her cap and over this the hood of her rain jacket! I on the other hand put up the hood of my super light rain jacket only while it was raining and walked hat- or hoodless the rest of the time - can’t bear to have my head covered except when there is a very cold wind. Even my highly visible fluorescent buff I carried in my hand instead, to be seen by motorists.

A lot of road walking today which I found easy because relatively flat, but also a fair number of extremely steep and long ups and downs either on wide tracks or on roman tracks which in large parts were desintegrating - each time Andrea switched to mountain goat mode whereas I switched to little old woman mode. So on these occasions we lose each other for a while hence the importance for me to have a telephone in case I have an accident. Anyway sooner or later she waits for me to catch up with her.Read more