To Alsasua and Bargagain

I had to work backwards a little bit to figure out the next few days. On Saturday, I know that there is a tour of four small Romanesque churches that are only open once a week. I definitely want to see them, so that gives me two days to get to Salvatierra.

The 14 km between Arbizu (picturesque village) and Alsasua (charmless big town) are flat, mostly off-road, and rural . On the way, I got a good look of what makes Navarra and the País Vasco so prosperous. Lots of factories. And not so much livestock or agriculture, except for the occasional sheep cheese maker tucked away in an off-road village.

There was just one spot where things got messy. The dirt road ended in a field of waist-high grasses with no path visible. I went back and forth for a while, till finally I saw the path on the other side of a muddy stream. No obvious way to cross it other than plopping into it and walking across.

By about 10, I was checking into my place for the night, since it was only 14 km away. I pulled up a few GPS tracks for local routes I had stored and opted for the one up to Bagagain, one of the peaks close to town that has a cross on top and is surrounded by a beech forest. There are of course good views all around.

Well, the trail is pretty steep, and because of some heavy rain last night, it was very muddy. On the way up I tried to decide how many falls I would have on the way down (I guessed five, but only had two).

I arrived back at the hotel with very muddy pants, which took a lot of scrubbing to clean. I am headed out for fruit and yoghurt, and we’ll see if I can find a few good looking pintxos to fill my stomach, so I won’t have to wait up till dinner time.

About 25 km today with 750 m elevation. That’s a good warm-up for tomorrow— the last mountain day!Read more