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Caminos Aragonés and Viejo

maja - lipca 2025
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44-dniowa przygoda według Laurie Czytaj więcej
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  • Laurie ReynoldsCaminos Aragonés and Viejo
    1
    21211

    Into Jaca

    29 maja, Hiszpania ⋅ ☀️ 27 °C

    25 km with almost nothing but descents— awful for my knees!

    There were some beautiful parts, some so-so parts, and some sunny and kind of barren parts. Basically the camino follows the river and meanders up and around to a couple of cute towns. I’m in the very pretty little town of Jaca, with its cathedral, Vauban fort, and a couple of Romanesque churches.

    I had a weird encounter when I was walking through a wooded section with lots of criss-crossing hiking and biking trails. A cyclist came up a hill towards me, and when we were about a block away, he got off his bike and started tinkering around with his gears. Then he pulled his bike over to the side of the trail and flipped it so that it was perpendicular to me and the trail. I thought that was kind of weird, and when his hand went to the waistband of his cycling shorts, I said in a loud voice: “que sepas que voy a gritar.” (Just so you know, I’m going to shout/scream.). He hopped on his bike and off he went! This has happened to me 6-8 times on Caminos over the years, but this was the first time I was able to stop it from happening!

    Then, just a few kilometers further on, a man was just standing on the side of the trail. I thought it was a really bad luck day for me. But when I got closer, I saw he had an apple in his mouth, a water bottle in one hand, and a phone in the other. I felt pretty confident that I didn’t need to shout.

    We’re starting a three day heat wave, so I will be leaving early tomorrow.

    My tracks for the day:
    https://www.wikiloc.com/hiking-trails/canfranc-…     Czytaj więcej

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  • Laurie ReynoldsCaminos Aragonés and Viejo
    126151415

    A beautiful walk into Spain!

    28 maja, Hiszpania ⋅ ☀️ 19 °C

    I am so ecstatic and very relieved to write that I made it and loved it, landslides and all. I left at 6:30, and at 11, I was in Spain. For me, the much harder part was the descent to Canfranc Estación. All downhill, half as many kms, and it took me more,than two hours. I have to be really careful with my knees, stepping sideways most of the time. I go very slowly.

    The walk was glorious. Cool and sunny, what could be better than that! The ascent was steady, but not so steep that it felt like climbing stairs. Just a good continuous ascent. The path goes through lots of old farmsteads, which are now abandoned, through lots of forest, and when you break out into a meadow— there are the Pyrenees right in front of you!

    Until about a week ago, the recommendation was to take the first five kilometers along the road, because of landslide damage. The damage is still there, but a Camino Angel has painted green blazes on the rocks to take you through the most manageable parts. It was very slow going for me, even though someone who had gone through a week before said it was “very easy.” I’m guessing he wasn’t in his 70s. But I didn’t fall, or have any bad slips, so I was feeling good.

    When I got to one of the meadows before the pass, I saw a man poking around in the grass with a stick. We said buenos días (even though I was still in France), and it turns out he lives nearby and comes to this area to hunt for setas (wild mushrooms, which I love). He explained how he finds them—it involves finding a spot with a slight ridge that allows the grass to grow high, and the setas will be hiding underneath. He told me that his nose is so well trained that he can smell them now, but it is definitely at the end of the season so he didn’t have any to show me.

    At the Spanish border, I did meet another peregrino. He has been walking for weeks and says there are never more than two or three others at the albergues. So I don’t expect to find too many more.

    Confession time- I had decided that if I arrived late in the day at Canfranc Estación, I would just go to one of the hotels in town. But that if I arrived early enough, I would see what the rates were at the fancy place in the old train station. My starting point in these situations is the price we paid two years ago in high summer season at a Best Western on the interstate near Aspen. Our flight to Denver had been delayed, we couldn’t make it to our vacation rental, and we were lucky to find a place to sleep. I thought the price was highway robbery, so if I come across an exceptional place in that same price range, I figure it’s a bargain. So in I went. It is a very beautiful place in the restored train station.

    The food in their café (not their 1* Michelin restaurant) is fine and reasonably priced. I’ve had ice delivered to my room for my knees, I’ve wrung out my clothes in the thickest towels I’ve ever had on the Camino, so I am in pretty good shape.

    The station itself has a very interesting history. It was started in the mid 1800s, with the idea of opening the border with France. France, however, was not interested. But finally in the early 1900s, a treaty was signed with France to make the tunnel and the connection happen. But then came the first world war, and then came the Spanish Civil War.

    When Lee and I walked the Aragonés, more than a decade ago, the station was in total ruins. We were able to walk all around and poke into different nooks and crannies. It was kind of creepy. We learned that several years earlier, a French taxi driver, who was obsessed with this station, had found a huge cache of documents, corroborating the then rumor that this had been the way in which Germans had sent through tons and tons of gold seized from the Jews. From there, the gold made it to the marketplace, where it bought arms for the Germans, thanks to Franco’s help. And here it is today, a fancy hotel.

    Here are wikiloc tracks for the day:

    https://www.wikiloc.com/hiking-trails/urdos-to-…     Czytaj więcej

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  • Laurie ReynoldsCaminos Aragonés and Viejo
    11

    Another travel day

    27 maja, Hiszpania ⋅ ☀️ 16 °C

    One more day before I will finally start to walk. I don’t think I’ve ever taken this long to get to my starting point!

    Today started with a bus ride to Jaca. Two more bus rides to get (FINALLY) to Urdos. I went to the tourist office to check up on the schedule for the second bus to France. She told me that I would have a two hour wait in Canfranc station and not get to France until after five. A friend from the forum had told me about a good Taxi, so I sent a WhatsApp and got a reasonable quote.

    I have wanted to visit the Art Museum in the Cathedral since I last walked through Jaca and had found it closed for a holiday. Like the museum in Barcelona, it houses Romanesque frescoes from several rural churches. This involved the “strappo” technique— if I understood the information panels correctly, some kind of dampened linen was spread over the painting, and then somehow they lift it up, move it, and reapply it to the new wall. This sounds very complicated.

    Even though I will be back here in a few days, I decided to seize the opportunity and visit the museum. There were some amazing frescoes One originally had four rows of paintings on the church walls, depicting the life of Christ in chronological order. There were also some beautiful Romanesque virgins with child.

    I arrived in the small town of Urdos, which now has two closed hotels and one small open hotel. There is also a pilgrims’ Albergue, but I opted for the hotel. I did get my first stamp, and also met the man who runs the the pilgrims’ gite, along with the man who is taking it upon himself to remark the route after last year’s landslides. They tell me it is all walkable now, no need to take a detour on the extremely narrow road. For that, I am very grateful.

    I am a bit nervous about tomorrow, to tell the truth. It probably wasn’t the best idea to have such a rough day on the first day of walking, but I really wanted to “cross the Pyrenees” (ok, I know that’s hyperbolic). The sign says it’s four hours 20 minutes and 12.5 km to the mountain pass at the border. What they don’t tell you is that it’s also 1000 m up! I doubt I will get there in four hours and 20 minutes, but I’m not in a rush. A Forum friend who just walked this route a few days ago told me that I would want to stop to take a picture every few steps anyway. Looks like good weather, fingers crossed.     Czytaj więcej

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  • Laurie ReynoldsCaminos Aragonés and Viejo
    11124

    Day of errands

    26 maja, Hiszpania ⋅ ☁️ 27 °C

    The historic center of Zaragoza, like most Spanish cities, is defined by narrow maze-like streets. It’s always fun to see that the journey between two places on Google maps is much shorter for walkers than for cars.

    Errands usually require going out into the more modern parts. I plotted out a route that included the post office, the Vodafone store (SIM card for cell phone), groceries, and a pharmacy. Not only did I need to buy my favorite sunscreen, which is only sold in pharmacies, but I realized this morning that I had left my thyroid medication at home. The trips to the post office, grocery, and the Vodafone store were fun and uneventful. But the Pharmacy…

    In days gone by, I could always get prescription drugs without a prescription. I never asked for anything outrageous, and I’m sure the pharmacist just believed my story. But this year, I had quite the adventure. After three or four pharmacies, one suggested that I go to a clinic, see a doctor, and get another prescription . I tried several, but no luck. For one, I needed an insurance card, for another, it would have to be tomorrow. The third, the public urgencias, was mobbed. I am a very lucky peregrina, because I decided to go to one more pharmacy just for the heck of it. And I was lucky! The pharmacist told me that any doctor was going to have to just take my word for it (tests would show a normal thyroid), so she decided that she could too. I told her repeatedly that I did not want to put her at risk, but she assured me there was no problem. I learned later that if she gets caught, it will be a €3000 fine. I am sure inspections are much more frequent in the big cities, so if this happens again, I will make sure to go to a pharmacy in a small town!

    This is a beautiful city. Lots of pretty plazas, tons of cafés. In one, there was a lovely display of “Jotas de Flores” — figurines, decked out in flowers, each one posed in a step of the traditional Aragonés jota. I ate my lunch outside in a tree-filled square in a very cute place. How lucky am I?

    Even with the help of the very nice guys at reception, I have been unable to buy a bus ticket to Jaca for tomorrow. That meant another trip back to the intermodal Station (the ticket office for the bus was closed on Sunday morning). I probably would have been fine buying the ticket on the bus, but it was only a 45 minute walk each way. Yesterday I walked 13 miles according to my phone, and today I was at a paltry 6, so I needed to up my game!

    On the way back, I walked along the river, which was really nice, and then met up with a Forum member for a coffee in late afternoon. Lots of great Camino Chatter and instant connections. It was a great day. I’m sitting out in the main Square watching the people and eating a pizza. Tomorrow, I hope to make it to my starting point
    In France.     Czytaj więcej

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  • Laurie ReynoldsCaminos Aragonés and Viejo
    1152

    In Zaragoza

    25 maja, Hiszpania ⋅ ☁️ 29 °C

    I arrived in Madrid at 5:30 this morning, and by 6:30 I was in Atocha Station. Since I couldn’t change to an earlier train, I had a couple of hours to walk around the center. I walked a loop — past the Prado, Retiro Park, Cibeles, Sol, Plaza Mayor. The city was showing the results of a long Saturday night, with lots of alcohol-related trash, and a fair number of inebriated people sitting on the curb or stumbling along. In some small plazas, the botellones (BYOB outdoor gatherings) were still going strong.

    The train to Zaragoza left exactly at 9:27 and arrived about 7 minutes early. As I was walking into the center, I passed what I knew must be the Moorish palace turned regional legislature and offices. It was open for a visit, so I hopped in line, paid my two euro senior citizen fee and enjoyed a walk around. Since it is currently being used for offices and meetings, the restoration may have been a little aggressive. But some of the rooms have that delicate lacy stonework, and the mihrab is pretty much intact.

    My hotel is very close to the basilica, which commemorates the appearance of the Virgin Mary to Santiago in 40 A.D. I dropped my backpack off at about 12:30 and spent the next couple hours walking around the historic center — visiting the Roman sites (Forum, baths, and theater), admiring a couple of mudéjar churches, and walking along the river. Since it’s Sunday, there are tons of people out and about, walking, sitting in plazas, drinking vermouth, playing with their children.

    I’ve showered and washed my clothes, had a cold drink in a plaza, and am now holding my eyes open so that I can stay awake till 7 or 8 and then hope for a good night’s sleep. Since no self respecting Spanish restaurant will serve a meal at 6 PM, I am just going to get a salad in the hotel. And then –SLEEP!     Czytaj więcej

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  • Laurie ReynoldsCaminos Aragonés and Viejo
    2

    Flight to Spain

    24 maja, Stany Zjednoczone ⋅ ☁️ 23 °C

    I’m in Charlotte, soon to board the flight for Madrid. My backpack got pulled for inspection at TSA. But it was the baggie of instant coffee and not the hiking poles that caused concern. After they tested it for explosives, I went right through. Everything went fine till we landed in Charlotte and found we were trapped on the jet bridge. The magnetic door stopped working and wouldn’t recognize the employees’ PIN numbers. When we finally were released, I started to get into that relaxed, copacetic, camino mindset.

    I walked my first Camino in 2000, to celebrate my 50th birthday and to prove to myself that I was not going to slide into decrepitude without a fight.

    25 years later, I’ve walked a Camino almost every year, and I’ve hit another major marker. 75 years old, entering the 4th quarter. I look forward to my annual Caminos, revel in the self-sufficiency, the solitude, the physical challenge, the natural beauty, the ancient architecture, and I wanted to make this year special. So I’ve decided on a route with a lot of mountains. But I knew I should have a Plan A and a Plan B. There’s no doubt my body is not what it used to be, but I don’t want to give up on myself either. I wanted to have a Camino with lots of mountains, but I am not so sure about my ability to climb them! So…

    I have spent many hours researching routes, mountains, alternative routes, castles, monasteries, and alternative routes to the alternative routes. I have good information, good GPS tracks and I can make decisions based on how my body actually feels when I’m walking. If I can’t do it all, I won’t be stuck in the middle of nowhere.

    Based on last year’s Camino and some Camino walking in Lisbon in October, I am fairly optimistic that a good day for me is 28-30 kms with 600-800 m elevation. We will see what I find out when I start walking, though!

    I am going to start in France, in a town called Urdos, which is one day over the border and gives me a good mountain day into Spain. From there, the Camino Aragonés (hopefully with a few detours for castles and monasteries) to Pamplona, and from there on the Camino Viejo till I get to the point where I will hopefully cut things a little short to go meet my son and grandson in Oviedo. I am approaching this entire Camino with the open mind of wait and see and don’t push yourself.

    Only one more plane ride to go, the long one! Tomorrow, I hope to sleep in Zaragoza.     Czytaj więcej

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  • Laurie ReynoldsCaminos Aragonés and Viejo

    Camino 2025 starts tomorrow

    23 maja, Stany Zjednoczone ⋅ ☁️ 15 °C

    Tomorrow morning I will start out for Spain. From Madrid, I’ll take a train to Zaragoza. I’ve decided to spend a full day there, just to decompress a bit before walking. The last time I was in Zaragoza, walking on the Ruta del Ebro, I had been bitten by bed bugs and spent my afternoon washing clothes, spraying the bag, fun things like that. So it will be nice to have a rest day there, though I know I will be chomping at the bit to get walking!

    For more than 20 years, I have used the same horribly banged up and now filthy backpack. It is no longer made, but it is the pack I adore. I bought a new Osprey a few years ago, but at the last minute just didn’t want to change. So it has been sewn, duct-taped, and re-sewn. BUT — thanks to my sister, I got an unused, spanking new Mountainsmith Ghost pack on E-bay. The $100 price was a steal!

    Tomorrow off I go with a new pack, but an old body. More than on any other Camino so far, I am acutely aware of my aging body and uncertain about how it will perform. I have followed along with other peregrinos in my age bracket and know that flexibility and acceptance are the coin of the realm. The important thing for me is to be on the Camino, and if I can’t go as far as I hoped, so be it.

    Off tomorrow on a 6:00 am flight from Champaign.     Czytaj więcej

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