As I waved goodbye to the girls as I was eager to be on my way, I waved hello to Helen and David who were just setting off. They bolted off up the hill as i took my rubbish to the bins.
The start out was rough, pretty much 70% gradient uphill with awkward way marking which the early morning mist made even more difficult to read. Even though I had a GPS I had decided to use it only in an emergency as it had been eating batteries the first few days out and the way marking had been pretty decent so far if you kept your eyes open. As strode uphill I noticed a slight pain in my achilles, it wasn´t bad but it was defiantly something to keep eyes on.
As I ascended yet another wooded hillside I wondered if I was ever going to climb a mountain on this trip. yet another misty minimum sight distance of 5 meters day was ahead of me.
I finally reached my first crest and stopped a the water point I heard the chirp chirping of the Pamplonians catching up with me, we had a bit of a chit chat about the weather before I got on my way and left them to rest.
I found myself going up through yet another wood and as I bitched about cutting some trees down to get some kind of view I came to a clearing. The clearing was right on the edge of a precarious ridge, having a slight problem with vertigo (even though I like heights) I edged close but not too close to grab a couple of photos. Yet again the Pamplonions caught up to me but before there was time for chatting I was off. I seemed to be making good time today (which was a shock) and as I reached the edge of the wooded mountain and look up to today's mountain to climb I could see David and Helen in the distance. "I might see them at the top" I thought, I never did.
I was crossing a huge field full of inquisitive cows and took a short rest to look back where I´d came from, I had expected to see the girls clearing the wooded ridge but they hadn´t. With a "huh!?" I was on my merry way.
As I started along a long farm road which lead to the mountain for today I looked back one more time, the girls still hadn´t cleared the woods and it was beginning to make me worry that one of them had fallen or something, the climb up wasn´t that bad but I seemed to have a good thirty minute lead on them when it had been five minutes maximum for the last two hours. Just then I saw movement, "one, two, wait wait, three ok good! Oh hang on four, five, and a dog?" Nobody with a dog has been on the trail as far as I knew. "Hang on, that dog is white.... Euski was white... It cant be" I dropped my rucksack and jogged about twenty minutes back to find the pooch walking along wih the girls. I turned out she had followed two walkers out of the village then got on the scent of the girls and found them. After some discussion we decided the best thing to do was continue to the next destination and call the bar from the last town to say we had their dog. It was a plan and the only plan however, Euski had other ideas. When we arrived to the accent of the mountain the dog took one look at it and turned heel and started walking back. "Can she really find her way back?" was my only question, I just had to hope so.
As we finally summited we took a well earned rest and took some photos the view was split. One side of the mountain had views of steep rolling hills as far as the eye could see, in another direction thick cloud approaching us, and to the east.... Well that was my first view of the jagged peaks of the Pyrenees. They looked amazing in all their glory, I couldn´t wait, just one more day and I would be there.
We started what seemed to be the longest decent I have ever done, maybe four or five hours in total, knee jarring, muscle cramping decent. Three hours in we had a rest bite, a slight climb of a few hundred meters, "Thank god!" I thought, "My knees need this". As I climbed, I felt a distinct pull in the heel of my foot, not painful but uncomfortable. I had felt this before. I continuted to climb and after about 10 minutes I felt another tug, this time with a little pain but nothing too bad. I have suffered with achilles problems in the past but it had been a long time ago. "Maybe they are just a little tired" I thought, "I can rest them up today as the walk is pretty short, we should be arriving in the village in an hour or so". At the top of the ascent I was greeted with a church and the Pamplonians taking a rest, on the ascent they had lost me when I stopped to take some Ibuprofen and Paracetamol for the foot troubles. We ascended into the village and I was invited to swim in the river with them...... I wasn´t going to cock block myself again.
Arriving hot footed and slightly dehydrated I downed a couple of beers before actually enjoying the taste of the third. After this we took a short walk to the river which was fantastic, mountain cold water mixed with 40c heat. Thats a mix you can´t beat.
This was where I had to bid bon voyage to the girls, they had only been along for a short walk and they were on their way homes to their beds. I was slightly upset to be losing them but it had been fun while it lasted and there were still a couple of people on the train I knew and would meet up with at some point.
As the girls departed I went back to the village to search for provisions, the next few days were without food stops or at least minimum availability, and I was planning two days in one for the next couple. I grabbed what I needed and started tomorrows trail looking for good camping. Just as I was about to start the trail I met David and Helen who informed me that there should be good camping around the towns camping site, but I already had it in my head to head out and find somewhere with a good view.
I did! I found a great spot on top of a hill in the corner of a field protected a little by trees and with amazing views of the route I had taken today it was fantastic. I settled in for the night snug as a bug in a rug.
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A strobe light and massive drums woke me from my slumber. I could have sworn I had set up camp in a disco had it not been fo the extra drumming of rain on my tent. I felt a slight pang of panic as I realised my tent had yet to be tested in a true pyreneeyan storm. Storms in these mountains bring buckets upon buckets of rain, nothing like your usual stuff. I had visions of my backpack rain guard blowing off into the night and my clothes being subjeted to a natural washing machine. Would the tent hold up? Will I end up swimming to my next destination?
Find out tomorrow.
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