Saturday, June 27, 2009

Pilgrims




Spooky spanish street art




Wind farms for William




Windfarm windfarm windfarms!

The long and winding road











Have been travelling in Spain for a week and it is very hot and orange and blue. There are more people on this section which is fun. Although its great to have the tent so we can nook away on our own sometimes, plus they sometimes have pools.mmmmmmmmmmm. We have also been staying in quite a few refuges as there are fewer campsites in españa. This means heaps of bunk beds in the one room and it fels like school camp but with more people snoring. At the moment we are in La Rioja which is a wine growing area so we have been walking through lots of vinyards and also golden fields of various crops. It pretty but with hardly any shade. Lucky we know its important to slip slop slap. It is still quite hilly and prob wont flaten out until we cross the meseta which we think will be like the desert. Have been trying lots of yummy beers, sorry cerversas : )

España











Beetle versus Worm, Slug versus Dragonfly




Winner: Beetle


Winner: Slug

The descent




The crossing over to Spain was made with a crazy swiss man who jumped like a kangaroo. Hehe. The downhill was very hard and hurt my knees and Bens bottom. He fell over twice in the mud!!! it was the best... but he was alright. The forrests were spooky and every now and then you would break out a have a wonderful view of the mountains. We were so energised by the bottom that we walked another 8km, then collapsed at a nice campsite by a river.

Onwards and Upwards







Eeeek, set off late in the day as we were only walking 8km to Orisson, which was part of the way up the Pyrenees. Holy mac that was the hardest 8km we have done so far, it was all completely straight up! Intense and the most amazing views. The weather was perfect, if a little too hot. We saw lots of vultures flying above us waiting for us to cark it but we made it. That night we stayed in a fantastic place on the side of the mountain. he greenest phot is the view out our window. AMAZING. Had a delicious meal with all the other pilgrims. In the evening Beth went looking for the 20 brown bears that supposedly live in the Pryenees. Found nada. The next day we left early in the mist and could hardly see a thing. After about an hour of upness we broke through the fog to see the tops of the mountains peeking through a sea of mist. It was magical. Even though it was all upwards it was the best walk in our lives. eing so high was immensely energising and momentous.

Half Way!











Struth we are half way and it feels like only yesterday we set off. St Jean Pied de Port is wonderful. A cobble stone town with lots of little streets and plenty of cafes and bars to chill out in. We had a rest day here as it was rainy and we wanted to go up the mountains when we could see everything. Went out for a romantic dinner and had fun exploring the town. In the old part there it is partly surrounded by stone walls and lots of big beautiful trees with fun roots. A man let us use his washing machine, hooray for clean clothes.

Late nights and early starts




Have been getting into a bit of a rythm. Are walking about 20-25kms a day and loving it. The weather is a bit topsturvy which we put down to getting closer and closer to the mountains. Have been walking with some great people.

Berries berries berries!!!




Hooray for French berries, we lub lub lub them. This was a beautiful old french house where we camped in the garden overlooking the town of Aroue. The best part was we were allowed to raid the garden and there were masses of strawberries, goosberries, blackberries and 2 types of raspberries. We all went a little nuts and Beth made an awesome berry dessert for the A-foursome as they tend to supply the alcohol :)

Pelote and friends




Here are the awesome foursome. We travelled with them for about 4 days, Joseph, Hieve, Danniel and Jean-michel. They were a lot of fun. In one small town we got to see a local game of Pelote which is game played only in the Basque region. It was intense and i think we will bring it to Autralia.

The Pyrenees are in sight!




Weeeee he he we are nerv about crossing these mahoossive mountains. Have been travelling slowly as we dont want to leave France. It is too beautiful.

following the lovely couple


This is Anni and Jean-Michel, we followed them for a long time and shared many a bedroom with them. They are lovely and wear matching orange shirts.

Saturday, June 6, 2009

In France, slugs are orange

Ramble On


Felix, Dop and Condom

Leaving Lectoure we headed toward Condom with a new friend, Felix. While passing through a small town we patted a funny dog.... oh if only we knew what this meant.... As we continued this dog, Dop, proceeded to follow with much excitetment, after about 2km we decided we had to take Dop back or he might get lost, so Ben valiently offered to go. Nearing the town, more pilgrims patted Dop, so Ben was forgotten and Dop followed them... As we travel the same road it was inevitable that we would come accross Dop again. He was running and jumping and sitting in puddles and having the best day of his life so we decided to just enjoy his company and decide awhat to do when we arrived in Condom (not pronounced as its spelt, we soon found out). 27kms later Felix, Ben, Dop and Beth headed to an angry vet to see if Dop had a chip, which he did. So we called the owner who said he would be there soon. When he arrived he hit Dop and lifted him up by his ears, it was really sad. No wonder he ran away with us. We didnt even take his photo, sniff sniff. Had a rest day in Condom and met an English couple cycling who gave us a book about the walk. Thank you Jeff and Gwyneth and good luck, email when you get there :)



Lectoure






The way to Lectoure was very fun. Made some friends who had similar music tastes and spent the walk singing James Taylor, Cat Stevens and The Beatles. He he. Once we arrived in Lectoure we saw men and women walking around in old fashioned clothes and there was to be a recreation of a battle that happened 200 years ago! Sweeeet. They had set up camp in the middle of town and there was music and later, firing in the streets, it was a bit scary but fun. At Pierre,s (one of the singing walkers) Gite there was a guitar so we went to his place and had a mad singalong. Then to top of a strange day we had dinner with the arch bishop of the region at the church where we were staying!

Images from lauzerte-Auvillar-Miradoux





Mmmmmm choclate cake from a wonderful woman who knows the way to our hearts.... through food!