GR11: Stage 3 Elizondo to ( shy of) Puerto de Urkiago

Elizondo to ( shy of) Puerto de Urkiago

6.1 miles per my technology 

I’m writing that mileage down but it is impossible.  The book has this stage at “only” 11 miles something. We did not make our destination by about three miles.

But some of my favorite images of my life were this day and I can’t find them. I do know my phone was at about 3 percent when we stopped so maybe I lost data and precious pictures.

Anyway, today was exhausting! We still don’t have our “hiking legs.”,  We still sigh out loud when we see an incline, and we still sigh out loud when we see a decline. I meet friends for life on these hikes, and today would present another one I am certain.

I woke from the porch on the church to Aynsleigh saying someone had entered the door right near us and waved at her. That was nice knowing we were accepted to be there. As I was changing discreetly, a man opened a window and started cleaning. He later popped downstairs to attempt to chat. He had done a Camino from what I could tell. I was at the water fountain filling waters, cleaning plates (the usual routine) when he appeared beside me with a baguette and a huge wheel of cheese. He asked if he could give it to the girls, and I of course thanked him. The cheese was heavy but we gladly took it! The price on it translated to about $16 dollars and i couldn’t help but think of what a generous offer. He beamed as he told us “Good Camino!”

We stopped at the grocery store, which is always a treat! We bought fruit and I found the tomato sauce they use on tomato tostados and bought that too!!!

Up, up , up today in what might have been the worst up of my hiking.  At the top I said I needed a nap!  I have never napped while hiking. Many do, they set up their picnic and nap in the sun. We found a huge rock perfect as table and bed. We ate and Aynsleigh and I took at least an hour nap. 

We were at that stop a few hours. Less than three but more than 2. When I woke up, I asked if any hikers had past us and Bronwyn said “no”. Right then up over the hill appeared a woman by herself. We would chat quickly but I’d learn she was Maria from Southern Spain living in Pamplona, Spain. We instantly liked her and her enthusiasm. She has hiked most of the GR 11 before and pretty familiar with it. She jetted off we packed up and followed....

We found Maria sitting under a tree relaxed & staring and she was going to set her tent up there. When we said we were going to go on she joined us and we hiked until about 7:30pm, when the conditions totally changed. All of a sudden we were in a fog, a heavy cloud... We were on top of a hill and were soaking wet. I still don’t know if it was rain or the cloud, I think Maria would say, “both”. In an hour we would have reached our destination. No town, no village, just a spot in the woods, along a small road and a car park for day hikers I assume. I had no idea from my book but there was a cabin, that was a square container sort of place at the end. Maria references this and I had hoped that to be our destination. We were wet and getting very cold in negotiations and Maria suggested we stop and set up tents. I trusted her judgement as she said she didn’t remember what the decent looked like.

After last nights finale, I didn’t want to redo that with the added slickness of rocks from water and condensation. We quickly put on our rain jackets as we froze and were wet. Maria helped us and knew enough to remind us to put our jackets on before we set up. She knew the bitter coldness would come and she was right.

Clearly my most miserable night hiking... but thirty minutes prior I had one of the highlights of my life. We were at the summit, in darkness and heavy cloud and about 1,000 sheep ran by us. I can’t explain it, they were “bahing “ and their bells ringing in the darkness. I was in awe.  I’m just now noticing my videos of that night are not there, wondering if it is due to my very low battery that night.

It was great having María join us for the evening. We were quick to sleep and awoken by these same 1,000 sheep running by our tent with bells a ringing! In a cloud, cold and in the tent, we could hear them... once dry it would be a great lifetime moment for now I was miserably cold and worried, “can we do this?”....

GR11: Stage 2 Bera to Elizondo

Bera to Elizondo

22.0 miles per my technology 

We all slept great last night, when we woke “the boys” (as we affectionately became to call them), were still packing up and eating but they left before we did.  I got a cute picture before they set off.  Today was real tiring for us. Another very long day. It is real discouraging because the times in the book and the times on the sign are way different than our times (meaning the actual hours hiked were way longer).

We had no opportunity to buy groceries or food on this stage so we had to stick around town until shops opened. A specialty shop of meats and cheeses opened and we bought several nice things. Then on the way out of town we enjoyed coffee, orange juice and tomato tostada at a sweet area along the river. This gave us a late start to a very long day. 

Roaming cows, sheep, goats and horses are much of the added beauty to the GR11 or to any Pyrenees walk. We just walk among them many wearing bells and adding to the sound of the hills. Sometimes you only hear the bells, sometimes you only see horns or ears sticking up in the green... the treat is when they block you and stare at you. They are very peaceful. Today we caught the image of three vultures on a rock, huge vultures. I am fascinated  by vultures so this  was a huge treat!

A highlight of our day was a restaurant!!!! An unexpected new restaurant! Right at lunch time. We all sang in chorus, ”it would be rude not to (stop)...” which is what we say when we want to splurge. The food seemed very French to me, which I love!!!! We ordered gorgeous salads, fries and gazpacho soup! The staff was stellar, the scenes amazing and other patrons wanted to chat with us and cheered us on.

The sun was strong today and we were exhausted when approached town, a decent that seemed to last forever. It was close to 11pm when we arrived. We went straight to the church where there was no covered patio but a porch on the side, plenty of grass and the necessary fountain. The boys weren’t here, they mentioned they might stay at a sporting area that night... but we had no idea where that could be and we were happy with our spot.

The girls cooked pasta and we rolled out our mats and bags and fell asleep.

GR11: STAGE 1 (day 37 in Europe)

Hondarribia to Bera

22.1 miles (per my technology)

I’m doing an awful job of blogging, daily I’m blogging in my mind things I want to share, but my days are filled with little opportunity to catch up in the evenings. A good thing I guess…

Most know that we are spending three months in Europe.  Thirty something days have spent in a rental car going from:

• Brugge
• Amsterdam
• Berlin
• Prague 
• Budapest
• Croatia ( a week, never been)
• Bosnia

• Venice

• Florence
• Rome
• Puy du Fou ( amazing park)
• Paris 
• ...and back to Brussels for Tristan to fly home and for the girls to fly to Bilboa, Spain to start our next chapter of this trip.

Our city hopping was better than I ever could have imagined.  I researched our accommodations and every place exceeded our needs with no exception!!!!  Walking through the cities is tiring and possibly a good prep for our hike, but sitting in a car possibly counters any of that gain. I hope to come back and share some of our city experiences and photos, but my blog is mostly followed due to my hiking so with my precious time that is where I am going to dedicate my time until caught up. 

Days before starting our GR11, we received bad news from home....totally unexpected news. 

While hiking the GR10 for five days prior to starting the GR11 (*our “ real” Pyrenees adventure), I got a text from Steve forewarning  me not to read it out loud. I assumed Barnacle (our oldest dog) had passed, we think he is at least 17... and Blackbeard (our newest little critter) is probably his age as well... so I assumed the news had to do with one of them. It ended up to be our dear Hook, our two year old, three legged cat. Captain Hook appeared to have passed away asleep under a chair in our living room. I think this was the single hardest mommy moment of my life informing the girls, especially Aynsleigh of this. This whole trip she talks about her “ Hooky” and how much she misses him. He sleeps with her, curls up to her, pitty-pats her face with his paws... It was gut wrenching to break the news. I was fortunate to be arriving at a friend’s campsite in France on the GR10 that evening, where we had a bungalow for three days. Thank goodness we got to cry in such a peaceful place.

So the GR10 is a hike across the full length of the Pyrenees Mountains on the French side. The GR11 is a hike across the Pyrenees Moutnains on the Spanish side. Three years ago, the kids and I connected two “ thirty day “ hikes ( Caminos) by hiking five days on the GR10. A most amazing five days, where I truly fell in love with the Basque region and its people.

This was a hard decision, GR10 or GR 11... I went back and forth and decided GR11.  But the decision was never done with complete confidence. The GR10, I suspect will be attempted by us at another time. There are some slight bragging rights in that if you know the map of these parts a hike across the Pyrenees is a hike across the continent of Europe. One can start with a dip of their toe in the Atlantic and end with a dip of their toe in the Mediterranean. We hope to come down to the Mediterranean to the hugs of daddy who, depending how our hike goes, plans to be there with open arms...

Yesterday, we hiked on the GR10 from Michel’s amazing campsite to Hondarribia, Specifically, it's a lighthouse where the GR11 officially starts. The weather is beautiful, the walk was hot... but we did this hike three years ago finishing before Hondarribia and staying at Michel's beautiful home in Hendeye. I’ve hiked twice before to Hondarribia, but never made it down to the beaches and beautiful town. The Camino Norte breaks off into the woods right before the town. My future advice to all Norte hikers will be not to miss Hondarribia.

Many people stopped us last night to cheer us on, point us to the right direction or even offer their advice.  Our tent is in VIP space over looking the Atlantic Ocean wher the lighthouse is to our right and the opportunity (though difficult) to climb down the rocks to dip our toes into the Atlantic.

If all goes as planned in 47 days (minus any rest days) we will be on the Mediterranean.

Today’s hike was very long. In fact the first two days are very long. We made the decision to hike from our camp site, from the lighthouse back to Irun (about two hours). We had done this hike yesterday to get here so we could have justified catching transportation to Irun and starting from there.  We stopped in Hondarribia for coffee and our favorite breakfast “tomatoe tostada” (maybe that’s why I chose the Spanish side)... and then we were off. 

A very hot day!!!! In fact, at one point while in the woods, in privacy, I removed my shirt to drench it in a fountain and put it back on. Our break was going up the hill where two young Basque boys in their twenties stopped for a few minutes to chat with us. They seemed super sweet and shared they too are tent camping.  We had small talk as to where we might camp, the church possibly, but not much more. A few minutes later another guy passed us, no words were really spoken but an ”Hola!”, but he did say he too was attempting the “full Pyrenees”, while the previous two boys were hiking only a week. We got to town late, grocery stores were closed, and from the hills I could see there was a porch over the church patio! We went straight there!!!!

Several steps up and there were the “ Basque Boys,” Sabi and Diego. They gave us the instructions of where water was etc... and when the sun went down the girls and I bathed in the fountain (the best we could discreetly). No local seemed to mind and we were greeted with very welcoming conversations by the few locals that were still out late. The girls set up our awesome cooking stove and made an impressive dinner.  We welcomed our beds on the porch of the church!