McGresty
Wildlife as it happens
No go on a castle
The day began coldish in the middle of November and I set out to the town of Uharte-Arakil on a local bus from Pamplona. The object of the trip was to walk up a small mountain. At the top are the ruins of an old castle which the locals want to restore to what it looked like many hundreds of years ago and I wanted some photos before they began changing the whole thing.
Arakil (the Basque name) is a bit hilly and there's a sort of park area on the mountain next to it. Heading toward a bridge over the river, I saw the waterfall and stopped to take a few photos. Further on I reached for my water bottle and it was gone, must have slipped out somewhere. So went into the town and bought some more water. Across the river the photo above was taken. Imagine this a few hundred years ago and it would have been rapids.
I finally found a route and started walking it. Look at the stone slabs, this was taking forever because of their positions and loose ones—easy to damage yourself here
Along the way a local couple and I crossed paths, so I asked how to get to the top of the mountain to the ruin. The lady said there was a dirt trail about a hundred meters on. Dirt? No, it was mud and very steep. I gave up after sliding all over the place, it was impossible to achieve in the mud, maybe dry I could have made it and decided to go back down. If I thought going up a 50-70 degree angle in mud was wild, the downward journey was totally crazy but I found a broken tree branch to use as a third leg then finally gave up on the thing and walked down off it in long grass.
Suddenly, I was surrounded by people walking the Camino de Santiago (CdS) and I was on it! Ten years ago I was enroute to Madrid, where I took a wrong turn in life which has affected me ever since. Someone said go through Pamplona and told me about the CdS. I did three months research and saw nothing but stupidity from people who had seen a movie named "The Way". To be fair I walked it from Pamplona's French gate to Cizur Menor and about a kilometer more on a gravel road. This is not a trail (I Google Street viewed over 90% of it) and after spending time on their main forum decided it was a total waste of time.
I did watch the movie "The Way" with Martin Sheen and at the end you see him walking through .... Marrakech, Morocco—which is NOT on the Camino de Santiago! The character he played, like many of us, would have ended up out on the road backpacking around—well he would, wouldn't he. Once you get out and discover all the different cultures and places, you want more. Otherwise you stay home and never leave. We learn things out on the road that develops our character, gives more meaning to life and enjoy the occasional party.
I wandered through Villava and stopped for a beer and rest after all the fiasco of the mountain. However it was worthwhile exercise, so probably did me some good on that side of things.
Arakil (the Basque name) is a bit hilly and there's a sort of park area on the mountain next to it. Heading toward a bridge over the river, I saw the waterfall and stopped to take a few photos. Further on I reached for my water bottle and it was gone, must have slipped out somewhere. So went into the town and bought some more water. Across the river the photo above was taken. Imagine this a few hundred years ago and it would have been rapids.
I finally found a route and started walking it. Look at the stone slabs, this was taking forever because of their positions and loose ones—easy to damage yourself here
Dirt trail to the top.
Along the way a local couple and I crossed paths, so I asked how to get to the top of the mountain to the ruin. The lady said there was a dirt trail about a hundred meters on. Dirt? No, it was mud and very steep. I gave up after sliding all over the place, it was impossible to achieve in the mud, maybe dry I could have made it and decided to go back down. If I thought going up a 50-70 degree angle in mud was wild, the downward journey was totally crazy but I found a broken tree branch to use as a third leg then finally gave up on the thing and walked down off it in long grass.
At the end of the route I took the Villava way.
Suddenly, I was surrounded by people walking the Camino de Santiago (CdS) and I was on it! Ten years ago I was enroute to Madrid, where I took a wrong turn in life which has affected me ever since. Someone said go through Pamplona and told me about the CdS. I did three months research and saw nothing but stupidity from people who had seen a movie named "The Way". To be fair I walked it from Pamplona's French gate to Cizur Menor and about a kilometer more on a gravel road. This is not a trail (I Google Street viewed over 90% of it) and after spending time on their main forum decided it was a total waste of time.
Grabbed this frame from the movie.
© Elixir Films
© Elixir Films
I did watch the movie "The Way" with Martin Sheen and at the end you see him walking through .... Marrakech, Morocco—which is NOT on the Camino de Santiago! The character he played, like many of us, would have ended up out on the road backpacking around—well he would, wouldn't he. Once you get out and discover all the different cultures and places, you want more. Otherwise you stay home and never leave. We learn things out on the road that develops our character, gives more meaning to life and enjoy the occasional party.
I wandered through Villava and stopped for a beer and rest after all the fiasco of the mountain. However it was worthwhile exercise, so probably did me some good on that side of things.
Need to lose the weight anyways
Nov 24, 2023
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