Woke up at 11.20 this morning after a good night out last night. 

It was a gas and we enjoyed ourselves. We walked round the market first thing (noon) and enjoyed the view.

And outside the architecture was beyond belief.

Ancient, beautiful and vibrant. Zaragoza is a great place. So we had some breakfast and I went back to bed for a few hours. It has caught up with me but I’m ok. Gaz had a walk around for a few hours and when I woke up I showered and joined him at 2.30 pm.dentist time.

He was holed up in a Lebanese bar and we had middle-eastern pasties with whole potatoes for lunch. Wow, wow, wow. Spicy, tasty and wonderful.

Afterwards we went to a local English bar and watched Spanish womens’ football over a couple of beers. Excellent. Better looking than Gary and better footballers. Zaragoza has an English connection. It’s not apparent but it’s definitely there. We love it.

It’s the end of this stage. I’ve got 2,000 miles to go but this section was important. Having Gary alongside as a support in case I became ill, and to pace me, was great. Until the next leg my friends, thank you for viewing the blog. Gazza, I’m sure, send his regards.

Night night mi amigos y amigas. XXX
 

Yes there are. This proves it.

Well we woke up late as we were knackered and slept for 9 hours. When we went down to breakfast the lady owner slapped our wrist for being late. Last day. 18 miles to go. Looking from our Hostal window the weather was clear but very cold. 

It was also extremely windy, which gave a massive chill factor. So we wrapped up warm and cozy but still felt the steely cold knife. Because we’re softies. We kept off the road, walking up riverside and canalside paths, up to the next town, El Burgo de Ebro. It was so sunny it must be warm, surely referee? No. Wind in the face and freezing.

It was harsh and although we don’t eat from morning to evening we both felt starving by one o’clock and, on the advice of a local, pulled in to the Centro Social which was full of old folk. It served food and we had a three course meal for ten euros each.

There are Cranes everywhere, nesting on pylons and fishing in the Ebro. They’re elegant birds.

The sun stayed out and we had it at our backs for most of the day, following the long distance walk, the GR99, for a few miles.

We then cut up away from the river and followed an irrigation channel for 6 miles and then crossed again to a Pilgrim path closer to the river. Finally we decided to follow the side of a motorway through to Zaragoza. We were so tired and aching that we didn’t care if we got nicked. But I’d got a machete so they wouldn’t take us alive. Finally, through thick, thin and horrible wind, which cut us to the bone, we passed the Zaragoza city boundary. Get in!! Done it. 

We’re here a day early. We’ve covered 176 miles and raised £1,200, on Gary’s initiative. Thanks for donating. We’ve got a full day in Zaragoza tomorrow. I’ll blog tomorrow night. We might get up to summat interesting. 

Night night. X

It’s not very far from Quinto to Fuentes. In a straight line less than 15kms. But the straight line follows a busy road that we want to avoid and cut across country. And therein lies our ruin. 

We got up late and had breakfast of tortilla and cafe con leche at a bar in the town. Folk drink wine with lemonade for breakfast. Seems a bit extreme. 

Quinto had a decent church….

And a decent town hall….

Other than that it was a linear, bleak and frozen place. Setting off we wanted to cut across country but initially took a wrong turn. After that we recovered the situation and followed a google map. It was accurate for four miles and then the road it indicated existed, didn’t. We were stuck on private farmland on a plateau above the Ebro with no tracks or paths.

We used a compass to aim in the right direction, but a journey the should have taken 19 kms was starting to extend. Our route was through remote hills, quarries and farmland and we just headed northwards. 

It’s hard to navigate when the electronic equipment fails and there are no maps of the area. We done our best and followed the compass down off the plateau.

This is a limestone region, like most of Spain, and has huge chunks of marble spread about all over the place. Like here..

Dropping down to a main road we trudged through difficult farmland to avoid the mentalist car drivers and juggernauts. We made it to Fuentes. As if we wouldn’t! But it was cold, windy and tough. But so are we …. boom boom! 

Night night. X