Aragon

After almost a week of 65-75km days in hilly terrain we were looking forward to a few shorter (sub-50km) days we had planned. The morning we crossed into Aragon was very cold but a hill climb up to a pass at 1380m warmed us up quickly.


We arrived in the pretty mountain town of Campo in time for lunch and headed to a restaurant for the 'Menu del Dia'. The three courses were great value at 12 euro per person including a beer/wine - Sarah had fish and a salad and I had huevos rotos (Spanish style 'broken' eggs) and rabbit. We checked into a hostal for the evening as there didn't seem to be any campgrounds around, and spent a lazy afternoon catching up on photos etc.

Campo

The next day was even shorter so we had a sleep in and then headed over the hill to Ainsa - another pretty mountain town (northern Aragon is full of them!). The campsite was a little way out of town so after a shower and a beer in the camp bar we biked the 3-4 km to see the stone houses and narrow streets of the medieval old town.

Ainsa

La Peña Montañesa (2295m)

We were excited about the next day as we had read about the quiet roads and impressive canyons through the Parque Nacional de Ordesa y Monte Perdido, although there was also a little apprehension about the 2100m of climbing. It turned out there was so much impressive scenery that the hill climb didn't feel too bad, however it was pretty disappointing to make it to the top of the pass & find out the cafe had sold out of ice-cream! We settled for a cold coke and a chat with a Spaniard who had just spent a year working and climbing NZ.

It's hard to get a sense of the scale of this canyon until you spot the little speck of Sarah on the left

Parque Nacional de Ordesa y Monte Perdido

Traffic jam

We decided it was time for a rest day and so booked into a hostal for two nights when we arrived in Jaca the next afternoon. Jaca was the biggest town we'd been through in a while and is a base for hiking in the summer and skiing in the winter. We spent a great day there relaxing, visiting the fort, and exploring the town before a tapas dinner.

A long tunnel (bicycles allowed this time!)

Wild flowers at the citadel in Jaca

Churros con chocolate

The following two days were on quiet mountain backroads. The scenery was stunning; varying from wheat fields to snowy mountains, huge canyons to green valleys. At one stage I heard a squeal from Sarah as a 1m+ long snake crossed the road just in front of her. We had seen heaps of road kill snakes on the side of the road but this was the biggest we had seen and it was very alive!

We crossed this medieval bridge when leaving Jaca

Poppies!

Memorial to a Basque climber who had died in the mountains

Lunch spot at the top of the canyon

  -  David