OK SO i finally got some pics uploaded...but it seems they upload from last to first...which means you really need to start at the bottom of this post and scroll upwards....oops. just realized this is the SECOND set of pics... to the left is view of castrojeriz(sp i think) and then below is when you get to the top of the mountain outside it.
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to left is coming into castrojeriz. below is coming into i forget where but its where the hostel was closed and i got sent on to spend my WORST night....i was approaching the town near dark, had to wait for a guy to bring his sheep in with a donkey with bells on it; didnt really care cuz i was gonna spend the night there. approached the hostel which was supposed to be open, and there were construction guys working on it. they told me i couldnt stay there and that i had to go another 5 kilometers IN THE DARK. to some place that was "open". i asked them TWICE were they sure it was open...my book said it was only open "in season"...they assured me it "was". they drew me a map and we proceeded to trudge 5 more km in the dark. i remember thinking that it could have been worse;that at least the weather was fairly warm, we still had enuff energy to go further, etc etc etc.... but as it darkened it got really really frightening. there was nothing anywhere. no houses, no lights, a clouded moon. i had my tiny wind up flashlight and that was it. probably fairly safe actually in terms of that there was LITERALLY nothing out there. no people no animals no nothing. but it was really scary. i felt a bit better when we got up on a plateau and could see lights far off in all directions... i kept focused on the radiotower lights miles in front of us. and i started keeping an eye out for the light that would be on at this hostel....when we got to the turn off sign...there was no light. no nothing. no village. only some ruins on a hill. we found the place we were supposed to find and of course it was closed and shut up tight. i was terrified, totally alone and at least 5 k in any direction to get anywhere, and it was way dark and getting late... i wished at that point that i had had a lesson in lock-picking...specifically that i had been at the hostel that my cousin megan stayed at in ireland where the other guy staying there taught them how to pick locks.....i tried to find a way in, hoping there was a key hidden somewhere for stranded pilgrims or whatever, but failed. we ended up spending the night in the tool shed, which had a roof but the roof wasnt connected in to the walls, and spent the night listening to the mice chew stuff up..i kept kicking my bag to try to make sure they werent chewing stuff in my bag up... yeah, that was by far our worst night... if we had ONLY been able to get inside. argh. if i had arrived in daylight at least i could have gotten the lay of the place but in the dark it was terrifying.
to the left, vineyards. i think this was between najera and azofra but not sure. pamplona to somewhere around ? santo domingo? was alot of olive trees and vineyards and the first day we passed some almond trees too. but later on, no vineyards or olive groves.
to left is path on the way to the 12 k of forest on the way to i forget the name of the own but it was the day i reached the village of Ages in the evening.
najera. noone around to take our pic so i used a mirror-doorway. the walk from najera to azofra was pretty nice. through forest then vineyards. it got long though. what i remember most is it seemed to be starting to rain, and i was again having my eye out for places i could put my tent. this was so crazy because i was always headed to an albergue and never wanted to actually have to pitch my tent in between villages, but i nonetheless frequently found myself looking for rock overhangs, sheltered places, etc that would be good for pitching a tent. the most tempting, were i to get caught out in the middle of nowhere,was the gaps in the huge stacks of haybales outin the fields. more than once i thought that these would makea good, well-insulated sleeping spot. except the thought kept occurring to me thatthere probably would be rats. ACK. any of you who know of my previous bad experiences with rodents in living spaces will understand why im so opposed to sleeping--or even being--anywhere there are rodents and thus also why the night spent in the toolshed was made so much further awful by these critters.
This was my first "bad night" on the church steps in vendosa, after arriving so tired and with feet so aching that i literally felt sick to my stomach, only to find the albergue closed and the town shut up tight. putting the tent in the covered entryway of the church seemed most advantageous, as at least it had a roof...but trying to pitch it on concrete was a nightmare. i ended up tying it to the railing and the doorway but couldnt get it to keep proper shape; it really needed all the peggings. i hate how it ended up looking like a body bag.and it was so uncomfortable to sleep in, not properly pitched, because the whole thing kept collapsing on us. im not a huge fan of this tent its so tiny. BUT it is lightweight. i just remember it took AGES to try to jury-rig the blasted thing and my hands were freezing, and in the end i kept wondering if i should have just given up and pitched it in the grass, we probably would have slept better. but when it was raining the next morning i was glad to not have to pack up in the rain.
to left is coming into castrojeriz. below is coming into i forget where but its where the hostel was closed and i got sent on to spend my WORST night....i was approaching the town near dark, had to wait for a guy to bring his sheep in with a donkey with bells on it; didnt really care cuz i was gonna spend the night there. approached the hostel which was supposed to be open, and there were construction guys working on it. they told me i couldnt stay there and that i had to go another 5 kilometers IN THE DARK. to some place that was "open". i asked them TWICE were they sure it was open...my book said it was only open "in season"...they assured me it "was". they drew me a map and we proceeded to trudge 5 more km in the dark. i remember thinking that it could have been worse;that at least the weather was fairly warm, we still had enuff energy to go further, etc etc etc.... but as it darkened it got really really frightening. there was nothing anywhere. no houses, no lights, a clouded moon. i had my tiny wind up flashlight and that was it. probably fairly safe actually in terms of that there was LITERALLY nothing out there. no people no animals no nothing. but it was really scary. i felt a bit better when we got up on a plateau and could see lights far off in all directions... i kept focused on the radiotower lights miles in front of us. and i started keeping an eye out for the light that would be on at this hostel....when we got to the turn off sign...there was no light. no nothing. no village. only some ruins on a hill. we found the place we were supposed to find and of course it was closed and shut up tight. i was terrified, totally alone and at least 5 k in any direction to get anywhere, and it was way dark and getting late... i wished at that point that i had had a lesson in lock-picking...specifically that i had been at the hostel that my cousin megan stayed at in ireland where the other guy staying there taught them how to pick locks.....i tried to find a way in, hoping there was a key hidden somewhere for stranded pilgrims or whatever, but failed. we ended up spending the night in the tool shed, which had a roof but the roof wasnt connected in to the walls, and spent the night listening to the mice chew stuff up..i kept kicking my bag to try to make sure they werent chewing stuff in my bag up... yeah, that was by far our worst night... if we had ONLY been able to get inside. argh. if i had arrived in daylight at least i could have gotten the lay of the place but in the dark it was terrifying.
to the left, vineyards. i think this was between najera and azofra but not sure. pamplona to somewhere around ? santo domingo? was alot of olive trees and vineyards and the first day we passed some almond trees too. but later on, no vineyards or olive groves.
to left is path on the way to the 12 k of forest on the way to i forget the name of the own but it was the day i reached the village of Ages in the evening.
najera. noone around to take our pic so i used a mirror-doorway. the walk from najera to azofra was pretty nice. through forest then vineyards. it got long though. what i remember most is it seemed to be starting to rain, and i was again having my eye out for places i could put my tent. this was so crazy because i was always headed to an albergue and never wanted to actually have to pitch my tent in between villages, but i nonetheless frequently found myself looking for rock overhangs, sheltered places, etc that would be good for pitching a tent. the most tempting, were i to get caught out in the middle of nowhere,was the gaps in the huge stacks of haybales outin the fields. more than once i thought that these would makea good, well-insulated sleeping spot. except the thought kept occurring to me thatthere probably would be rats. ACK. any of you who know of my previous bad experiences with rodents in living spaces will understand why im so opposed to sleeping--or even being--anywhere there are rodents and thus also why the night spent in the toolshed was made so much further awful by these critters.
This was my first "bad night" on the church steps in vendosa, after arriving so tired and with feet so aching that i literally felt sick to my stomach, only to find the albergue closed and the town shut up tight. putting the tent in the covered entryway of the church seemed most advantageous, as at least it had a roof...but trying to pitch it on concrete was a nightmare. i ended up tying it to the railing and the doorway but couldnt get it to keep proper shape; it really needed all the peggings. i hate how it ended up looking like a body bag.and it was so uncomfortable to sleep in, not properly pitched, because the whole thing kept collapsing on us. im not a huge fan of this tent its so tiny. BUT it is lightweight. i just remember it took AGES to try to jury-rig the blasted thing and my hands were freezing, and in the end i kept wondering if i should have just given up and pitched it in the grass, we probably would have slept better. but when it was raining the next morning i was glad to not have to pack up in the rain.
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