Where's Bertie? His wheels have not turned. He is still in the car park at the religious Sanctuary in Urkiola.
Weather: Rain on and off all day, with just one hint of sunshine for about 30 seconds this afternoon.
We did have a quiet night last night. The last chime I heard of the church bells were at 10.45pm. The next I heard them was at 8 this morning. I'm pretty sure that's because they stopped overnight, not because I slept soundly, as they really are quite loud from where we are parked.
It took a while to summon the will to emerge from beneath the duvet this morning (it being cold enough last night to break the big winter duvet back out), but we made haste once I had looked at the latest weather forecast and seen that, contrary to yesterday's okay forecast, it was now predicted to rain for four hours from midday.
Alas, the rain came early, and thus in full waterproofs we walked up the nearest hill, soon finding ourselves in the cloud and completely robbed of the stunning views that we knew to be around us.
We didn't extend our walk onto the limestone ridge beyond, as it seemed a bit pointless in the conditions, but we did complete a 3.7 mile circuit with just over 1000' of ascent.
We dropped below the cloud as we reached the track that took us back to our start point.
Our good intentions to go out for another stroll this afternoon came to nought. With rain pattering on and off, we have been content to sit and do very little. Meanwhile, the car park around us filled up to its brim, then emptied again, and the bread seller that looked out of place in an almost-empty car park first thing this morning was doing a roaring trade by lunchtime.
That was in part due to hoards of people going out for a Sunday walk in spite of the weather, and in part due to a function/gathering going on at the refuge next to which we are parked. It's an odd place, being a big bare warehouse of a building, open to the public for picnicking/shelter purposes, with toilets (no locks - toilets well out of arms reach of the door!), a room with a row of sinks and a room with a row of barbecue stations under a big hood of a chimney. There are no chairs, but there are lots of bins. Today people came and set up big tables and cooked big pots of something over portable stoves. Later there was an incredible smell of barbecue, and when I wandered down to use the facilities it was fairly bustling in there.
It has not been warm at all today, but we opted not to head down to warmer temperatures, but rather to stay put, in the hope that tomorrow's forecast sunshine materialises, so that we can take another stab at today's walk and appreciate the surroundings better.
Weather: Rain on and off all day, with just one hint of sunshine for about 30 seconds this afternoon.
We did have a quiet night last night. The last chime I heard of the church bells were at 10.45pm. The next I heard them was at 8 this morning. I'm pretty sure that's because they stopped overnight, not because I slept soundly, as they really are quite loud from where we are parked.
It took a while to summon the will to emerge from beneath the duvet this morning (it being cold enough last night to break the big winter duvet back out), but we made haste once I had looked at the latest weather forecast and seen that, contrary to yesterday's okay forecast, it was now predicted to rain for four hours from midday.
Alas, the rain came early, and thus in full waterproofs we walked up the nearest hill, soon finding ourselves in the cloud and completely robbed of the stunning views that we knew to be around us.
We didn't extend our walk onto the limestone ridge beyond, as it seemed a bit pointless in the conditions, but we did complete a 3.7 mile circuit with just over 1000' of ascent.
We dropped below the cloud as we reached the track that took us back to our start point.
Our good intentions to go out for another stroll this afternoon came to nought. With rain pattering on and off, we have been content to sit and do very little. Meanwhile, the car park around us filled up to its brim, then emptied again, and the bread seller that looked out of place in an almost-empty car park first thing this morning was doing a roaring trade by lunchtime.
That was in part due to hoards of people going out for a Sunday walk in spite of the weather, and in part due to a function/gathering going on at the refuge next to which we are parked. It's an odd place, being a big bare warehouse of a building, open to the public for picnicking/shelter purposes, with toilets (no locks - toilets well out of arms reach of the door!), a room with a row of sinks and a room with a row of barbecue stations under a big hood of a chimney. There are no chairs, but there are lots of bins. Today people came and set up big tables and cooked big pots of something over portable stoves. Later there was an incredible smell of barbecue, and when I wandered down to use the facilities it was fairly bustling in there.
It has not been warm at all today, but we opted not to head down to warmer temperatures, but rather to stay put, in the hope that tomorrow's forecast sunshine materialises, so that we can take another stab at today's walk and appreciate the surroundings better.
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