8th August - GR-11 Journal entry

Sink holes…

Awoken in the night by annoying Seville couple who scratched and snored for what was left of the night on our shaky platform (Kevin had a bunk downstairs), they had left the door open and then re-lit the fire to smoke us out our beds! As dawn arrived I peeped out of the hole and saw a sunrise so spectacular it made up for lack of sleep! We set off SW as usual up-hill (Tom had to run back to the Refuge for his jacket he left swinging on a peg – everything now smelt of fire!) through mud up to our knees, toward the Abode ridge. The ridge itself was cloaked in a settled mist, although it was pegged with brilliant wee wooden markers up and across its length, past what were described in the guide as sink holes. Massive craters of sunken earth rimmed by sharp crags and dotted with bones and other fragments. A sharp right turn and descent took us to the Sanctuary, and chorizo stop, where a choir were practising for a baptism, and a man was knelt preying by his Honda car! We took the steep road down past alters into picturesque Ochtavia – purchased provisions + San Miguel from decent Granny shop and made our way past the 10th century chapel to the campsite at the edge of town (we were going to push on the 10km to the next Refugio to continue the theme, but we would have needed extra water and had already bought beer E1.25 a litre – we couldn’t resist that). Washing socks and pitching beneath trees we settled in to camping life once again. The routine of setting out my gear in the usual spots in the tent was like returning to a familiar room in a house, something I’ll always take away from this voyage. Tom dropped the bombshell that the solar cable was missing! After camp grub (I preferred to cook my own food as I wanted to save money) we met up with Kev and 2 x Basque guys and we all had a Canyones in the local bar and watched a strange village festival unfurl with a rock band and dancing!