Autumn in Le Somport

We went for a lovely long walk this morning, in the cross-country ski resort of Le Somport. It's not open for skiing yet; there's hardly any snow, although there was apparently more earlier in the week. The ground is very wet and muddy. On the Spanish side of the mountain range the trees are glorious colours on the trees; mainly yellows but also russet and red. Once on the northern face in France, however, nearly all the leaves are already on the ground.

This is a slope called Les Framboisiers

Lots of ferns in the damp conditions

First chance to tread on snow

Looking down the Aspe valley into France

A little "ibón" or tarn

Capercaillie reserve

Lots of wild boar have been rooting here

In Spain, some autumn colours

Calatayud

Yesterday I really wanted to get away from Zaragoza for a while, so we went to Calatayud. It's 90kms drive, on motorway, but rather an old one which wouldn't get a seal of approval these days; steep slopes and sharp bends-often both at the same time. It's the road to Madrid and there was much more traffic than we're used to on the motorway to Huesca.
I wanted to see the castle in Calatayud; from the motorway it makes an impressive silhouette. Don't bother trying to get close to it! We did; struggling up a steep track finally to find a rather broken down wreck. Not romantic or picturesque, just broken down.
The town itself was rather nice. On the route up to the castle there were two Mudejar towers.

nice statue of man reading and dog

Statue of the Baron de Warsage

Detail of the Mudejar tower of the church of St Andrew

Really impressive Plateresque doorway, 16th cen

Outside the Modernist bullring

La Almunia de Doña Godina; another Mudejar tower

One thing we noticed: in these towns of Mudejar towers, where the Moorish inhabitants were evicted from their homes by the reconquest, their "descendants" are there again in considerable numbers, enriching the cultural "mix".