Ibón d'Estanés

On Tuesday we went for a walk; not a stroll- more of a hike, with walking boots and sticks. Drove into France via the Somport mountain pass and just round a few hairpin bends to the carpark Sansenet (I think that's right!) There were a lot of cars there, and to call it a car park is flattery!
It took us about an hour and three-quarters to get to the ibón (tarn in Aragonese). The route is part in France and part in Spain-our mobile phones beeped to tell us when we changed signal.
It was fully holiday season and there were lots of people, mostly going up, but some early birds already going down. It's not a very hard hike; we are, frankly, not up to that, but even so, the downhill bit on the way back left us with blisters and sore toes.
Looking back at the line of hikers reminded me of the little trek to Arthur's Seat in Edinburgh-that's not nearly as hard, but just as crowded!

Rafa with my hiking sticks

People everywhere!

Mountains

I spent July working in Scotland. Most of the time I was indoors, walking along long corridors to get from one campus building to another. Every now and then I took the bus to the centre of Edinburgh, either sightseeing or to the shops, most of which sell tartan for tourists. To go from the Georgian part of the city to the old city you can cross the North Bridge. The view of Salisbury Crags and Arthur's Seat is startling; it's amazing that you can see wild-looking "mountain" from the centre of a city. One Sunday afternoon I joined the line of people walking along the rough tracks to the peak of Arthur's Seat. For a mountain peak it's very little; only 251 metres above sea-level, but the views on the way, as well as at the top are spectacular.

There were quite a lot of days in July when the sun shone more in Edinburgh than in Jaca, from what I heard! We were certainly lucky the day we climbed to Arthur's Seat, and saw the city and the Firth of Forth spread out below us.