Asturias

Gijón by nightAsturias is a long way from Jaca. The itinerary for our first day works out at 591km, broken down into 299 to Castro Urdiales, 153 to Llanes, 46 to Covadonga, 9 to Cangas de Onís and 84 to Gijón.That was on Thursday. On the way home on Sunday, Gijón to Ribadesella, 62 km, another 62 to San Vicente de la Barquera, 56 to Santander, and finally 368km to Jaca. 548 in total. I think the difference between there and back is the Covadonga bit.We were lucky with the weather. It's been very hot, but while we were away it was quite dull and threatening. I know that in Jaca it rained a lot, but we hardly needed the umbrellas and raincoats we'd taken. I say hardly; yes, it rained, but we missed most of it.Well, a quick stop in Castro Urdiales, dinner in Llanes where we had time to go for walks. I remember stopping there many years ago to pick up the keys for the house we were renting in Sobrepiedra, near Cangas de Onís. When we went to the agency office on Saturday it was closed with a sign saying it wouldn´t be open till Monday. What a panic! I remember we went to the local police for some help. Of course the agent turned up after dinner (maybe four or five o'clock) and sent us off with a complicated set of instructions for the back-route to Sobrepiedra. That was where 5-year-old David saw a mouse in the kitchen.Anyway, back to our trip: Next stop, the sanctuary of Covadonga.I like these bottlebrush plants Callistemon citrinus . The church or basilica is behind it. 
There's a well-trodden path down to a shrine in a cave, above a waterfall. There are waterpipes where people can drink down by the waterfall.  
Like many of these "holy" places, it's in an amazing natural environment.
For lack of time and being on a big coach, we didn't stop in Cangas de Onís to see the bridge with the emblematic cross.
Here it is from Google. The cross is the symbol of Asturias.
Ok. Gijón. Hotel. Supper. 14 stories or storeys of rooms. Two lifts, one for two people, the other in theory for six, but when there were six of us in it, it refused to go and had to be reset. Nice long walk after supper onto the seafront. Another nice long walk, a paddle for some, the next morning. I wished I hadn't taken my caghoul.

This was the limit of our walk.
We had dinner in the hotel and in the afternoon set off for Pola de Siero where we were to give the concert.
This is the inside of the parish church San Pedro.
There's a garden at the church and we did some posing for photos...

Unfortunately most of the men were elsewhere so they missed the photos. After the concert we were taken to a centre where our kind hosts fed us and gave us local cider. It has to be presented in a special way:

Holding the bottle as high as possible and the glass low so the cider is "beaten". It's handed to the drinker who tosses it back immediately, leaving a drop in the glass which is used to clean it out and put back on the table for the next drinker.

Flowers in Somport

On Saturday morning we took a picnic to Le Somport, just over the border in France. In Jaca it was not a bad day, but as we approached the mountains we could see clouds caught on them. Arriving at the ski resort it was dull, misty and bitterly cold. We went for a long, brisk walk around the cross-country ski circuit, enjoying the spring flowers and the glimpses of the mountains. It was muddy, and there were patches of snow in secluded corners. On one misty stretch of track I saw the rumps of three or four roe deer which disappeared silently into the mist. The ground was very heavily worked by moles and wild boars.

Alpine squills on a bank angled at about 45º.

I didn't know what they were, and couldn't find them in any of my flower books, so I posted a photo on Facebook and my cousin suggested squills. That gave me a clue to follow. 

Then I googled squills and found http://www.seasonalwildflowers.com/alpine-squill.html which confirmed what Christine (my cousin) had said. It's a lovely blogspot. 

These are some kind of  orchids growing on a rough slope among the molehills and boar-rootings.

Zaragoza, from high up

The Pilar basilica in Zaragoza has a lift which goes up one of the towers. The views are great!

Although the flood waters from two months ago aren't as extreme as they were, they are still quite high.

looking straight down

Macanaz

Spiral staircase to the top

The leaning tower of San Juan de los Panetes from the Plaza del Pilar

San Juan de la Peña

On Saturday morning we drove to the New Monastery of  San Juan de la Peña. Having seen both the old and new monasteries quite a few times, we just went for a little walk to the balcony which looks out over the descent to the village and the valley of the river Aragón Sobordán. We saw damage from the heavy snowfalls of the winter:

There were violets and hepaticas all over the place. This was the angle of a stone bench.

Showing off!

I did some patchwork and I want to show it off!

It may not look like much to you but it's many years since I did any and it's all wadded and quilted (by hand) and I'm proud of it!

El Pozo de San Lázaro

Zaragoza. The River Ebro is still really high, although you can see that it's gone down at least a metre from the very high flood waters a couple of weeks ago. Today we went on a walk down Camino de la Torres to the Unión bridge, crossed the swollen river and then walked along the banks to the Stone bridge. Just before the bridge we saw the terrifying pozo (well) of San Lázaro. It's a place where the flood water whirls.

Rafael told me his memory of the terrible accident which happened in 1971. A bus, travelling from Barcelona to Badajóz fell off the bridge and was swallowed by the river. 45 people were rescued and 9 were lost, including 5 children. Apparently thousands of people went to help.

I read that the well or chasm is man-made, probably from first-century excavations to provide stone for the bridge. It was eventually brought from further away because what was extracted wasn't good enough. The chasm is up to 18 metres deep. 

Zaragoza floods

After the heavy snow in the mountains the rivers are running full to overflowing. Both upriver and downriver from Zaragoza there are disastrous floods. Whole villages have been evacuated or made into islands as the Ebro runs through them.
In the city it has burst its banks even more than a month ago. Today I saw a container for paper being swept along by the massive floodwaters.