Skart country

I had not heard of skart before but that is what this landscape is all about. If has soft water permeable rock and so the rain soaks through leaving the surface relatively dry and barren. Of course we are inside the cañon de el Ebro, so there is plenty of water at the bottom. But at the top, some of the stuff we drove through yesterday, it is not very productive land, and only low level scrub grows on it.

The Ebro is probably akin to the Murray. It is nearly the longest river in Spain at 930km and has the biggest drainage area covering Cantabria in the NW through to Catalunya on the Mediterranean East. Apparently it was the natural border between Roman and Carthagenian Spain. Here it is carving out a decent size canyon for us to explore. Not Grand Canyon magnificence, but lovely nonetheless. 

The town of Orbaneja Del Castillo sits half way up the cliff at the base of a natural cave/spring. As such it has a waterfall working its way through the middle of town. Apparently when the rains come it can get quite solid. It sits across the Ebro from El Castillo (hence the name), a boat prow remnant of the high plain formed by a sharp bend in the river. Also across the way are Los Camellos, a rock formation that resembles two camels snogging.

We had arranged a 7:30 breakfast before Jose headed off to his day job. Well the first we knew he was working his way down the stairs and we were still in bed as we had slept in. Feeling guilty about getting him up when the normal breakfast time is 9:30 to 11:00, we dressed an wandered down. It is strange how the two B&B places we have stayed at are mostly managed by men, without sight of their wives......they do have them, or at least they said they did.

Anyway, fortified by food we decided on a walk to the next town. Escalada is about five kilometers away along the river, so that seemed a good way to start. This is all part of Parque Natural 'Hoces de Alto Ebro y Rudrón'. Not quite a national park but a protected area. 

The walk was lovely among lots of yellowing vegetation with the river a constant presence. We recognised poplars, oaks, holly, blackberry but many others were not well known to us. It was just wonderful and colourful. Plenty of mushrooms around as well. We also spotted a red squirrel leaping from branch to branch. And a constant was the presence of Griffin Vultures above us. At one point Marjan counted 10 visible at one time.

We made it to the next town in good shape and decided to seek sustenance. We found the church. 12th century but in disrepair. The frescoes outside the door were almost gone, and the carvings almost totally eroded.

But no bar. A spanish town with no bar. I am still stunned. So we walked to the next town along, Escalada-Quintanilla. They did have a bar. It was open and prepared to serve us coffees, beers, salad and croquettes on a verandah overlooking the river.  I also got to overhear a couple of older folk discussing the difficulties of living in small country towns as they age, and the advisability of selling up and moving to the big smoke at Burgos where doctors were handier. 

We ate, we listened and after a while we felt refreshed enough for the walk back.

The walk back inolved quite a few less photo stops as we were both getting tired. We had been out walking, apart from a brief stop at the bar, from 9:30 till 3:00 and had covered somewhere upwards of 14 km. Hard to tell with the number of photo stop detours. Marjan reckons this is a new record in her recent walking capacity. That is probably why she is currently napping. 

The impressions of this place are that it is yellow, so many of the trees are yellowing. Ordessa was russet red, el cañon del Ebro is yellow. Yellow and blue when the sun is out.

On our way back to our digs we saw one of the other eating places was open for lunch (three being a respectable Spanish lunch time) so with the offer of ready money they agreed to cook for us tonight.  He does meat on the indoor parrilla (BBQ) . What he was doing for lunch looked and smelled pretty good. 

Just back from dinner and yes it was good. Marjan had Marrakesh lamb skewer and I had a steak. Done a treat. We were the only guests and had a long chat to the co-owner, or rather she had a long chat to us. A German woman who married a local bloke and has been here for 28 years. She was up for a chat and we were ready to listen. It was a pleasant way to learn a little more of the place.

Off again tomorrow, into mainstream Castilla. A town called Santo Domingo De Silos.........yes we are bringing you all the main places.