Week 10: 23/5/2022 - 29/5/2022¶
This will be an interesting week. It is the last full week of the program which will be sad and Dawn and I are planning to try to find the CAN Art Residency up in the Pyrennes near Llavorsi over the weekend. We may get well and truly lost but it will be an adventure.
23/5/2022 Monday¶
This is the last full week of classes for the program. We talked about nuclear power, both fission and fusion, to help folks have a sense of the issues and the differences. Spanish class was review and prep for the final exam next week. We are supposed to review the topics and come with questions on Wednesday.
Dawn took off to Kettlebell while I went to Origo to get a couple of loaves of bread. In the heat I’m finally learning to walk a little slower which helps. On the other hand there is a tad of jealousy that women’s clothes can really get light and airy while for mean there seem to be fewer options on that end of the scale. Elena referred to it as ropa flacita (thin or skinny clothes).
As I walked down a random street (it must have been Carrer de Girona) to make my way down to the gym I got sidetracked by several things. The first was a pasta store that was having a sale on some premade gnocci so I stopped and got a box to add to a meal today or tomorrow (they turned out to be very tasty spinach and cheese. I’m not sure which store it was which is a bit of a bummer but it’s uphill from Atrezzo which I will describe on Wednesday’s entry. The second thing I got sidetracked by was a liquor store that I went in wondering if they had the aperitif that we had tried in Besalu. I showed him the image below and he told me it was directly behind me. Silly me. A bottle was only 12€ so I got one for Tegan. If it doesn’t pass through customs it’s not a great loss. Funny that it was right there ion the shelf behind me.
Besalu After Dinner
Shortly after that I passed this lovely window display. We have enjoyed looking at the various window displays as we walk around BCN. I suppose this is a lot like visiting main shopping drags in any large city. Since we are often walking near or on Passeig de Gracia this is where the high end windows are. The display, glare and all, is shown below.
Atrezzo Window Display
I knew that Dawn would be intrigued by it so I took a picture to show her and made a mental note to show it to her in person when we walked to Spanish on Wednesday. More on that on Wednesday.
Met Dawn as the kettlebell class finished and we walked home together. As I write this over a week later I can’t rememeber anything else about the day.
24/5/2022 Tuesday¶
Music class today focused on classical music and it’s sense of place in the world of music. How it is appreciated differently than pop music and how it is both the same and different. Dawn stayed home today while I went to class. Along the way I took these pictures of this lovely tree we see all over Barcelona (and other places in Catalonia)
Flowering Purple Trees
Close up of Purple Flower on Tree
After class we went home to start sorting out packing for our proposed weekend trip to Llavorsi and the Pyrennes. We also considered what we might pack into a box to ship home. Our checked luggage was less than .5 kg under weight so we don’t have a lot of room for bringing other things home. Shipping 20 lbs or so of stuff that wouldn’t upset us to lose it would make it easier to bring some presents etc with us. Thanks for doing the research on this Sandra and sharing it with us. I got a box from the local Correo store. A box intended for 8 kg or so was 4€ and probably would run 100€ to ship ground to Oregon (turned out to be pretty close).
Today was also an unexpectedly showery day which also made it easier to focus on packing and prep for the weekend. Later in the afternoon Dawn wanted to take a walk up to a store we had passed several times on the Clot Rambla that, no surprise, I hadn’t noticed. Heidi at Carrer de Rogent, 78 is well reviewed it turns out and our experience was consistent with the reviews. Because it had been so hot recently it made a lot of sense for Dawn to get some more appropiate clothes both for the heat and for the local style. The staff (seems like Chinese immigrants since Spanish and Chinese were equally used in the store) were very friendly and helpful and definitely good at the upsell. In the end Dawn walked out with 30 items of clothing that fit in a single bag (lightweight stuff for sure) for about 10€ per item. A bit more than I might have spent but happiness and comfort are priceless. Only two items were eventually returned for a credit. A few items didn’t make sense to me but largely between the three of us (Dawn and I and the assistant who kept saying that Dawn looked ‘guapa’ in everything) we made it work. She was correct in that Dawn looks good in everything but there were a few that really didn’t match her style in life very well.
A side note: In a later discussion in Spanish class we talked about bonita vs guapa as compliments for women. Most of us learn that guapo translates as handsome and while historically women have been referred to as handsome it carries an odd connotation in English these days. In Spanish apparently bonita is generally used with things and guapa/o is used with people and doesn’t have any attaced connotation. Guapa/o is more like ‘looking good’ than pretty or handsome or, perhaps, it’s a way of using handsome as it used to be used in historic times.
25/5/2022 Wednesday¶
Today we did final presentations in Astronomy. Generally pretty interesting perspectives on various aspects of either the course or other related interests that students had. Finished a tad early so Dawn and I started off for Expanish and I chose to go up along Carrer de Girona to show her the display window I had seen on Monday. I knew she would love the dogs needless to say. When we got there Dawn loved it of course and wanted to go in but the door didn’t open. We rang the buzzer and a disembodied voice asked if we were interested in commercial mannequins. I would have said sorry but no and Dawn gave me the look so I said yes and in we went. What an experience! Joaquin started showing us around and we were fasinated by everything. Let’s start with the website for Atrezzo so that doesn’t get lost and Joaquin Galiano’s name. He has been creating and selling these mannequins for 30 years more or less. He fabricates them in a shop near Girona and has a single very skilled artist in house in Barcelona who does most or at least a lot of the surface painting. Lots of details of the process that I don’t understand but the basic resin pieces are very light and interchangable allowing some variation of poses and a huge range of surfaces from sort of human to crazy stuff. The wooden arms versus the resin arms and hands is a lovely option for contrast. Her are some shots from our visit. The first image is just the window display but from inside without the glare.
Visit to Atrezzo and Joaquin Galiano
Because of our obvious admiration for the quality, creativity, and workmanship of his product Joaquin became very welcoming and enthsiastic in sharing his passion for his product with us. The seated figure is wonderful but look in the background to see all the many option for finishes of the heads that don’t even include the options for hair.
Visit to Atrezzo and Joaquin Galiano: Options
He has a range of animal figures as well and because his system for interconnecting the different parts of the mannequins is so well thought out you can replace human heads with animal heads in some of the mannequins as this image illustrates. You can also see the articulated wooden arms on the mannequin to the left.
Visit to Atrezzo and Joaquin Galiano: Amazement
Real human hair is also an option as you can see in this example.
Visit to Atrezzo and Joaquin Galiano: Real Hair
It wasn’t easy to catch a good view of Joaquin but this will give you a sense.
Visit to Atrezzo and Joaquin Galiano: Joaquin
In the end we enjoyed each other so much that Joaquin went through his shelves and collected a number of his past catalogs that would give us a sense of the history and options for the business and said he would send us a pdf flyer for the dog mannequins. All of that in a lovely Atrezzo bag with a couple of notebooks that Dawn has been using for poetry and some pencils which are always useful. All in all a wonderful fun visit. Another one of those randowm things that just seem to turn out well much of the time.
I can’t remember where we had lunch before Spanish class. Spanish class was another fun conversation along with a little review for the final next week. Then we headed home to prep for our trip to the Pyrennes.
26/5/2022 Thursday¶
Basic route to the Pyrennes: Train to Lleida, bus to Llavorsi, taxi up the mountain to Lo Paller de Roc in Montesclado.
I had booked our train to Lleida for 9:30 thinking that would give us time in Lleida before our 2:00 bus to Llavorsi. There was some confusion on the web about the weekend bus schedule we needed to hit coming back on Sunday. I couldn’t sort it out on the web and depending on what the real schedule was we might need to rebook the train back from Lleida on Sunday night. I was also imagining that I could stop at the bus terminal at Sants (where the train left from) and cancel our bus tickets back from Andorra that I had gotten when we were planning to do the Andorra trip with Tegan. After some frustrating wandering around we found the ‘bus terminal’ which is just a bunch of parking spaces for buses and no ticket counter just around one corner of the Sants train station. More frustratingly there was literally no one around to ask about cancelling the tickets. Dawn tapped on a window to get someone’s attention. A cheerful older man went into the back room to see what could be done and came back with a phone number that he said I could call to cancel the tickets. Nothing could be done at the station – crikey! After that we hurried back in to Sants and went through the luggage check for Renfe (a less intense version of airport screening). After screening you then find the correct stairwell down to the platform and wait until they open the boarding. Lots of lines but mostly they move pretty quickly.
In the end I think I got on the wrong coach (two board through each door sometimes) but we didn’t discommode anyone. The couch number is on a LED board at one end of the coach. On later trains the door was usually in the middle of the coach so the confusion wasn’t an issue. Entonces, we headed out along the same tracks that we took to Montserrat and Colonia Guell and parallel to the road to Zaragoza. The route travels out over the agricultural park on the Rio Llobregat that we visited weeks ago and through the town of Sant Boi where the wonderful gentleman we had one of our first random talks with lives.
A short hour later we arrived in LLeida. Our first stop was the information office across from the very large train station. The helpful woman there found the specific bus schedule that I had questions about and called someone she knew to verify which of the several possible Sunday bus schedules was the correct one. Fortunately it was the one I had based my train ticket purchase on which was a hopeful sign. Things didn’t happen quite the way I expected on Sunday but more about that when I get to that point in the journal. She also suggested some routes for walking through Llieda as we waited for our bus at 2:30. It was also helpful that she noted we could either catch the bus at the bus station (about 1.5 km away) or just out front of the information office. Both would work.
We shouldered our bags and headed off to walk around Lleida. The first thing I did was get slightly turned around and we headed off into a more commercial section of Lleida where there were very few cafe’s or coffee shops. We eventually found one and got loads of different breads with our café con leche. Very tasty and relaxing late morning break and it was much cooler and less humid already. During snack I got the map better organized and we headed off to explore.
Note: If we ever need to carry these bags/packs for any distance we need to spend a little time practicing the best setup for straps and hipbelts etc. Both Dawn and I found then a little heavy and awkward to carry and got pretty tired just carrying them a couple miles in the sun. Probably weighed about 20 - 25 lbs which isn’t a lot.
Like most Spanish towns Lleida has a old town and the rest of what has been built around it. The river flows through a central park that has been modified to be both a park with walking/running/biking paths and a managed flood plain with high walls to deal with winter floods in this desert region. We saw something similar in Valencia that I will talk about in week 11.
River Park picture??
We slowly cruised down one of the old streets while deciding that we weren’t going to climb up to the top of the hill with our packs to see the castle. We walked a km or so in one direction and then hopped over to the street next to the river and made our way back. This was sort of the feel of the first street we walked down. Parts were relatively old and lots was relatively new. We’re finding that outside of Barcelona most cities don’t seem to have such extensive old sections.
Exploring Lleida
It was interesting seeing different approaches to integrating the old with the new. This particular example was fascinating. We spent some time trying to figure out what the structure at the top was and in the end decided that it was a visual scrim that reflected the sky during the day which made the modern extension of the building on top of the older structure nearly invisible as you walked down the street - except for the wierd retangular thing up there on top.
Lleida: Screen
As we walked back in the sun we got a bit tired and decided to sit down in a small park with a fountain. Dawn explored a little while I rested in the shade. Near the bench were I was sitting was this compass rose concrete work. From where I sat, as you can see in the image, it was very hard to tell if the dark shapes were the same all the way around or not. Dawn stood at the center of the installation and noted that they were actually all the same in spite of how they looked from my perspective. See what you think….
Lleida: Perspective
I forget why we started checking how the phones were working but I had noticed that my phone was throttling my data and Dawn had had some troubles getting through to me. A quick experiment suggested that we might have a problem with our account (salgo) on the Yoigo phones. I had seen a Yoigo store somewhere on our walk and decided we should probably go back and sort the problem out since we had the time and phones were how I was expecting to call for a taxi to get us from Llavorsí when we got there. After a few false moves I left Dawn at a cafe with a Fanta Limón and hoofed it down the street until I found the store. After some scrambling with language we got it sorted out and for 40€ got both phones back on track. Small price to pay for the security. At this point I think the ‘spanish’ phones I got for our trip have run us 120€ total for both phones for 3 months which still seems like a pretty good deal.
Having resolved the phone problem I headed back to Dawn at the cafe and opted to use the WC there. In this particular case the ceiling upstairs where the WC was located was not tall enough for me to stand up even though they did have some overflow seating for the cafe there. It would be pretty dangerous for someone like me if they stood up without thinking. I could pretty much put my shoulders on the ceiling. We’ve seen this a couple of times in various places where the upstairs seating area has a much lower ceiling that downstairs. I wonder if its from dividing ground level floors with high ceilings into two floors one of which has to be a little ‘low’. From there we headed back to the information office near the train station to catch the bus. It was quite hot in the sun and even with less humidity it was a slog.
Eventually the bus came after several confusing opportunities from other bus lines and a steady stream of small vans picking up loads of folks a couple at a time. It did seem to be largely recent immigrants though I could easily be wrong about that. When our bus finally did arrive it was very full and they didn’t accept credit cards as the information office had thought (this was the only thing she was wrong about). We scambled for some cash (22€ total and found that because we were the last ones on, due to putting our bags/packs underneath, there were no seats left. We stood in the aisle as the bus headed out but after the first stop the driver came back and said that we had to find seats. Along with a local woman we basically said where? Some folks had put daypacks on the seats next to them and showed no signs of offering to move them. The driver went through the bus and made room for us is various places. Within 4 or 5 stops enough people had gotten off that Dawn and I were sitting together near the front and the issue was resolved.
The first hour of the trip up towards the Pyrennes crosses a dry landscape with distant mountains that looks remarkably like eastern Washington with rolling wheat fields and irrigation ditches. After the 1st hour when we began to enter the foothills it felt a bit like Montana with high forested ridges and wide valleys.
On the way to Llavorsí
Shortly after that it became stunning in a way which has no equivalent in the PNW. The ridges became very high above the valley floor and remarkably steep. We were headed up the valley of the La Noguera Palleresa river. It is dammed in several places to extract hydropower and has formed a number of very large reservoirs in this mountainous terrain. Betweena couple of the it cuts through one of these dramatic ridges in a canyon that reminds me of Gates of the Canyon(?) near Helena Montana or the Wind River Gorge but with trees. A thoroughly beautiful bus ride. It was also remarkable watching the driver maneuver this full size Greyhound style bus through these old towns with narrow and irregular streets. Very impressive. Along the way we also passed a town, Sort I think, where there was a competitive kayaking course set up in the river. It was our first serious inkling that lots of water folks come to this area. Didn’t see any fishermen which is perhaps surprising though I don’t know what the status of trout in these rivers and streams is.
When we finally arrived in Llavorsí it was a lovely small town. We sat down to catch our breath and had a drink at the nearest bar.
Llavorsí
Here is the river as it flows through Llavorsi which reminds me of the Gallatin river in Montana. Cool and very clear rumbling over rocks.
Llavorsí: River
While we were there I tried to get a taxi to pick us up and discovered that the two taxi services that were listed as serving Llavorsí are both based in Barcelona and need at least a day’s lead time to organize the pickup. Later we found out that the permanent population of Llavorsí is less than 300 so it is not so surprising that there is nobody hanging around waiting for fares. Having used up plan A and B I went for plan C and called Lo Paller de Roc. After a little confusion Xavi realized what had happened and said he would be down in 10 min unless we wanted to walk up the trail to Montesclado. The trail was about 90 min and 400 m vertical gain – much more than I wanted to do with our bags. In a fit of wussiness I said I’d prefer a ride which was absolutely the right thing to do. A beautiful winding drive up and up the mountain got us to Lo Paller de Roc in Montesclado where the steady population is about 15. It will become clear later why this is important. Xavi (the owner) was lovely and talkative. Clearly he loves this place.
Lo Paller de Roc (the barn - paller of the family Roc) is a wonderfully rebuilt structure that has been Xavi and Carmene’ dream and project for 15 years. Thick stone walls nicely rebuilt with stunning views from everywhere. I could post dozens of pictures here but will only put a few to get the sense of the place. The first is the view from the room…
Montesclado: View from our Room
This is one edge of town, this last house before the forest is being rebuilt, just 100m from the hotel.
Montesclado: Edge of Town
Depending on my time I may describe why there are some many potential fixer uppers and many of them are not being restored. Here is an example of one that is being rebuilt but I’m not sure if the work continues or not. I think this is the house of a young woman that Xavi told us about who found the Montesclado had too many people and she moved further up the valley where it’s only her and her dogs.
Montesclado: Fixer Upper
As we were walking back from this project we noticed the local water source. As we would find as we walked around the region every village has it’s own water source and a public fountain that goes with it. If you look carefully in this image you can see the 7 or 8 PVC pipes that are connected to this water source to bring water to the houses.
Montesclado: Water Source
No surprise the streets in this mountain village are narrow and beautiful.
Montesclado: Streets
We were the only guests that first night (a Thursday night) and they made us a lovely dinner with cutlets and roasted vegetables (I think). After a long day of travel we were very tired but we took a look outside in the dark and here is what we saw. Hardly a sign of life and blissful quiet in cool mountain air. No surprise that we got the best sleep of our entire stay in Spain this night. It is so easy to forget that in a city there is always sound everywhere even if you don’t think you notice. Enough said!
Montesclado: View at Night
If you want a bit more data the lights you can see in the image are the village of Tirvia which has about 30 residents and is 200 m lower and 4-5 km away down the mountain.
27/5/2022 Friday¶
Friday started with a classic Catalan breakfast with a plate of ham, iberian ham, sauages, cheese along with a couple of slabs of rustic bread. In the condiment tray was a cherry tomatoe and a clove of garlic to allow us to create a little pan tomate if we wanted. Didn’t cover much of the bread but was tasty. A pitcher of orange juice and café con leche completed the meal. For us it wasn’t quite enough bread to support all the meats and cheese. I hope they didn’t have to throw away whatever we didn’t eat.
Not sure when we had this conversation with Xavi but apparently this whole having a hotel in the mountains thing was largely a dream of his wife Carmene. They were both working in the transportation sector in Barcelona for years and it just felt crazy and busy to them. Somehow they found a way to buy one of the houses/barns in Montesclado and remodel it into a (8 room I think) hotel with living quarters above for them and their two kids. I don’t know that I ever captured the son’s name (he looks around 11 or 12. Their daughter is Leila whom we met a couple of days later and is working towards the Spanish equivalent of a CNA certificate (enfermera auxilaria?). It keeps them quite busy running this place. The rooms are basic but nicely refinished with a mix of original stacked slate and plaster to cover the new electric lines. Wifi works pretty good downstairs but not so much up in the room. The internal structure uses heavy wooden joists resting on the webs of substantial steel ‘I’ beams that are then filled to look more like painted wood. Internal supports are also vertical steel ‘I’ beams. Xavi loves to burn incense which permeates the hallways at various times during the day. In the morning before breakfast I watched out the window as the 4 kids in the village waited with some parents for the taxi that comes every day to pick them up to take them down to school in Sort I think – a good ways away. Because school is obligatory at that age the taxi is paid for by the state. Not for Leila who is older and for whom school is no longer required though it is still free if she chooses to go. Another point to note is that the road into all of this area was only built in the 80’s. Before that time the only access to these higher villages that are mentioned below was by foot. Seems relatively recent for such access to have happened. I’m not sure about Tirvia which is lower down the mountain/valley and may have had some access by car before the 80’s. Amazing.
Xavi was aware that we were coming to this valley partly to learn about the Centre de Art i Natura (CAN)in Ferrera. He imagined that I had contacted Louis (who apparently runs the place) but I hadn’t actually considered that. Since we did want to visit CAN he suggested that we make it part of a walk today. It turns out that there are a series of villages that all sit in the valley at about the same elevation. Not exactly sure why that is the case but Montesclado is one end of the chain and Burg is the other end of the chain. Easy to get back and forth with a car but a bit more challenging by foot. Mallolís is the first village on the loop and it has 2-ish inhabitants. Mostly a guy who has been working on remodeling a home there for 20 years. A paved road continues from Montesclado to Mallolís and takes about 20 min more or less and doesn’t gain much elevation. From Mallolís we needed to stay to the right of the house (the road splits around the house) and then after the house turn left and down behind the house past the church to the trail head. The trail should be marked with ‘puntos amarillos’. The trail goes down for 20 min and then up for 20 min to reach Alendo. Like Mallolís Alendo is a small cluster of houses with a few residents (4 maybe) and a 12th century church that Xavi encouraged us to go visit. He got Dawn’s attention by noting there were some rucs (spelling?) or mules that frequented the area near the church. From Alendo the paved road resumed and another 20 min would arrive at Ferrera which would could just see from Montesclado. We discussed whether walking on to Burg made sense and Xavi felt like it would maybe be a long way back walking along a busier road. He noted we could descend to Glorieta and return to Montesclado in a loop if we wanted. Here is the view from Montesclado. Burg is on the left of the image and Ferrera (our goal) is in the middle.
Ferrera and Burg
Off we went around 10 am. The first part of the walk was very much as described along a paved road along which we met nobody though we did see the cows again that we had seen last night during our quick stroll around the village. As we entered Mallolís it was clear where we were supposed to go. Along the road there was a small barnyard with some goats and a slightly territorial dog behind the fence. Dawn stopped to take pictures of the goats as she often does and after a couple of minutes a voice started yelling at her to stop taking pictures without permission. The youngish (30 something) woman emerged from the barn looking like a minor thundercloud declaring that this wasn’t some rural theater for tourists to take pictures of hard working folks who were actually trying to make a living. We engaged her in conversation and apologized while explaining that we really did appreciate the effort envolved in raising goats and running a small farm. She slowly cooled off and after 5-10 min we were having a better conversation about the challenges of rural life etc etc. As we left Dawn asked if we could take her picture but she still said no but without the heat of earlier.
Mallolis: (Dawn)
![Mallolis]#(../imagesBarca22/PYMSNobody.jpg)
After that novel experience we moved on along the road and had to open an electric fence to continue but didn’t see any left turn or church as we were led to expect. After walking around the corner we met a sign saying ‘private road’ and wondered if we had missed something since nothing matched Xavi’s description. Upon closer inspection we found a tree on the downslope side of the road just after the gate that had a yellow spot on it. Turning left off the road on a small trail we found ourselves walking past the ruins of a church and eventually to the edge of the valley where a yellow point marked the start of a descending trail. The large adjacent ruin was in the process of being remodeled/rebuilt and we be lovely if it is every completed.
Ferrera: Trail Marker
Having learned what the ‘puntos amarillos’ looked like we were pretty tuned into them as we follows the lightly maintained trail down through open forests and meadows with cow bells ringing in nearly every direction. Who knew that this part of the Pyrennes sounds like you would imagine Switzerland is supposed to sound like?
Ferrera: Typical Trail
We descended for 20 min wrapping around the draw until we arrived at the creek (right on schedule at 20 min) and started up the other side.
Ferrera: Stream Crossing
Because the underlying slate formations are strongly sloped there is a large difference in the feel of trail on the two sides of a ridge or draw. Going up the other side felt more like we were wending our way along ledges and between rocks to reach the top of the next ridge at Alendo. Interesting that all of the villages are on the ridges and not in the draws. I assume this means the sun and ability to see around is more important than the ease of water access and somewhat better soils in the draws.
Alendo was charming and the trail dropped us next to a very nice garden carved out of the rock walls and the ridge. You start to get a clear sense that it’s a bit of a haul to go shopping and having a garden and some fruit trees gets good food to your table more easily. In Alendo we initially went left to see the church as Xavi suggested. We felt a bit like we were walking through someone’s backyard which in some ways we were. For comparison its very much as if there were a public trail along the fence line between our place and Gail’s house. We went through a gate following the yellow points (all the trails appear to have the same marking) and found the church after 100 m or so and almost immediately saw the rucs (mules) in trees and shrubs on the other side of the church. Dawn went in search of closer pictures. They were pretty good sized mules (I’d call them draft mules) but weren’t particularly bothered by our interest in them.
Alendo: (Dawn- Mules)
![Alendo]#(../imagesBarca22/PYMSNobody.jpg)
Eventually we returned to the church where we were met by a random young dog who would be our companion for most of the rest of the walk. This is an old 12th century church. Xavi told us later that some original artwork from the church ended up in a museum somewhere (perhaps Boston). This is one of the first small local churches I’ve been in in Spain.
Alendo: Church
The entry yard has a path down the middle to the door with burial plots on both sides. Something is off since there must have been hundreds of folks who have been served by this church over the centuries but only a few burials were apparent. Not sure what that means. Inside it was very simple in stark contrast to the many rich and ornate cathedrals and churchs we’ve seen in major cities. A very different feel. This place would be cold in the winter with cracks in the door and around windows and very little natural light.
Alendo: Church Interior
The floor is rounded cobbles which makes it very uneven and explains the 3 legged plank benches for pews. The planks were 5 cm thick, 30-40 cm wide, and 2.5 m or so long. The two legs as one end were heavily splayed to provide stability and the single leg near the other end was in the middle. 3 cm or so diameter legs. The benches felt very stable which is impressive given the totally uneven floor.
Alendo: Church Pews
A simple altar in the front and a small choir loft in the back with stairs that are practically like a ladder. All in all a very honest feeling space that is clearly gently maintained by locals mostly.
Alendo: Church Font
Given that there are only a few folks living here currently it’s a little remarkable it’s not in worse shape. The site is dramatic sitting out on the end of the ridge where it begins to dive down to Glorieta. As you look around the valley you can see several other chapels/churches similarly situated. It’s as if the church can be modest because the surroundings are so dramatic.
We made our way back to Alendo and the paved road up to Ferrera. The road would be a loop if they just connected the end at Alendo to the end at Mallolís – I wonder why that didn’t happen?
Alendo: Ferrera
Anyway, with our new doggy friend we walked up the road to Fererra which is clearly a much more inhabited place. Apparently nearly 15 year round residents and another 25 or so at times. Amusingly Dawn saw a lovely quote from Einstein noting two certainties in the world of which one is that humans will always be idiots. As we walked in the hot sun amazed by the effort it must take to restore and modernize these buildings we walked past CAN. Somehow I expected from the web that CAN was just outside of Ferrera but here is was practically in the center. The notice next to the door suggested that it was open but the door was shut. We knocked on the door a couple of times and no one answered but we could hear a voice inside that appeared to be talking on the phone. We opened the door and shouted hello a couple of times and still no response. After 15 min Dawn pushed open the inner door to see if she could make contact with who ever was there. Some gentleman asked if we could come back in 20 min when he was done with the phone call. We said we would be back and continued exploring through to the other end of Ferrera. We met some day hikers who were headed further up the mountains than I could go. Couldn’t tell where they started but they seemed very lightly supplied with water. We looked down onto Burg which apparently has one additional young person picked up by the school taxi and further up the valley is the home of the woman from Montesclado who felt it was getting too crowded. She is now rebuilding a home in the Bosque de Burg where it seems like it must be very quiet and beautiful further up the valley.
Ferrera: CAN
We made our way back to CAN and another person entirely came to the door and offered to show us around and explain how the facility works. I wish I could remember his name but it is excaping me at the moment - I’ll call him Alex for now. Alex offered to show us around the center and describe how it worked. He is a screen writer in Barcelona who came up to CAN to work on some screen plays and ended up working part time for CAN. There are a couple of studios, a kitchen, a lovely terrace that looks down the valley and a large dining room next to a commercial kitchen. There is also a smaller kitchen for the resident artists. The way it works is you apply for some time to work on whatever creative project you want. For 3 days or 3 months. CAN offers a couple of funded residencies each year but in general people come who would like some time away from distractions to focus on what ever they are interested in. The nightly fee (35 - 45€ depending on which space) includes the room and dinner each night cooked by their local chef. Breakfast and lunch are on the artist and since there are no restaurants in Ferrera this suggests that having a car would be critical to make things work. The important point is that anyone can apply and be granted any number of nights to stay at the facility for whatever purpose. They are thinking environmentally so aren’t actively encouraging folks from distant places to fly in to do a retreat but they are open to it. If we ever come back this seems like an interesting possibility expecially since we would need to have a car which would make exploring the region much more plausible. We’re not entirely sure we will come back to Spain but if we do this is a real option. As we were leaving I was imagining bringing the B Side Band here for a week and making music for the whole valley, Only if I win the lottery!
After the visit to CAN we walked back down to Alendo without our trusty canine friend. Perhaps he found another friend or perhaps we offended him by throwing away the incredibly stinky deer leg he found just as we got to Ferrera. When we got back to Alendo (Alex passed us headed there as we walked - perhaps he’s living there at the moment?) we had to decide whether to do the Glorieta circle route or just return the way we had come. In spite of my knees being a little stretched we’re a sucker for the ‘vuelta’. Turned out to be a fortunate decision since the rucs were waiting at the gate that kept them out of town. As we eased through the gate we got to meet them face to face. Good sized animals that we were careful not give them an opportunity to kick even on the narrow trail. The trail down to Glorieta switchbacks down the north side of the ridge below the 12th century church. The north side is slightly less precipitous but not much. We kept a close eye on the ‘puntos amarillos’ and enjoyed the almost shady walk on the warm afternoon. About half way down the ridge to Gorieta the trail dropped us out into a meadow. The spring has been so wet that the lightly used trail was no where to be seen due to the lush growth of grass in the meadow. We followed along the direction we were headed until we got to the other edge of the meadow but saw no sign of the trail continuing. We went to the other side of the meadow looking for some indication of a trail and found nothing. After some consideration we went back to where we were last sure that we were on the trail. We walked down into the meadow until we could just see that last yellow trail marker and then looked around. After a moment it seemed as if perhaps the trail turned behind a tree and around the other side of the ridge. It was a little rough but seemed possible. We kept an eye out and after 50 m we found another trail marker and we were good. Interesting experience trying to find the trail. We weren’t particularly lost but it could have been a bit more of a bushwhack if we had kept going on the other side of the ridge. The trail eventually connects with the road between Tirvia and Montesclado near the bottom of the draw. We had walked most of this part of the road the first night before dinner so it was mostly just a slog to get up to our rooms. We had wine and beer and then it was definitely time for a nap when we got back.
A few more guests arrived Friday night which made for 3 tables in the dining room. Another lovely meal with a carafe of red wine, two courses plus dessert, and the best company - Dawn. We didn’t find out until later that one of the other couples was also from Barcelona and more surprising they lived just a few blocks from us in Clot. What are the chances? It was a little warmer this night so perhaps we didn’t sleep quite as well but it was still fabulous to see the stars and the dark night and be able to leave the window wide open.
28/5/2022 Saturday¶
Given that we didn’t have a car the question for Saturday was where to hike and what to see that didn’t require wheels. After breakfast we consulted with Xavi, as everyone else was doing, to see what the options were. The general sense of things was to take the trail (not the road) to Tirvia. This would permit us to also get a second breakfast or a lunch if the bar in Tirvia was open. From there the discussion was whether to walk down to the river, on to Llavorsí, and back up the trail to Montesclado or to walk around the mountain to Araos, down the river, and back up to Tirvia and possibly Montesclado. Xavi offered to pick us up in Tirvia if we were tired at that point. We opted for the Tirvia to Araos back to Tirvia loop since it would be more in the forest and there was another chapel along this path that was also special in the community.
Off we went down the trail to Tirvia. When I say down the trail I really mean down the trail since many of these trails have sections that go more or less straight down the fall line. This often happens as they pass along the edges between pastures but today was much less sidehill for sure. Like yesterday the trail doesn’t get a whole lot of use so it often feels a little overgrown which involved some nettles today.
Tirvia: Trail from Montesclado
Once again when we hit an open meadow it was hard to track where the silly yellow points had got to. Note to self: Rows of trees along the edge of pastures often have the trail running down the middle of them. We also saw more yellow ‘x’s’ indicating to NOT go this way. Generally helpful. We eventually reached the river bottom and walked along the river. First we had to get confused by noticing some yellow points that got us walking up river for a while.
Tirvia: Wrong way on trail
After a 100 m or so it seemed to me that going up towards Glorieta was not the right way. The trail we were on was coming down river from Glorieta and joining our trail to Tirvia. A lovely walk in mid-morning along the river and through the fields. Just as the trail started to ascend back up the other side to Tirvia Dawn noticed a collapsing stone building buried in the forest and built into the hillside. Hard to tell whether it had been abandoned 50 years ago or 250 years ago. Seemed like it had been a while but it is a little hard to tell. The trail coming up out of the river bottom goes along shelves in the shale layers that have been stabilized and reinforced over many years. You enter Tirvia through some old family garden plots and fruit orchards whcih were still actively being used.
Tirvia: Approach to Tirvia
The town seems more actively lived in with more buildings in pretty good repair and a few small businesses. The panaderia only had a sweet flat bread which seemed a little odd but we got some for snacks later. The bar was open so we had a tortilla (omelette) breakfast with some coffee around 11:30. Nice solid meal to hold us through the day.
The trail to Araos takes off near the upper end of Tirvia and passes along a shelf between some fields of wheat and cows. At one point shortly after we left town there were these odd wooden chairs (3) built and set on the side of the trail.
Araos: Memorial
There was a painted plaque that we couldn’t really understand (later Xavi said it was terrible writing and spelling) that seemed to be a memorial to those lost to COVID over the last two years.
Araos: Memory of COVID
Less understandable was the pagan feeling altar and installation 50 m along the trail by the same artist. This second installation had a less fun feel with many pentagonal stars and odd elements. We showed a picture to Xavi later but he didn’t have much of a sense for why it was there. Shortly down the trial we reached the chapel which is a modest building tucked on the flat place between rocky outcrops and cliffs. Not sure I understand why the chapels and churchs are away from town in these locations. Must be a reason. There were the remains of a lovely mosaic rose on the floor made from small pieces of shale. What was left was an impressive example of making beauty with the materials at hand. From there the trail rounded the corner and headed across the side of the mountain toward Araos. It was a wooded trail but very dry with very little undergrowth. Again the forest seemed remarkably barren of the small creatures we feel like are always present in forests back home. This overall lack of small wildlife and birds is still a question for us. After an hour or so of walking as we were coming down towards the river bottom again a shadow flashed past us and Dawn looked up to notice some truly large vultures. Because we had hoped to see Gryphon vultures while we were here that’s what we hoped they were. In hindsight it seems more likely that they are Langmuir?? vultures which are also enormous and drop the bones from heights to break them open for the marrow. They have very white heads almost like an eagle and patches of white or cream elsewhere which is a bit more consistent with what we saw. Always hard to tell when you’re looking up at a bird way up in the bright sky. Very cool.
As an aside we saw this boundary marker halfway between Tirvia and Araos in the middle of nowhere. Hard to imagine carrying the concrete to make such a massive trail marker high up on a mountainside between two small villages. Xavi thought perhaps it was a boundary marker between the regions and went back a ways.
Araos: Boundary Marker
Araos is another small town a bit like Tirvia which still supports agricultural families (saw tractors and implements parked out front of a number of homes. Narrow stone streets and most of the buildings in good repair. Somebody is a sculptor in town since the were a number of installations both in and hear Araos. The multiheaded dragon (drac) that guarded the water fountain was wonderful. Very hot at this point and it was still a long way home.
Araos: Drac Sculpture (Dawn) ![Araos: Drac]#(../imagesBarca22/PYAraosMemory.jpg)
We refilled water bottles at the fountain and then headed down along the road of the Valley of Ferrera. Not a very busy road but lots of beautiful little waterfalls along the way that you would never notice if you were driving. We found a place we could go sit by the river. A really lovely rushing river that reminded me of parts of the Gallatin river. Clear cold water wrapping around outcrops of rock that forced it’s course back and forth. Lots of deep fast water to keep kayaker’s happy although probably a little small for larger rafts. At one point after our break to dip our feet in the water the old road took off and ran parallel to the current road but on the other side of the river. This got us out of the hot sun. These river cut canyons are so steep that the trails and roads are a good ways above the river and there are few places to go sit next to the river. The old road intersected the road up to Tirvia and we slogged our way back up to Tirvia.
It was now about 4:00 and the question was whether to call Xavi for a ride or complete the loop on foot. Since we felt like we knew the way and Dawn is always up for more walking we opted to walk home which turned out to be quicker going uphill than it had been coming downhill even with my creaky knee. Again, beer and wine and chips followed by a nap did wonders for restoring us before dinner at 9:00.
29/5/2022 Sunday¶
The general plan for Sunday was to take a slow start, pack, and get a ride into Llavorsí after breakfast. This plan was a little derailed by a bunch of conversations in the front room. This is where we really had a conversation with Laila who is the 17 year old daughter who is working on her nursing credentials. This led to a conversation about the schools and her schedule and certification and on and on. Just to put it in the record Laila gets a ride into Llavorsí from her Dad around 7:30 or 8:00 every morning. Then she spends 4 hrs from 9 - 1 doing a practicum for her CNA. Then she catches the bus around 2:00 for an hour to Terme where she attends classes from 3 - 9 before catching a bus back to Llavorsí where her father picks her up around 10 or 10:30. Rinse and repeat 5 days a week. Laila speaks Spanish and Catalan of course as well as French from living in France for a couple years while she was a kid. She’s been studying German because she likes the countryside up there and her English is pretty pasable. Wrap that in a nursing certification and I’m pretty sure she can work anywhere in Europe she wants to. Pretty cool! During this conversation is also when the other couple realized that we lived in Clot as well which led to some good laughs.
At around 11:00 or so there was a break in the conversation and it seemed to be a good time to grab a lift into Llavorsí. Carmene and Laila took us in and dropped us off at the bar. We had some coffee and then I asked the bartender if I could drop the bags behind the bar for a few hours for a few Euros. He said not to worry and just put them in the hallway of his house/apartment which was connected to the bar. Gratefully I dropped the bags there and we headed off to walk around. He asked if we were getting the 2:45 bus to Barcelona and I said no we were planning to get the 3:45 bus to Llieda. He looked unsure and wasn’t aware of the 3:45 bus. Weekend bus schedules are hard to predict even for locals so we left it up in the air.
We walked here and there along the river and eventually ended up walking along a road on the far side of the river until we got to a place where irrigation water was being taken out of the river with a diversion damn. Like everywhere else it was very hard to get down to the edge of the river except at the landings where the rafts were putting in. At the irrigation diversion we managed to find a place we could get down the steep bank and sit by the river for a while. We did have to wade through a mess of nettles in each direction but we only got ‘stung’ a couple of times. While we were down at the river Dawn found a small horseshoe that looks like it might be for a small mule though it’s shape is a little different. We’ll have to ask a farrier what they think of the shape sometime after we get home. As we walked back from the place we sat by the river we also noticed that along the base of the mountainside where the irrigation channel ran there was a line of apple trees that had been there a while and sone recent plantings. A little bit different set up probably because of the overall dryness of that side of the river. Small interesting details that didn’t always seem to have answers.
After a Fanta Limón at the bar we picked up our bags, thanked the proprietor, and decided to go hang out at the bus stop starting around 2:15 just in case. When a bus came from the right company, Alsa, I asked if it was going to the train stop in Lleida. The driver said it was, I thought, so we got on. The ticket was puzzling since it was only 3€ compared to the 11€ it had been to come up from Lleida. Many things are confusing for me so we just let it go. There were very few people on the bus and just the other side of Sort the bus pulled into a lot and everybody else got off. The bus driver pointed across the lot and said ‘There’s the train!’. Sure enough there was the train TO Lleida. We had wondered about the train tracks we had seen and this was the closest place the train comes to Llavorsí (Pug de Segro??? - check this later). Turns out the train was leaving in 10 min so we hopped on and got tickets. What a beautiful ride along the river and through the canyons. A bit faster, way miore comfortable, and a stunning view along the way. Definitely our recommendation to anyone planning the same sort of trip. It didn’t show up in my trip planning for any one of a number of reasons but we were delighted to have the experience.
Since the train was a little faster and we caught an earlier bus we changed our train ticket in Lleida to an earlier train and got back to Barcelona a bit earlier than originally planned. This gave me enough time and energy to go meet Brian and Brenda who had arrived yesterday (Saturday) from Madrid. We had a light dinner at a place near their hotel which was fairly forgetable. Got home around 11:00 to get some sleep before the last two days of classes. Whew - what a week.