Batea to Fabara
I had not slept very well, the ground was sloping and my sleeping bag kept slipping on the silver base mat and I was fighting with it all night. I was up and up and away by 8am, it was a good two km walk to Batea here I found a nice café called L'antoni and charged up the phone for half an hour. It says in the guidebook it is a hostel but I did not see the sign. Anyway I had camped ok. Here I had coffee and cakes and got a stamp in my guidebook. Then I found a nice bakers and on hearing I was on a pilgrims walk, I was given a cake. I gave a Koala to return the favour and the daughter then gave me a great slab of Tarta de Santiago cut into six big pieces all wrapped separately!!! I sat in the square and ate one yummy piece and then carried the rest over the next few days. It was great and restored my energy several times.
I left town about 10 am. The track turned off on the left and I walked up hill to the top of a plateau. It was not well marked and at times I was worried that I might be on the wrong track but after a large signboard about the caminos it was marked much better. Later on the track took me down to the river.
The concrete road crossed the river and the water looked clear although signs said the river is terrible polluted. I had not showered for days, so went to the other side stripped off and went to the middle, sunk into the cold water and swam a little to wash the sweat from my body. I sat on some rocks and dried myself and dressed again. It had been cold but I felt refreshed and hoped my skin wouldn't peal and that I had not drunk any of the infected water!
The guidebook said I had to pass some agricultural factories to arrive at Fabara. There were three groups of factories and twice I was disappointed not to see the town but at last there was the town as I came round a bend. In Fabara I had two claras (shandy) and a meal in a bar at half past three, it was twenty past seven when I left. Now the track climbed too 378m and was a tough track and hard climb.
I reached the top the highest point just 4km past Fabara and looked for a campsite as it was getting late. There was a flat piece to the left of the track and I was tired after my climb and my rucksack was very heavy. I'd stop here I decided. I put up the tent and took another look at the sky, it looked as if it might storm in the night. That would not be good as to t
he side of my camping spot the ground sloped up and I could imagine it working like a roof sending floodwater down to my campsite. There was a pine tree on the first part of the slope I would camp under that with the head of the tent up hill. It might work. I moved camp and noticed I had little water to drink. I set up sheets to catch water if it rained as best I could.
I left town about 10 am. The track turned off on the left and I walked up hill to the top of a plateau. It was not well marked and at times I was worried that I might be on the wrong track but after a large signboard about the caminos it was marked much better. Later on the track took me down to the river.
The concrete road crossed the river and the water looked clear although signs said the river is terrible polluted. I had not showered for days, so went to the other side stripped off and went to the middle, sunk into the cold water and swam a little to wash the sweat from my body. I sat on some rocks and dried myself and dressed again. It had been cold but I felt refreshed and hoped my skin wouldn't peal and that I had not drunk any of the infected water!
The guidebook said I had to pass some agricultural factories to arrive at Fabara. There were three groups of factories and twice I was disappointed not to see the town but at last there was the town as I came round a bend. In Fabara I had two claras (shandy) and a meal in a bar at half past three, it was twenty past seven when I left. Now the track climbed too 378m and was a tough track and hard climb.
I reached the top the highest point just 4km past Fabara and looked for a campsite as it was getting late. There was a flat piece to the left of the track and I was tired after my climb and my rucksack was very heavy. I'd stop here I decided. I put up the tent and took another look at the sky, it looked as if it might storm in the night. That would not be good as to t
he side of my camping spot the ground sloped up and I could imagine it working like a roof sending floodwater down to my campsite. There was a pine tree on the first part of the slope I would camp under that with the head of the tent up hill. It might work. I moved camp and noticed I had little water to drink. I set up sheets to catch water if it rained as best I could.END DAY 3 = approx 20.1kms Total approx 66.1kms
19/05/07
Fabara to Chiprana
Sliding down inside the tent because it was on the slope kept me awake most of the night but as black as the sky had become it hadn't rained other than a few spots so no water collected. It looked as if it might soon though, so I quickly packed up and threw out a good shirt and a T-shirt to try to lighten the backpack. I was using everything at times and washing was a problem. I had done none, and socks and shirts were running low. Now one shirt and a T-shirt were gone, I would not have to wash them at least. The camino into Caspe was hard and long, much of it along the high ridge and as the guidebook said cart tracks were cut deep into the rock in places showing how old this part of camino was. A long and hilly journey and no breakfast but for the tarta de Santiago. Now it was raining too.
It stopped as I came up a rise and found a heap of discarded kilometre stone markers and chuckled to myself 'That's just like the few kilometres I have collected!
I at last walked through an industrial area where a guard dog that was loose but with its owner wanted a feed of peregrino. As the dog, big teeth glistening, approached I would stop and the man shouted and reluctantly so would the dog. Then as I moved on the beast would come rapidly towards me again and more shouts. At last the animal seemed to think I was going away and with one last charge in my direction it went back to the guy and barked from there. I made my way over the hill and down into the town.
Here I asked several times for a café and at last found one called El Quijote. Here I stacked my wet gear in the corner and ordered a ensalada mixta and a clara (mixed salad and a shandy). A small child was crying and I asked if it was all right and gave a Koala to the little one. In return the young lady behind the bar then gave me a sachet of emu oil that she was trying to sell in albergues along the French camino. It is very good for soothing the feet and thinking about it now, I have never seen an emu with blisters! I thanked her and gave away another Koala and left my gear there while I went up the street to buy bread. On my return she stamped my Guidebook and dated it because I had been unable to get the credential one needs to prove you have walked the camino. We swapped addresses and she kindly gave me a camino shell hat badge and I returned to my camino.
Somewhere I cut a new staff from a roadside shrub, it was a bit too thin after the bark had been cut off but it would do for now, as I was not too happy with the cane as it was splitting at the bottom. I walked to Chiprana and detoured into the small town and found a busy café but no hostel. I ate some meatballs and had a coffee. My pedometer said eighteen km and my feet were sore now, I thought I had done a bit more. I went back to the roundabout and found the arrow. I really don't know where the camino went after that, it did not tally with the guidebook as far as I could see. I remember going round on the left of a lake and picking cherries from the orchard.
I could not see the Ermita of San Marcos mentioned in the guidebook although I had been told in town it was out there somewhere. After a few kilometres the terrain was very barren.
5073I passed a car on the gravel track with its doors wide open waiting for its owner to return. They obviously did not expect thieves round here I thought. I looked back from a rise on the track and a car had arrived with the owner and a mechanic I presumed. I walked on and there was now a strip of un-farmed land alongside the track. I thought I might be able to use it for the tent. I could just see the town of Chiprana in the distance so must have been 3 or four kilometres out, maybe more. I set up the tent under a clear sky and as I had eaten something, I crawled into bed early. I was tired and needed a good nights sleep!
Boom! Thunder!!!! I peeped out, enormous black clouds overhead. Then it started to rain. Oh boy did it rain! Huge raindrops the size of golf balls that hit the tent and came in the front opening. I grabbed the camera, phone and things and pulled them back under my head. I hoped the waterproof pillowcase would keep them dry. I was only half inside my sleeping bag as I had been warm, now I felt the rain spraying onto my back!! I was getting soaking wet.
'Pull out the car window bubble foil sheet that you use as a extra ground sheet! If you can get that over yourself you might keep relatively dry and not feel the cold' I said to myself. Yes I was cold now as I felt the water sapping the heat from my body. This action was not easy in a tent about 40cm high!!! Ok it was dryer but as I cuddled the sleeping bag my arms got wet! Yuck! Water was flooding the tent, it could get in, but not out!!! I would have to get out and get dressed and get my cape round me it might be more waterproof!!!. I doubted that though they were made of similar material! I don't know how I did it but I was now damp but dressed and wrapped in the cape outside. What now? Rain was still falling like a wall of water. I looked for a rock to sit on and found one some little way away. It was cold and wet to sit on. I then had the idea of getting the car window bubble sheet to sit on I went back and got it and also remembered the foil emergency blanket in my bag. The rucksack was in a big plastic rubbish bag hopefully keeping things dry. I opened it up and dived in and found the foil blanket and a fine mosquito net my daughter Jo had given me for round my hat. I quickly zipped up the rucksack and closed the bag again and hoped it would keep things in there dry. I returned and tried to get comfortable on the rock but there was nothing to lean on. I changed my idea and put the bubble on the ground against the rock and up the side of it and then sat down trying to cover with the cape as much of my seat and me as I could. The cape was as wet inside as it was outside and not keeping much out. I had the hood over my head but I could feel the rain running down my neck. Ok now I got down inside the cape and worked the silver sheet up over and around me covering everything but my face. Every time I moved, a leg or boot slipped out into the rain!! I tried the mosquito net on my hat and made it cover the opening over my face. The hole was as small as I could make it to keep out the torrential rain. The foil being plastic did at last keep out the rain. Arms holding my legs I tried to sleep and I did keep dropping off, out of exhaustion I think. God that was a long night and I thought I'll am going to die. Another enormous crash of lightning, almost overhead. I tucked my head completely inside so I couldn't see. My mind went on tormenting me
'Here you are wrapped in a foil sheet and the biggest thing for miles! There is not a tree or house or even a rock bigger than you. You will surly die of exposure or be toasted to a crisp by lightning by morning. Will anybody be able to tell Maisie?'
I have no shame I was scared stiff and prayed hard that night.
It stopped as I came up a rise and found a heap of discarded kilometre stone markers and chuckled to myself 'That's just like the few kilometres I have collected!
I at last walked through an industrial area where a guard dog that was loose but with its owner wanted a feed of peregrino. As the dog, big teeth glistening, approached I would stop and the man shouted and reluctantly so would the dog. Then as I moved on the beast would come rapidly towards me again and more shouts. At last the animal seemed to think I was going away and with one last charge in my direction it went back to the guy and barked from there. I made my way over the hill and down into the town.
Here I asked several times for a café and at last found one called El Quijote. Here I stacked my wet gear in the corner and ordered a ensalada mixta and a clara (mixed salad and a shandy). A small child was crying and I asked if it was all right and gave a Koala to the little one. In return the young lady behind the bar then gave me a sachet of emu oil that she was trying to sell in albergues along the French camino. It is very good for soothing the feet and thinking about it now, I have never seen an emu with blisters! I thanked her and gave away another Koala and left my gear there while I went up the street to buy bread. On my return she stamped my Guidebook and dated it because I had been unable to get the credential one needs to prove you have walked the camino. We swapped addresses and she kindly gave me a camino shell hat badge and I returned to my camino.
Somewhere I cut a new staff from a roadside shrub, it was a bit too thin after the bark had been cut off but it would do for now, as I was not too happy with the cane as it was splitting at the bottom. I walked to Chiprana and detoured into the small town and found a busy café but no hostel. I ate some meatballs and had a coffee. My pedometer said eighteen km and my feet were sore now, I thought I had done a bit more. I went back to the roundabout and found the arrow. I really don't know where the camino went after that, it did not tally with the guidebook as far as I could see. I remember going round on the left of a lake and picking cherries from the orchard.
I could not see the Ermita of San Marcos mentioned in the guidebook although I had been told in town it was out there somewhere. After a few kilometres the terrain was very barren.
5073I passed a car on the gravel track with its doors wide open waiting for its owner to return. They obviously did not expect thieves round here I thought. I looked back from a rise on the track and a car had arrived with the owner and a mechanic I presumed. I walked on and there was now a strip of un-farmed land alongside the track. I thought I might be able to use it for the tent. I could just see the town of Chiprana in the distance so must have been 3 or four kilometres out, maybe more. I set up the tent under a clear sky and as I had eaten something, I crawled into bed early. I was tired and needed a good nights sleep!
Boom! Thunder!!!! I peeped out, enormous black clouds overhead. Then it started to rain. Oh boy did it rain! Huge raindrops the size of golf balls that hit the tent and came in the front opening. I grabbed the camera, phone and things and pulled them back under my head. I hoped the waterproof pillowcase would keep them dry. I was only half inside my sleeping bag as I had been warm, now I felt the rain spraying onto my back!! I was getting soaking wet.'Pull out the car window bubble foil sheet that you use as a extra ground sheet! If you can get that over yourself you might keep relatively dry and not feel the cold' I said to myself. Yes I was cold now as I felt the water sapping the heat from my body. This action was not easy in a tent about 40cm high!!! Ok it was dryer but as I cuddled the sleeping bag my arms got wet! Yuck! Water was flooding the tent, it could get in, but not out!!! I would have to get out and get dressed and get my cape round me it might be more waterproof!!!. I doubted that though they were made of similar material! I don't know how I did it but I was now damp but dressed and wrapped in the cape outside. What now? Rain was still falling like a wall of water. I looked for a rock to sit on and found one some little way away. It was cold and wet to sit on. I then had the idea of getting the car window bubble sheet to sit on I went back and got it and also remembered the foil emergency blanket in my bag. The rucksack was in a big plastic rubbish bag hopefully keeping things dry. I opened it up and dived in and found the foil blanket and a fine mosquito net my daughter Jo had given me for round my hat. I quickly zipped up the rucksack and closed the bag again and hoped it would keep things in there dry. I returned and tried to get comfortable on the rock but there was nothing to lean on. I changed my idea and put the bubble on the ground against the rock and up the side of it and then sat down trying to cover with the cape as much of my seat and me as I could. The cape was as wet inside as it was outside and not keeping much out. I had the hood over my head but I could feel the rain running down my neck. Ok now I got down inside the cape and worked the silver sheet up over and around me covering everything but my face. Every time I moved, a leg or boot slipped out into the rain!! I tried the mosquito net on my hat and made it cover the opening over my face. The hole was as small as I could make it to keep out the torrential rain. The foil being plastic did at last keep out the rain. Arms holding my legs I tried to sleep and I did keep dropping off, out of exhaustion I think. God that was a long night and I thought I'll am going to die. Another enormous crash of lightning, almost overhead. I tucked my head completely inside so I couldn't see. My mind went on tormenting me
'Here you are wrapped in a foil sheet and the biggest thing for miles! There is not a tree or house or even a rock bigger than you. You will surly die of exposure or be toasted to a crisp by lightning by morning. Will anybody be able to tell Maisie?'
I have no shame I was scared stiff and prayed hard that night.
END DAY 4 = approx. 24.4kms. Total approx. 90.5kms according to book.
