My Ruta del Ebro (2016)

[peregrina2000]

My Camino 2016 involved combining several different caminos. I started in Riumar at the mouth of the Ebro, stayed with the Ruta del Ebro till two days after Zaragoza, in Gallur, where you have to choose between continuing on the Ebro to Logroño or taking the Camino Castellano-Aragonés to Santo Domingo de Silos. I highly recommend the Castellano-Aragonés, and have written up this account for the forum. If you are planning to walk the Ebro all the way to Logroño, these posts will only take you up to Gallur, leaving you with about 5 days to Logroño. From Santo Domingo, I walked the Camino San Olav into Burgos. From there, train to León, where I repeated one of my favorites, the Salvador/Primitivo. Although I hate having to break up the walking rhythm with a train ride in between, I don't mind missing the Francés, but more importantly, my family's patience is worn pretty thin by the end of 45 days of my walking in Spain.

A couple of general comments about the Ruta del Ebro. It is usually well marked, but I did have my GPS and consulted it from time to time. Very few albergues, but accommodation is generally reasonably priced. Some of the stages are long, but there is very little elevation gain. I never had a problem with water, always carrying about 1 1/2 - 2 liters.

I was lucky to start out with @anniethenurse. We stuck together till Zaragoza, where Annie decided to move ahead. Though Annie didn't always walk the long stages, she was able to find public transportation to cut the stage down to a size that was more manageable. Good but not terribly frequent bus service is available.

Highlights of this route (IMO, anyway) include seeing the mouth of the Ebro and its natural, protected delta area; the nice city of Tortosa; the wonderful kms on the Via Verde (old RR tracks); the ravine at Fontcalda; the Civil War museum in Gandesa; the Roman mausoleum outside Caspe; and the GREAT city of Zaragoza.

I will use this thread to post a day by day, just in case there is anyone out there who could use the information. I benefitted tremendously from posts by @alansykes, @SabineP, @Stephen Nicholls and @Ramblanista, so I am trying to pay it forward a bit. I would not say this is my favorite camino ever, but I have walked so many wonderful caminos that it is hard to rank them. And looking at my list of highlights, I can see that I did really have a lot of interesting explorations!

I did not have a guidebook, just my GPS, the online info from mundicamino, etc, and my scribbled notes from the posts of forum friends. It was plenty. I know that many do not like the idea of walking with a GPS, and I get that. But as I've commented in another thread, I was able to limit my use of it to those situations in which I really needed help. I was determined not to be one of those people walking with her head down looking at the device. When I got to León, I put the GPS away. I will confess that I had to readjust to "being on my own" with the arrows, but since the Salvador and Primitivo are so well marked and more traveled, I didn't want to rely on it. So anyway, the GPS is now an essential part of my gear, but only on the untraveled caminos.

Happy to answer questions, if by chance there is any interest in this route! Buen camino, Laurie

Edited to add: After Zaragoza, in Gallur, I went off the Ebro and walked the absolutely wonderful Castellano Aragonés. My thread on that section is here. From there, in Covarrubias, I walked the San Olav in reverse to Burgos.

 

[peregrina2000]

Day 0 - Barcelona to Riumar

I flew into BCN from New York, arriving nice and early, around 7:30 am, leaving lots of time for traveling to our starting point. I got the airport bus into town, had my first café con leche, and then did my usual pre-Camino errands. I met up with my pal Annie at the train station, and we got a train south at 11:30. About two hours later, we were in Amposta, and we called the cab whose number is listed at the taxi stand outside the station. It was a 35 € cab ride to Hostal Paca, Riumar, through lots and lots of rice paddies. We heard how the proposed "deviation" of Ebro water to other parts of Spain is (at least in the opinion of our cabbie) threatening the future of rice farming. We also learned a bit about how the paddies are irrigated and why bomba rice is so much better (and more expensive) than other paella rice grown in the area.

We decided that we would take a walk out to the mouth of the river to get our bearings, see the "official" starting point of the route, just generally shake our legs a bit. Quite by accident, we did a nice 8 km circle, and then figured out we could connect up with the camino at the exit from Riumar without walking back to the Delta the next day. Riumar is kind of a weird place. There seems to be some birding and some fishing, and I'm assuming the traffic picks up in high summer (this was mid May). But there are abandoned buildings, closed cafés, unkept homes. The delta views were very nice, and it was fun to be start at the place where this huge important river pours out into the Mediterranean.

Buen camino, Laurie

 

[SabsP]

Cheers Laurie ! I too loved the part of the Ebro I did although I was not feeling well for different reasons when I walked it in 2013 . But I will be back for a second try!!

Thanks for your detailed postings.

 

[peregrina2000]

Day 1 -- Riumar to Sant Carles de la Rapita, 37 km

This was a long, very flat day, all of it along the river or a canal. Lots of rice paddies, with a few groves of olives, fruit, and artichoke.






The camino goes through Cava (the riverside district of Deltebre, but not into Deltebre itself). Then we crossed over the Ebro and were in St. Jaume. There were lots of bars, so a good coffee stop.

About 10 more kms on, into the town of Poble Nou. This looks like it was a "fake" town, in the sense that it was purpose built as a town rather than emerging organically from a small settlement. It is kind of a "jumping off" place for people who are visiting the delta, and there are several bars, a modern church, and a couple of places with "habitaciones" signs in the window. So you could easily break it up here. I noticed that the tracks I had downloaded on my GPS seemed to all be on the road, but the signed camino now takes you off the camino a lot. So my tracks might be a better guide than the ones I had downloaded.

We stayed in the Nou Rocamar pensión, 31 € for a double with bath AND balcony. If you stretched your neck, you could see the harbor. I took a long walk around the town, but there isn't a whole lot left of an old town. It seems to be mainly a place where people with boats dock their boats and enjoy good seafood. All in all, I wouldn't say this was a spectacular day, but a very pleasant one. And for the history buffs, a little before crossing over to St. Jaume, we encountered this well preserved (or well reconstructed) "machine gun nest" from the Spanish Civil War. A sober reminder that this river has seen a lot of human pain and suffering.

 

[Castilian]

Some of the stages are long,

Except the stage from Fuentes de Ebro to Zaragoza, the rest of the route can be made with stages with no more than 26-27 kms although taht would mean too to make some short stages (under 15 kms). From Fuentes the Ebro to Zaragoza, there isn't accommodation in between to break the stage but you are close to Zaragoza and public transport to Zaragoza from the towns along the stage is quite frequent (specially on working days) so you could easily commute to/from Zaragoza (if that's fine for you) and break the stage that way.

In other words, if you like the report made by @peregrina2000 but aren't sure you could be able to walk some of her long stages, be aware that with a little bit of planning you can draw shortern stages.

 

[KinkyOne]

Hi, Laurie,

Again enjoying your postings although I remember most of it from your blog which I was reading while walking Via de Bayona at the same time as you did Ebro.
I have one question you might be able to answer. While looking at your wikiloc GPS all the distances are in miles/feet (same with my recordings). Do you know how to change them into kilometers?

Thank you!

PS (Sorry for off-topic.)

 

[peregrina2000]

Hi, Laurie,

Again enjoying your postings although I remember most of it from your blog which I was reading while walking Via de Bayona at the same time as you did Ebro.
I have one question you might be able to answer. While looking at your wikiloc GPS all the distances are in miles/feet (same with my recordings). Do you know how to change them into kilometers?

Thank you!

PS (Sorry for off-topic.)

Hi, K1,
If I can answer a technology question for someone, it will really make my day! I think that you should click on your name on the top right of the wikiloc screen (should be showing if you are logged in), and go to settings. It has personal info at top, with your email, etc, then keep scrolling down till you get to "coordinates of your current location" and then you can switch back and forth from metric to miles. Hope this helps. Buen camino, Laurie

 

[peregrina2000]

Day 2 -- Sant Carles to Tortosa (35 km). My GPS tracks. (even if you don't use a GPS, the map is very good for getting a sense of the route).

This day is almost all off road, almost all along a canal, and almost no shade. Leaving Sant Carles at sunrise:



Going into Amposta, the highway has blocked the route shown on my GPS, so we had to detour around till we found an underpass. We had a stop for coffee in Amposta near the Ayuntamiento, got our credenciales stamped, and took off our boots.

The walk was straightforward, took us over a bridge and into Tortosa. We were hot. Stopped in the very nice market for a cold drink, then plowed ahead up to the parador, our splurge for the night. There are pilgrim accommodations in the seminary, but we enjoyed this stop. Tortosa is a very nice town, has a pretty Santiago statue in an old arch (for some reason I can't post pictures taken vertically on my phone, they always show up sideways no matter what I do).

My favorite part of the day was when we sat outside in the parador café as the sun set. Very nice view over the cathedral and the entire old town, as well as the river. Very comfy stop, I would recommend the splurge if you are so inclined.



Buen camino, Laurie

 

[Stephen Nicholls]

I have to admit I 'chickened out' on the long stages into Zaragoza, but when I walked the route my distances were:

Kms Kms Destination
Walked Transp’ [A=Albergue]
Before April 27th 20 San Carles de la Rapita
Mon April 27th 3 8 car San Carles de la Rapita
Tue April 28th 12 Amposta
Wed April 29th 17 Tortosa
Thu April 30th 17 Xerta [A]
Fri May 1st 19 Fontcalda
Sat May 2nd 10 Gandesa
Sun May 3rd - rest day
Mon May 4th 12 Batea [A]
Tue May 5th 21 bus Caspe
Wed May 6th 9 Chiprana
Thu May 7th 10 21 bus Sastago
Fri May 8th 3 70 bus Zaragoza
Sat May 9th 13 Utebo
Sun May 10th 16 Alagon
Mon May 11th 14 Luceni
Tue May 12th 18 Mallen
Wed May 13th 26 bus Tudela
Thu May 14th 8 20 train Alfaro
Fri May 15th 12 15 bus Calahorra [A]
Sat May 16th 20 Alcanadre [A]
Sun May 17th 20 Agoncillo
Mon May 18th 18 Logroño

I'm an old-timer, and try not to walk more than 20 kms a day. Of the 4 albergues I stayed in, I was totally alone in 3 of them.
It was a very quiet camino - but that suits me: it was also a very beautiful one!
Diary on my web site.
Buen camino!

 

[peregrina2000]

Day 3 -- Tortosa to albergue in Benifallet RR station (25 km). GPS tracks here.

We decided to break the day to Gandesa into two. I had stopped into the tourist office in Tortosa the day before and found a Camino Amigo there. My notes showed that it was 38 or 39 km, which would be a stretch, but the amigo told me it was more like 50. Turns out he was right. He suggested Benifallet as our next night's stop. There is an albergue in the old train station, which is about 5 km from town. The town is NOT on the Camino, so if you plan to stay there, the train station, right on the camino, is the way to go. He called up to the albergue and found out it was fully booked, but that since we were pilgrims, the owners would set up a tent for us in the yard. It was a very nice place to stay, to sit and people watch, and to sleep.

Leaving Tortosa was a mess for us, as my GPS tracks will show. We should have crossed the Ebro on the pedestrian bridge, which connects straight onto the Via Verde (I think). Instead we followed the GPS tracks I downloaded and eventually got onto the canal and finally to the Via Verde. The two are different -- Via Verde is the old RR tracks; Canal is the service road, mainly gravel along the canal. If you wind up on the canal as we did, never fear, you can get onto the Via Verde. When you come to the "big doors" (mechanism for shutting down the entire water flow from the canal), turn left, go up and you are on the Via Verde. You will see the handrails made of wood and can squeeze on. Looking at my tracks, it seems that the Via Verde and the Canal are pretty close to each other after a few kms out of Tortosa, but the cops who helped us told us the easiest way to get onto the Via Verde was to wait till we got to the "big doors", so that's what we did.

If you compare my tracks with these, you'll see how the two routes are different, and where they come close to each other for crossing over.



About 1 km before Xerta, the Via Verde is blocked with a fancy map showing you how to get down to town and then back out onto the rail tracks. Take that route. If you stay on the Via Verde, the tracks will end, yo'll be on a busy road, and you'll have to go into Xerta anyway.

In Xerta we had a nice stop in the main plaza. There are cafés, farmacia, stores, and I think there's even an albergue.

The walk on the Via Verde (RR tracks) was really nice, and we were on it for many kms, till the turn off for Fontcalda the next day in fact. Lots and lots of cyclists. Lots of tunnels (I was fine with my phone flashlight, there was just one long tunnel where a brighter light would have made a big difference, but it really was fine).



There was a traditional music group staying at the albergue, and we could hear bits and pieces. They said they were giving a "concert" that night, but we fell asleep long before it started. The tent was very comfortable -- they gave us a few extra pads, so we had the luxury mattress. In the morning we plugged in the coil in an outside outlet and had breakfast before setting off on what would turn out to be one of the best days on this route!
Buen camino, Laurie

 

[peregrina2000]

Day 4 -- Benifallet to Gandesa (24 km) My GPS tracks here.

WOW WOW WOW. Beautiful day, first on the RR tracks (Via Verde), then beyond Fontcalda and up 250 m to a little ridge, then down to Gandesa. All very well marked. No tricky spots, just beautiful walking the whole way.






I sped up after the footprints, because I wanted to make sure to have time to visit the Gandesa Civil War Museum. As it was Sunday, no afternoon hours, and no Monday hours. I got there in plenty of time and spent more than an hour in the three rooms. Quite a place. There are some videos with footage from the war and its aftermath; lots of displays about the International Brigades; and one display case that really choked me up -- it was filled with belt buckles, most from the US, undoubtedly found in the ground years after the battle. The International Brigades lost thousands here. I remembered that not too long ago, I had read a tribute written by Senator John McCain, a Republican from Arizona and former presidential candidate, to the last living Lincoln Brigade member, who had died several monthe earlier. I was able to pull it up on my phone and have to confess that I was once again moved to tears.

We got the keys to the albergue in the museum. Turns out it is 1.7 km out of town, past the garbage dump, in a building that houses migrant workers. We had a little apartment with kitchen (no refrigerator), bath, two bedrooms, washing machine (no soap). 10 €.



Good lunch in Plaza Comercio at Restaurante Gran Plaza. A very good plato combinado with sepia, gambas, calamares and ensalada. Only 8€. Owners are Cuban immigrants, and we had lots of good conversation, about many things, including politics (which will not be repeated here out of respect for forum rules ).

Nice romanesque tympanum and capitals on the church, but it was closed. All in all, a great day, good stop, but if I were to do it again, I probably would pay the extra money and stay in town.

Roman mausoleum tomorrow! How much better does it get than this?! Buen camino, Laurie

 

[KinkyOne]

Hi, K1,
If I can answer a technology question for someone, it will really make my day! I think that you should click on your name on the top right of the wikiloc screen (should be showing if you are logged in), and go to settings. It has personal info at top, with your email, etc, then keep scrolling down till you get to "coordinates of your current location" and then you can switch back and forth from metric to miles. Hope this helps. Buen camino, Laurie

HAHAHAHA, You just solved my "problem" so I wish you a nice day

 

[KinkyOne]

...
I sped up after the footprints, because I wanted to make sure to have time to visit the Gandesa Civil War Museum. As it was Sunday, no afternoon hours, and no Monday hours. I got there in plenty of time and spent more than an hour in the three rooms. Quite a place. There are some videos with footage from the war and its aftermath; lots of displays about the International Brigades; and one display case that really choked me up -- it was filled with belt buckles, most from the US, undoubtedly found in the ground years after the battle. Of the 30,000 International Brigade members who fought in the Battle of the Ebro, 21,000 died. I remembered that not too long ago, I had read a tribute written by Senator John McCain, a Republican from Arizona and former presidential candidate, to the last living Lincoln Brigade member, who had died several monthe earlier. I was able to pull it up on my phone and have to confess that I was once again moved to tears.

I really hope someday I'll be able to see this museum. My grandfather fought in International Brigades somewhere around Toledo and anything about that particular war has my attention.

I bow my head to those men and women!

 

[peregrina2000]

Day 5 -- Gandesa to Fábara (34 km). My GPS tracks here.

A nice walk split up with a stop in the nice little town of Batea, where there are plenty of cafés. The first 12 to Batea was all on country roads with no traffic, through vineyards. We had a hard time finding the way out of Batea, but finally found the arrows around the back of the church and to the left.


Three kms later, the camino goes off the paved road and onto ag tracks for the next 13 or so kms. No cars, two tractors, total solitude. Lots of vineyards. Nothing spectacular, but very pleasant walking. I do remember that there was very little shade, though, so if it's hot and sunny it might not be so pleasant.





The only place to stay in Fábara is with Señora Teresa. She has an apartment next door to her home and rents rooms. One was rented by a worker living there temporarily. Very comfortable, clean, with bathroom, kitchen, living room with tv, wifi, patio for hanging clothes, etc. Towels and sheets provided, pilgrim luxury! 20 €. Her phone is 687 292 532. Call a few days ahead.

Fábara isn't a beautiful place, but we had a very good lunch in the restaurant Farolet, right across from the schools. Menú was 10 € and the owners were very friendly and chatty.

After lunch, though it was hot, I went to Bar Tropical to get the huge key, which would get me into the Roman mausoleum. (I had to leave my passport with the barman). It's about a 2.5 km walk, past the park and pool, over the bridge, around a few bends to a signed turn-off. The small modern key will open the huge sliding gate that lets you into the enclosed space where the mausoleum is. The huge key will open the wooden door of the mausoleum, and you can crawl around on the dirt floor where the tombs used to be, if you are so inclined. It is definitely worth it to make the effort to get out there after you have checked into Señora Teresa's place rather than leave it for the next day. For one thing, it's about a km off the Camino, and for another the wall around it is high enough that you really won't see much if you can't get in. And since you have to bring the key back to the Bar Tropical, it really would be a pain to visit on the way out of town the next morning. While I was there, three local women came by on an afternoon walk and popped their heads in. One had never been inside even though she had lived in Fábara for 15 years. We had nice chat, and as is frequently the case on these untraveled caminos, people are kind of disbelieving at first.


Not much in the way of night life in Fábara, so even though we had a pretty short day coming up, it was early to bed and sweet dreams! Buen camino, Laurie

 

[peregrina2000]

Day 6 -- Fábara to Caspe (24 km) -- My GPS tracks here.

Leaving Fábara, over the bridge, the Camino turns off to the left before you get to the turn-off for the mausoleum on the right. It's all off-road, pretty well marked, really nothing to write home about, just good time for cogitating, thinking, mulling over the big questions.

Coming into Caspe on the road, turn right to go up past the cemetery and past the industrial park. Then you come to a romanesque ermita, castle tower on the left and a 3 pilgrim cutout on the right overlooking the Ebro.


At this point, you have entered the outskirts of Caspe and will start going down into town. But don't go all the way down into the center or you will have to come back up again, at least if you are staying in the nice family run pensión, El Surtidor, room with bath 45 € double, menú 10 €. Everyone in town seems to know this place, so you should ask if in doubt.

Caspe is a town with a lot of immigrants, mainly due to the huge fruit industry surrounding town. The old judería is now essentially a morería, and it still has the lovely whitewashed houses, lots of flowers, lots of children. (can't post any of those pictures because they were taken vertically and come out here on their sides for some unknown reason). I sensed a lot of tension in Caspe, with many of the older folks feeling threatened by the newcomers, such a familiar story worldwide. But I talked with some young women wearing headscarves and they told me they liked living here, liked their school, and felt comfortable. I remembered back to the year before when I had walked in Catalunya and noticed a large immigrant population in Manresa. My impression, anecdotal as it is, was that there seemed to be more interaction and neighborliness among the groups in Manresa than what I saw in Caspe.

We did some walking around town, got Annie some bus info for the next day's stage, and bought a few things. Day was done at an early hour, in anticipation of the 32 kms for the next day. Buen camino, Laurie

 

[Stephen Nicholls]

Laurie - you have no idea how envious you're making me ... and the lovely memories that you're bringing back of my Ebro trip in 2015.... I want to be there .... NOW!
S
x

 

[alansykes]

Very jealous you got into the lovely mausoleum of Fábara. I had to content myself with the view from over the hedge, and filling my bottle up at the very welcome tap - last water for about 20km.

 

[peregrina2000]

Very jealous you got into the lovely mausoleum of Fábara. I had to content myself with the view from over the hedge, and filling my bottle up at the very welcome tap - last water for about 20km.

I'm sure I can come up with a few things you have seen that I was unable to get into . It was very nice, though.

Though many people express skepticism towards those of us who leave at the crack of dawn and walk 30+ Km days, this is one of the tremendous benefits. I can arrive before lunch, wash clothes and shower, have a late lunch, and then spend the "afternoon" (5-8 pm) visiting things like a nearly perfectly preserved Roman mausoleum in the middle of nowhere!

 

[VNwalking]

Laurie, I am SO liking this thread!!!!!
Restraining myself, not hitting the like button on every post.
I'm just reading(*) a book about the Civil War, so the info about that museum in Gandesa is bookmarked. (*To be honest, I'm just trying to read it--I have to keep putting it aside because it's too heartbreakingly intense)
And anything Roman is interesting.
Maybe someday............

 

[peregrina2000]

Day 7 -- Caspe to Escatrón (32 km) My GPS tracks here.

This was a day that I had to really dig deep. One of those "remind me why I am walking this route?" days. Lots of punishing barren landscape, shadeless, with the destination being a town that has seen much better days.

About 2 km from town, on the other side of the river, is the Monastery de la Rueda, which had been operating as a hotel as recently as last fall when Alan went through. It was now closed, but apparently will open again as soon as someone new bids on and gets the license.



Starting out, the arrows were fine but when I got out in the fields, I was once again glad I had my GPS. Something had changed, and arrows were spotty. But with my GPS I could see ahead to where I needed to go, so I tried to stay off the clearly marked private property and still find my way in the direction of Escatrón.

The route does not go through the town of Chiprana (about 8 km after Caspe), so I can't comment on what's there, but it certainly looked big enough to house at least a couple of bars. After Chiprana, there are some signposts that give a very high km marking to Escatrón, but it turns out that the distance is measured along the sinewy river (which must have some other signed path), whereas the camino takes a straighter path.

After Chiprana, there were many kms through open fields, but the last 4 or 5 were alongside the highway and not very pleasant. I was feeling kind of blah when I got into town, but some kind men pointed me in the direction of the ayuntamiento where I went for a stamp and some directions. Turns out the woman working there has been a hospitalera in Zaragoza and also knows Ender from the Salvador. That little bit of connection was enough to perk me up, and we had a nice long chat while she kept filling a cup of cold water for me.

We stayed in the Hostal Embarcadero, which is pretty much like this stage -- dark, desolate, and pretty charmless. It was at one time the seat of the river/nautical club but that seems to be defunct. Two women running the place were nice and cooked a decent lunch (popular place for workers). The rooms were clean, as were the sheets, though, so I'm really not complaining! Located right down by the river, tel. 976 17 03 00 -OR 976 17 10 38. I can't remember what we paid, but it was in the 45 € range for two, bed and breakfast. There looked like a much nicer option in the old part of town, the Pension Mayor, Calle Mayor n. 41, tel. 629 92 59 25. You have to call because the owners run a bar in the upper town but are happy to come down and open up.

Escatrón has two clearly defined parts of town. The old town down by the river, and the new town up the hill where people moved when the hydroelectric plant opened up. I can't quite remember the details but there is some story about the plant providing housing, then reneging on its commitment, etc, but the plant is still going, though maybe not at full speed. There were more people in the upper town, a few bars with some life in them. I went in one and wound up playing parcheesi with three other señoras who were looking for a fourth. It meant that I didn't get a chance to go across the river to at least look at the outside of the Monasterio de la Rueda, but I enjoyed myself a lot and heard a lot of local gossip/news/happenings. All in all, the interaction up in the bar was enough to reboot my spirits and put the rough day behind me. I know by now that down days are inevitable, but finding some companionship at the end of the day works wonders.

 

[peregrina2000]

Day 8 -- Escatrón to Quinto (37) My GPS tracks here.

As is usually the case, a down day is followed by an "up" day. Though this was a bit longer, a bit tougher, and almost just as solitary, it was an immeasurably better walking day.

The first bit crosses the river, goes past the now closed monastery and goes through a badlands type terrain for about 8 km to Sastago. There is a HARD steep descent from the highway to the bridge. Cross Ebro, in Sastago, and there I met and talked with not one but two men out for their morning walks who had walked caminos. One came with me for a while, took me to see the cave along the river that had been a civil war hideout.


Before the town of Alforge, the camino puts you on a road, and you wind around a loop in the Ebro to go probably about .5 km as the crow flies, but 4 km walking!

The reward in the town of Alborgue was a shady plaza outside the church and a nice fountain. I knew that a shadeless road part was coming up so I rested a bit, and then had about 3 km alongside the highway (no traffic) till a very poorly marked turn-off (again very glad I had my GPS). I was surprised that I then entered what turned out to be a pretty canyon-like area.

Beautiful vistas, and I even forgot about being hot and tired. About 8 km from Alborgue is the little town of Velilla del Ebro, with a bar that I was VERY glad to see. Nothing makes me happier than a Kas or Fanta de Limón after hours walking in the sun! Turns out that Velilla has two bars, one in a house on the left as you come into town, and one a bit further on in the plaza.

After a rather long rest, I headed out again, and had about ten more km to Quinto, a combination of fields and highway. Nothing terribly exciting or difficult.

Quinto is a city on the road, not much going on, but there's a grocery store, restaurant, etc. We stayed in Pensión Plaza, 40 € double, right off the main road facing the ayuntamiento. There are a couple of bars right next to the pension, but I went to have a full meal at the Restaurante Mallor in town. Good menu for 10€.

I had somewhere gotten a 38 km total for the next day's walk into Zaragoza. Some checking here on the forum showed me I was way off, that it was closer to 50. No way I could do that, so on to Plan B. Tomorrow I would walk a very short day to Fuentes de Ebro, and the next day into Zaragoza. 18 and 32 aren't exactly the ideal way to split up 50 kms, but that was the only possibility. So be it!

 

[Stephen Nicholls]

Loving the descriptions, Laurie.
Don't understand why Chiprana "isn't on the route" ... may have changed since I was there last year.
Am following you each day .

 

[peregrina2000]

Day 9 -- Quinto to Fuentes de Ebro (17 km) (21 for me because I took a "dog detour.") GPS tracks here.

According to my GPS tracks, I added 4.4 km to my walk. Well, no harm done, since it was already such a short day. But not exactly what I was hoping for.

Leaving town, the off-road track is easy to find. All went well till about km 8 (you can see this very clearly on my GPS tracks) where the GPS had me going straight through a finca where there were huge barking dogs sitting in the road, and no people anywhere around the area. NO WAY. So first I headed west, but came upon an abandoned rail station and no way forward that I could see. So back to my original problem point, and I decided to just head to the right until I could figure out a way to make two left turns to take me back to the Camino. Sounds easier than it was. After a couple of kms, I came upon a man tilling his field and belting out some great flamenco. I had about a five minute listen till he saw me and came over. I explained my problem. As I expected, his first response was "los perros no hacen nada." (The dogs won't do anything to you). But then he told me -- just keep walking straight, through an alfalfa field and you will come to a path you can take a left on, then go to the highway, turn left again, and you'll be right back on the route.

My first try led me through hugely muddy fields and I could see no path, though as it turns out it was about 3 meters in front of me. So back I went to my pal in the fields, and this time he insisted on coming with me to show me exactly where it was. Yes, a camino angel.



After a total of 4.4 km, I was about 1/4 km ahead. Ah well.

After that it was easy. There are several hostals, pensiones in Fuentes de Ebro, but I chose the Pensión San Miguel, in town behind the church. 30 € single room, decent menú in the restaurant below.

I had gone into the Ayuntamiento to ask about getting into Zaragoza. My beloved Salomon shoes were starting to rip in several places in the fabric above the toe box. The woman working there told me to go shower, eat, rest, and that at 3 pm she would take me into town. That was very nice of her, and by 3:30 I was in the commercial part of Zaragoza looking for new shows. This is always a dangerous thing to do, changing shoes in the middle of the camino, but I really had no choice.

I got a nice view of the modernist part of Zaragoza, by going to the Corte Inglés and a few sports stores. Finally, in Barrabés (a well-established Spanish outdoor store -- in fact when my hiking poles didn't arrive in Madrid with me one year, I made a mad dash to their Madrid store to buy a new pair), I got some new shoes, North Face, low trail shoes, and crossed my fingers. Took the bus back, and couldn't help but notice that the way between Fuentes and Zaragoza was not exactly high on the scenic scale.

I had a very nice empanada from a local panadería and an apple tart for dinner, and went to bed early. Tomorrow I would be in Zaragoza! Reunited with Annie! Lots of time to enjoy the old town! Only two of those things turned out to be true. Buen camino, Laurie

 

[peregrina2000]

Day 10 -- Fuentes de Ebro to Zaragoza -- 35 km. GPS tracks here.

I had planned to leave early, anticipating a fun-filled afternoon in Zaragoza. When I woke up, I saw that in addition to a couple of bites I had noticed the night before (on my right torso), I had a few more on the other side, in a row, not looking like your average mosquito bites. I quickly decided that I would get myself into Zaragoza as quickly as possible to undertake the chinches treatment. Zaragoza was the only large city in my future for weeks, so I decided it would be best to take care of things there. I don't think I've ever walked at this pace. I left about 6 and was as the cathedral around 11:45 or noon. It wasn't terribly scenic, as I had already learned the day before, but parts went by the Ebro and more importantly for walking fast, it was flat.



The path goes through Burgo de Ebro, where I ordinarily would have stopped for a coffee and rest, but just kept pushing on. As you leave town, the arrows go left, but my GPS and the Ruta del Ebro went to the right. Townspeople told me to stay to the right, so I did and walked the rest of the way on the Ruta del Ebro.

Going into town wasn't pretty, it never is in a big city. And the last part before hitting the sidewalks was a tad dangerous, and the sign made me feel better only because I had successfully made it to the end of "accident alley."



As you can see clearly on my GPS tracks, when I got to the intersection of the N-232 and the Z-30, the camino took me to the right and onto the bike path that makes a big loop around the outskirts of town. A straight in-city walk to the Pilar would have been a km or two shorter, but I followed the arrows and got to see the views coming into town along the Ebro, so it wasn't so bad.

I met Annie and she took me to the hotel, where the "chinches operation" began. I won't go into it here, but it involved buying a set of "throwaway clothes", buying insectide, hauling everything to the dryer in the old town laundromat (hallelujia, a laundromat in Spain just where I need it!!!!) and then spraying bag, shoes, pack, etc in an open courtyard of the hotel.

So my anticipated afternoon enjoying Zaragoza was shortened quite a bit, but we did get to the Goya museum, have a walk around the Cathedral and Basilica area, and most importantly, have a VERY nice bunch of tapas in the Tubo (the bar-cafe-tapas part of Zaragoza). It was our farewell, since Annie had decided to leave the Ruta del Ebro and hop ahead. I had been weaned of her company bit by bit, since she had been taking a bus for a part of each of the last few days (and had also gone directly from Quinto to Zaragoza without a stop in the lovely Fuentes de Ebro). But still, it's always hard to go back to being along on the Camino after so many good times with a walking pal. Two more days on the Ebro, and then I would turn off onto the Camino Castellano-Aragonés. Buen camino, Laurie

 

[Castilian]

the distance is measured along the sinewy river (which must have some other signed path)

Yes, the Camino Natural del Ebro (aka GR99).

I had a very nice empanada from a local panadería and an apple tart for dinner

That sounds delicious. BTW, Did you get an adoquín (for the next walking days)?

P.S.: I don't know why it is but this camino diary is being specially easy to read for me.

 

[Stephen Nicholls]

..... this time he insisted on coming with me to show me exactly where it was. Yes, a camino angel.

They're out there, Laurie, looking after you! I had a similar experience, where a gentleman stopped me, told me I'd gone the wrong way, and walked 2 kms back into town so he could show me the yellow arrows indicating a turn off.
We are truly blessed!
Buen camino, amiga!

 

[peregrina2000]

Yes, the Camino Natural del Ebro (aka GR99).
That sounds delicious. BTW, Did you get an adoquín (for the next walking days)?

P.S.: I don't know why it is but this camino diary is being specially easy to read for me.

What is an adoquin? My dictionary says it's some type of slab or stone, and that it colloquially means dolt, idiot, or some other denigrating term. I can't imagine that either meaning is what you are referring to, is it also the name of something to eat?

 

[Castilian]

What is an adoquin?

http://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adoquín_del_Pilar That's the sort of adoquín I was talking about.

 

[peregrina2000]

Day 11 -- Zaragoza to Torres de Berrelén (27 km) GPS tracks here.

Aside from my totally disastrous departure from Zaragoza, it was a wonderful day. Leaving the cathedral area was fine and straightforward, but at some point I got messed up.

I was trying to follow the old tracks I had downloaded, never realizing that the entire route leaving the city had been redone and that the old way out was no longer possible. When I got to the train station and saw the old national highway below with weeds growing up, I thought I was going to have a problem. I finally fought my way through the brush, trash, and even over some fences till I finally saw the Via Verde, which my GPS was telling me I should get to. My GPS tracks look like I was a rat in a maze trying to get out.

I am sure there is now a much easier and saner way to get out of town, and it looks to me like when you get to the roundabout where Calle Francia hits Pablo Cargallo, if you turn right instead of going straight like I did, you should find yourself on the very nice Via Verde. See the trail on wikilocs by "fonetes" for a much easier exit.

But the rest of the walk was very nice, through some towns with bars and beautiful churches. I have a photo of one of the towers that I found absolutely stunning but for the life of me I can't get it to stand up straight. A mudejar style with turquoise tiles, it was really something. And lots of nice views.



Some people recommend walking on a few more kms to Alagón, but in Torres there is a very nice albergue so I would recommend stopping there. It was Corpus Christi, and I once again was lucky to enjoy Torres' celebration, involving a procession through town, some blessings and prayers at makeshift altars, lots of singing. And some First Communions to top it off. I enjoyed it very much.



You get the albergue keys and pay your 10€ in the Restaurante Aroa, which is where I also ate my lunch, not great but fine. In the early evening there was a local performance "Zarzuela al alcance de todos", in the sports pavilion. It involved singing, traditional dances, and general merriment. I think the entire town was there. There had been some serious rain that day but luckily I was either eating my lunch or watching the performance while it fell. No complaints at all. Here's my view from the albergue window, you can see a lot of renovation has taken place recently. The building on the left is the ayuntamiento, and I forget what the red one is. All in all, nothing wrong with stopping in Torres de Berrelén. Buen camino, Laurie

 

[Castilian]

Zarzuela al alcance de todos

As it might be readers who don't know what's a zarzuela...: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zarzuela

The building on the left is the ayuntamiento, and I forget what the red one is.

Nowadays it's a centro de día (a place where old people spend the day -but not the nigth- and are cared by the staff, make actitivities...). BTW, the thing (I don't know how to call it in English) in the middle of the building facade has an inscription in memory of Juan Pablo Bonet who is considered by many people to be born in the nearby town of El Castellar (nowadays inexistent). Juan Pablo Bonet may be unknown for most of you but it's a relevant historical figure on the teaching of deaf people. Wikipedia in English has some info about him (although they didn't get right his birthplace): http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Juan_Pablo_Bonet

. I have a photo of one of the towers that I found absolutely stunning but for the life of me I can't get it to stand up straight.

If I'm not wrong, that's the tower of Utebo. There's a nice photo of it in the Wikipedia article about Utebo: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Utebo

 

[peregrina2000]

Thanks for that link, Castilian. That's the tower alright. I learned in the article that it is actually a baroque copy of a mudejar church -- could have fooled me, I thought it was just straight mudejar, though the blue tiles were a little unusual!

 

[Castilian]

If I'm not wrong, the tower is fully mudéjar. The (rest of the) church a mix.

 

[KinkyOne]

Thanks for that link, Castilian. That's the tower alright. I learned in the article that it is actually a baroque copy of a mudejar church -- could have fooled me, I thought it was just straight mudejar, though the blue tiles were a little unusual!

Oh. Laurie, of course it's mudejar when positioned from left to the right. And it would be gothic when positioned right to left and baroque upside down. I just don't know how to explain the style of the fourth option

Sorry, I know you have some troubles with saving/posting photos the way they were taken

 

[Castilian]

Oh. Laurie, of course it's mudejar when positioned from left to the right. And it would be gothic when positioned right to left and baroque upside down. I just don't know how to explain the style of the fourth option

K'mon, you know the forth option is eclectic, don't you? Wait a minute! I took another look and I see it rococo now. Let's see once again... with so many turns to the picture I'm afraid I'm so dizzy that I can't see any style on it anymore. In fact, is there any tower at all on the picture?

 

[peregrina2000]

Day 12 -- Torres de Berrellén to Gallur (30 km) GPS tracks here.

This was a pretty uneventful, simple day, unfortunately with way too much asphalt for these old feet. Some nice Ebro crossings, lots of small towns, and a chance to see Alagón's beautiful mudejar church.


After Alagón things got really brutal, with bad walking on the side of a busy road, up to the turnoff for Cabañas del Ebro.

And then again at the end, I was put back on the road, for a long slog into Gallur, the last bit on the side of the Imperial Channel.

The albergue is up and out of town, next to the train station. It is on the third floor of a building that houses a social club, and in fact there was a birthday party there the day I arrived. I was happy to give the gaggle of young girls a chance to practice their English while the boys went chasing each other with sticks and rubber knives and swords.

But the highlight of the day was my late lunch at Hotel Colono's restaurant -- THANKS a million for the recommendation, @SabineP. First course -- eggplant and red peppers; second course -- sea bass with tomato chutney. No idea what I had for dessert but I'm sure it was terrific. Don't think twice if you come to Gallur -- go to the Colono. I can't remember the price, but I had the menú and it wasn't expensive. Great choices, too.

There is really not much to do or see in this town, it is a little down on its luck. But the albergue is very nice.



Only problem is that if you are leaving before the club opens (9 or 10, I think she said), you have to tell the hospitalera so that she will come downstairs and disarm the alarm for you. If you step off the elevator before it has been disarmed, you will cause a big problem. She was happy to come down at 6:45, says she does it all the time. Of course "all the time" is a bit of an exaggeration, since there are so few pilgrims who come here. But in any event, it wasn't a problem and I was on my way bright and early.

Leaving the Ruta del Ebro behind, I was starting the Camino Castellano-Aragonés. I have a separate thread on that part of my camino but the bottom line is that it is an absolutely wonderful camino -- go go go -- you will love it.



Thus ends the Ruta del Ebro, at least the part of it that I walked, buen camino, Laurie

 

[VNwalking]

Thank you for taking the time to write all this up, Laurie!
Looking forward to the next installment.

 

[Stephen Nicholls]

"Hotel Colono's restaurant -- THANKS a million for the recommendation, @SabineP. No idea what I had for dessert but I'm sure it was terrific."
"No idea ......." so you really enjoyed the cold white local wine, then, Laurie!!
Thank you so much for this 'journal' which has brought back so many happy memories of the Ruta del Ebro.
I plan my final camino for May next year ... the Primitivo.
Ultreya!

 

[peregrina2000]

"Hotel Colono's restaurant -- THANKS a million for the recommendation, @SabineP. No idea what I had for dessert but I'm sure it was terrific."
"No idea ......." so you really enjoyed the cold white local wine, then, Laurie!!
Thank you so much for this 'journal' which has brought back so many happy memories of the Ruta del Ebro.
I plan my final camino for May next year ... the Primitivo.
Ultreya!

If I was drinking wine, it was red. But the real problem is that I'm not much of a foodie, So if I don't write it down, there's no way I will remember what I had for dessert.

Your last comment made me chuckle. If I were on a Computer instead of my phone, I would look for your posts from last year in which you describe your last year's "last camino". The lesson here, Stephen, is to never say "last."

 

[anniethenurse]

@peregrina2000

Thank you for your update on our etapas!
Actually - I lost my note book so your notes are welcome!

I miss you, too and I really enjoyed walking the Ruta del Ebro with you (actually I walked in your foot steps - always 20- 60 min after you). Later probably one day I will take up the Ruta and walk from Ciprana to Logrono.

For all of you interested in what happened with me- I had to get off my feet for about 10 days to heal BAD blisters. I have had some blisters before but NEVER blisters like these. They refused to heal as long as I was walking. I don´t know what happened really - the same me, the same boots, the same climate, the same tarmac...

I took a train to SDC and a bus to Viana do Castelo - met some great peregrinas and we kept the same pace all the way to SDc.

Hope to see you @peregrina2000 on the CP Interior next May?