Stage 4

Today, we hiked 20 miles including ascents of 500 meters over the Alto del Perdon.  We crossed this as a ridge topped with wind turbines.  One of the things that Dave and I have discussed is the varied soundscapes of northern Spain.  From the sounds of the streams rushing down the hills to wind howling as you cross open fields.  A new sound was the whoosh and whine of the (enormous) wind turbines as we crested the hill.  This is a land of sensations when you take care to listen.

While the Spanish civil war is 90 years in the past, the memories are still physically present here.  We rested by a cemetery to the dead of Franco’s party complete with the Falangist imagry and graves dating from the mid 1930s.  Later, as we crested the hill with the wind turbines, we came across a memorial to those who supported the Republican government against the Falangists who were killed and ‘disappeared’.  There was a plaque describing this and someone had scratched out the word ‘legitimate’ when it was used to describe the elected government that had opposed Franco.  I guess that the sources of this conflict are still present.

Tomorrow, we will leave Puenta La Reina enroute