May 11, 2024 – Trespaderne to Quintana de Valdivielso – 26 kms – Arte y Natura Valdivielso

May 12, 2024 – Quintana de Valdivielso to Soncillo – 31 kms – El Capricho Clement

May 13, 2024 – Soncillo to Arroyo – 28 kms – La Lobera

May 14, 2024 – Arroyo to Aguilar de Campoo – 38 kms – Hotel Valentin

Gordon:  We followed the  Ebro River for almost a week, watching it diminish from a broad river in Miranda de Ebro to a trickle coming out of the Ebro Reservoir.  The source of the Ebro is a spring a few kilometres above the reservoir.

The Ebro is the longest river completely within Spain, and the Romans applied its name to identify their region of Iberia.  It starts less than 50 kms from the Atlantic in the north, flowing almost 1000 kms to a delta on the Mediterranean south of Barcelona.

We saw some interesting sights along the Ebro, including some large introduced catfish that were noisily slapping the water in a bed of waterweeds, probably as part of their breeding process.  We also experienced various moods, from a quiet narrow reservoir in the mountains to a babbling stream in the forest.  On some future trip I would like to cycle or walk down the river from Miranda to the Mediterranean.

At the town of Soncillo our secondary branch of the Camino Olvidado merged with the more developed branch from Bilbao.  It wasn’t as though we were suddenly bowled over by a torrent of pilgrims, but there was immediately more Camino marking and infrastructure.  And yes, we did meet some pilgrims, the first we have seen in a week.  They were two retired fellows from Asturias, and we had dinner with them at our wonderful lodging in Arroyo.  My Spanish has suffered from the period we spent speaking French, but we had a lively and entertaining evening with them.

Today the three of us rather nervously, and very early, set out on a long (38 km) stage that took us over a mountain and through a lot of mud.  I think we all felt quite proud that we were able to complete this walk and still feel energetic enough to see the sights in Aguilar.  Even after more than six weeks on the Camino there are incremental improvements in fitness.