84 - J'étais dans la lune / Got my head in the clouds / ¿como se dice "cloud"? - Aralar Parque Naturale y Donostia

Saturday, June 15

After mes achats near Place St Eugénie, I stopped by the Halles to grab some grub.  My lunch had (paté en croûte et un Txocopan), I hit the road for today's main attraction: a hike at the Aralar park in Spain.

This was my first time noticing the heads were still attached.  Cause that's how you know it's a real, authentic chicken 🐔 

It's strange how this place once intimidated me but now I'll miss it's hustle and bustle or how the people behind the counter handle everything and pick the produce based on how soon you intend to eat it

Une tranche épaisse de pâté en croûte 😋 

With all the patés and terrines I've seen here in France, I wonder what's left for the cat and dog food industry to work with.

This park lies on the border between Gizpukoa and Navarre, which is a part of the area I haven't really been yet.  About halfway between San Sebastian and Pamplona, this park is centered around some karst mountains.

It's looking like a great day to hike, you can clearly see the peak of Txindoki 

I've gotten into the habit (whether is good or not) of snapping info plaques with the idea of reading/referencing back to them later.  I might need a few more lessons in Duolingo to read the Castellano explanation here of how these mountains were formed

Looks like one of my bike options takes me to an old quarry/mining camp.  I ambitiously decided to start up a trail that'd give me a panoramic view then to double back for this (located in a "valley") but could always simply not double back if I run short on time or energy

I'm a big fan of concession stands in parking lots, a prehike café was perfect.  I had multiple routes to choose from but opted for one going on the NE border of the park but only going halfway and turning back. 

My hike route will take me along the left side of the left-most mountain.  On attaque!

Aïe!  I got so used to seeing trains of caterpillars imitating snakes that I was basically right atop this sun bather before recognizing it.  To be fair, the snake also seem surprised, maybe it's used to seeing many towers of caterpillars ambulating about.

In the treeline, the trail climbed up through muddy, stony conditions 

But the farmland around the mountain provided occasional clearings to admire the view

This was the point where the trail changed a bit, instead of hiking between pastures let's just hike in a pasture.  

Can't complain with the results.  I can't see Txindoki anymore, but I'm getting an interesting perspective on that middle peak I'd seen in the beginning 

Tatin!

We're back in the trees again, slogging up through muddy stones.  Instead of pastures to my left and right, now it appears to be a plantation of trees.  Its incredible how straight the got the lines given the steep slope here

Now this is where the fun begins

I didn't realize I was in a race this whole time?  Good thing the competition got a head start.

It looked like there were ruins of stone building here, but just the foundations of that's what I was seeing.

Ye olde watering hole on the side of a mountain.  I'm not sure what the cup is for, cause I don't think the water is potable for humans or maybe the Basque are just built different 

Looks like I've hit the point of mountain grazing land: there's the jingle of sheeps' bells never far off and all I see is stone, grass, and some small shrubs.

There were impressive crater like formations in the mountain side; none of them were sheer but some pits were easily 30 feet deep.

Take the straight and narrow path and if you start to slide, give a little thistle

I guess there are some abandoned stone buildings up here after all.

Hmm, what happened to Txindoki?

Here's another one of those depressions in the area but this one includes a ring of stones just begging to have the last stone added.

I took a break here to snack on smoked brebis cheese and apricots from les halles😋

Since I don't intend to follow the trail all the way to the next town, I'll just go to the next summit and turn around.  But the view and solitude from this spot has been quite something

I didn't reach the summit due to hitting the cloud line.  As I approached Artupi summit, there was a fence and I saw a group of 3 people approaching.  Thinking they were hikers coming the other direction, I examined the fence for a gate and they came up to me surprised to see someone up here.  My Spanish is not to the level where it can actually be useful but this is my take away from the conversation after I said I only spoke a little Spanish.

"Where you from?" 

Neuva York 

"Lost?"

🤣

Turns out they were sheep shearers and doing fence repair.  They recommended I turn back since hiking in clouds isn't all that fun, nor safe, and you don't get the benefits of a good view.  I agreed and turned back.  I could see the summit not too far off: a tall post with a ribbon and two sheep standing guard, but even over the short distance the haze effect of the cloud was very prevalent.  I wish I'd taken a photo but alas.

I was so focused on attacking the slope and following the markers that it took me a while to realize I was coming up on the cloudline.

The hand is supposed to signify the wispy mist I could start to see around myself.  But you can also see how the fence slope is tapering off; the summit is so close now,

One last photo from the near summit of Artupi as I work my way back down.

I didn't see too many taffonis up here but that doesn't mean there weren't pockets of 'em.

Adios, Artupi!  We get it, you vape.

A type of poppy on the mountainside?

It's important to clean up the forests but I don't know if making piles of fallen branches is necessarily part of that.

It wasn't clear to me if the horse had escaped or if someone had tied it up near the fence.  Either way, I did eventually get to give it a few head scratches before going my way.

Oh, NOW the clouds aren't covering the peaks.

Here's hoping this means potable water in Basque.  🥵

Finishing up the last of my provisions, some bread made with khorasan wheat

The concession stand was super lively at this hour; I think locals were just coming by to hang out near the San Martin church.

The grill smelled awfully tempting, but I'm saving my appetite for something else.

On the way out of town, I'm not sure what kinda of manufacturing is going on next to the school.  

The hike complete, I headed to San Sebastian.  I wanted to have a proper good bye to the champion of pintxos.

The underground parking lots of the city are impressive and this one brought me up in a nice square.

I think a children's theater production just finished or something, there were a lot of families hanging around the exit of this theater.

Taking a minute to look at the river, I was caught by some fish flashing in the shallows.  I guess they were turning on their side to get some better bites in.

The wave action coming down the river from the ocean was very impressive.

Plenty of surfers out on Zurriola beach.  Me, I'm just happy to be here.

Taking a quick stroll through the old town

Let's grab a bite first before more sight seeing.  That's the beauty of this place/cuisine, you can have a few bites at one place and then have more at a different one.

The decor in the first place was a bit all over the place; upstairs even had display cases with gundam figures and fantasy scultpures.  But the txakoli and pintxos were on point.

A quick stop by the harbor; I didn't realize at first that people were actually swimming at the foot of these stairs.

The circular waves of the bay in San Sebastian are intriguing, but are less noticeable from this angle particularly when one is admiring the sunset

 

The tamaris is in bloom; it's so different compared to the gnarled, twisty stumped trees I'd first seen in November.

There's a lower deck under the promenade??

Still plenty of people enjoying the sandy beach as the sun's light wanes

Back in old town, I'm guessing some sort of LGBTQ show finished based on the number of people dressed up in wigs and flambouyant dress.

I never did get around to seeing this museum, or any museum for that matter, in San Sebastian.  Oh well, maybe it's just a good reason to come back someday.

My last pintxos for the near future; and I made them count 😋

My hiking spot was quite some distance from San Sebastian, but come on; how can the sky be crystal clear now than during my hike?

One last chuckle to myself remembering how people here lined up so orderly for the bus and that the last time I used this bus stop, the bus didn't seem to have any intention of letting me off at my destination.

Since this was my last time in Spain this voyage, I filled the gas tank up too.  The CESPA on the highway was a big one and had some interesting items for sale, probably because many French tourists would be stopping here to refuel before returning to France too.