The early morning sunlight was hitting the peaks of distant mountains, making them glow as we rose this morning and we sat outside, albeit very cool, watching the sun gradually rise and warming the craggy rocks. It was quite spectacular and splendid way to welcome the day.
I waddled over to the restaurant to collect our ordered breakfast of croissants, pain au chocolate and a baguette, checking on the facilities on the way through (very good), tried to help a lady start the washing machine (called Carlos the owner to help), made a fuss of the cat (Hubby had spent some time with the cat on his lap earlier on) and went inside to pick up breakfast. I got chatting to Carlos who told me that it was 13 degrees outside which was 5 degrees higher than normal for this time of year. The summer, he told me, was 10 degrees higher, and they had no rain for 90 days. He showed me photos on his computer of dead grass, the whole campsite yellow and dry except the trees. With recent rains, the grass was regrowing and things were returning to normal, but it was quite worrying.
We ate breakfast and played ball with the Pup. Two little German girls opposite came over with their mum as they wanted to pat the Pup and we had a lovely half hour of chatting and the girls throwing the ball until the Pup got bored and went inside. The sun disappeared behind encroaching cloud.
We relaxed for a while and then decided to go to the town of Ainsa, some 17 kms away, which we passed through yesterday. It had an older part of town perched on an outcrop, so we would investigate and have a spot of lunch.
We drove through a dry and semi arid landscape, the wide rivers almost devoid of water, a little trickle running through the boulders and rocks of the river bed. We arrived in Ainsa, split in two by the Rio Cinca – on one side, a modern, mainly residential area while on the other, the business and tourist centre. We drove up to the old quarter and parked in the ample car park right behind it. After struggling with the parking meter which refused to convert to English and was so convoluted that the kindly Spanish chap behind me even scratched his head, we wandered into the medieval town. We had a quick walk up to the ramparts for a view of the surrounding countryside and then into the town itself – opening up into a square with restaurants and hotels along the edge. The sky had darkened somewhat and we felt spots of rain. We stopped at one of the eateries and had lunch and a glass of wine, did some people watching and hoped it wouldn’t rain heavy. The smart chic looking people of Northern France had been replaced by people wearing more practical and comfy clothing and the Spanish seemed to make more fuss of the dogs.
https://www.spain.info/en/destination/ainsa
We strolled around the two main lanes of the citadel, popping down side alleys that offered panoramic views before coming out of the town where the road started to plummet down to the modern shopping area. Not fancying walking all the way down (and having to come all the way back), we knew the shops would probably be shut for the afternoon. So we turned tail and walked back through the streets and back to the car park. There seemed to be a lot cyclists coming through, mainly mountain bikes with chunky tyres, their riders in protective clothing and full biking helmets – it was certainly the terrain for that sort of biking. We got stopped by a Belgium couple asking if our Pup was a Vizla and we ended up chatting with them about all sorts including their thoughts about Britain before a visit to Scotland completely changed their mind. They were thinking of visiting again, so we heavily promoted the North of England. They were a lovely couple, who spoke great English – we parted company as time was ticking on and they wanted to visit the town and our time was running out in the car park.
We drove back just as the sun was breaking the monopoly of cloud and by the time we got back to the campsite, it was warm and sunny, though a stream of cloud hung across the upper quarter of the mountains in front of us. Forecast was for rain later this evening and probably for the next two days – a bit of hunkering down was on the cards.
We decided to wander back to the campsite’s little restaurant at teatime and get a pizza (we had seen them last night and they looked delicious). We had met a couple earlier in Ainsa’s old town car park while sorting out the parking ticket and we recommended our campsite, and so we found them at a table, supping beers with their elderly collie. We joined them, ending up with us all ordering a pizza and more beers, chatting well into the evening – it was nice to chat with your own countrymen sometimes and it was an enjoyable evening. We finally wandered back to our respective Vans and hit the sack.
Tomorrow we’re moving on further south and see how the weather goes. We could have a couple of days of rain, our first real bad weather.
