Berbegal to Huesca, 28 km on foot / 26 km by car

Elevation gain 153 m

Elevation loss 108 m

Total distance 227 km walked

Berbegal is a very sociable town. The bar was busy when we arrived at lunchtime and was busy when we returned for supper. It’s very friendly and serves good food. Sadly it doesn’t open until 07:30 so no hot drinks for us before we set off .

Yesterday we arrived at around 13:30 but went straight to bar for a drink rather than seek out the shop. This was a big mistake as the shop closed at 14:00 and doesn’t open again In the afternoon – at least it didn’t open on a Wednesday afternoon, maybe it varies on other days. This error has ramifications for our stage today which has no possibility of buying food en route and there is no shop or restaurant or bar at our stage end in Pueyo de Fañanás. So we faced the prospect of a day/night of fasting.

I had the first view of the sunrise this morning from my lofty position, and very nice it was too.

We leave town via a series of steep paths which take us down to and across the main road and directly onto a rough track.

I failed to turn on my Wikiloc app at the beginning of the walk for around 2 km. I realised this at the point where I looked at my phone to check out the trail because the signposts tell us to take a right turn on the track whereas the track I downloaded seems very sensibly to tell us to continue straight which will take us on track directly to the first village, whereas if we followed the signs and took the right turn, it would take us to the road which we would have to walk along all the way. The signs are very clear but it doesn’t make any sense – yet.

I downloaded the track from Wikiloc from someone called Rocjumper. It’s very useful to have a track to refer to if you’re unsure about your direction. Of course they are only as reliable as the person who recorded them and can’t be trusted 100%. But the screen will show the track and your position in relation to it. Although I record my tracks on Wikiloc I download tracks I want to follow onto maps.me.

The landscape continues to be crops mostly barley today golden beige for field after field. Except there’s a pop of green alongside the path which turns out to be a crop of peas. I admit to picking a few pods – they were delicious

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Several peaks of the distant mountains to our right appear to have a good covering of snow.

The track suddenly becomes overgrown and we find ourselves picking our way through knee-high weeds and poppies albeit between clearly demarcated wheat fields. I guess that this is a public right of way and the farmer is obliged to keep it clear but isn’t very proactive about it. This could be the reason why we were advised earlier to walk on the road, although I have to say even if my legs are getting a bit whipped by the weeds, I would prefer this to road walking any day
And a bit further on when we pass through tiny village of Lacuadrada arrows suddenly appear on the route that we were directed away from. Generally speaking the markings have been exceptional on this camino but these contradictions are a bit confusing.

We’re back on the road to the next village Pertusa at 12.7 km. There’s a social club bar by the children’s playground but sadly it wasn’t open for us at 10:30.

Back on the road most of the way to Antillón at around 18 km. as usual Paul arrived first and found the social bar and waved me in, but Marilyn didn’t turn up for a long while. Yesterday she had what we think was a bite on her lower shin. The ladies in the farmacia at Berbegal took a good look and suggested a cream, but this morning it was a bit swollen and painful. Now Marilyn is a real trooper but she was struggling a bit, so when she finally arrived Paul and I persuaded her to give it a rest. I had asked some guys outside the bar if we could get a taxi and one of them told me he could collect us in half an hour and take us to our stage end at Pueyo de Fañanás 10 km further on.

Meanwhile we discussed the situation of the lack of food options and thought it made more sense to go directly to the next stop at the beautiful city of Huesca. When the guy returned he seemed more than happy to take us all the way, and actually dropped us right outside the albergue. His name is Daniel and he is an absolute star. We tried hard to give him some money but he downright refused. I think he was coming here anyway but nevertheless he was exceptionally kind.

There is a long list of telephone numbers on the Albergue door with instructions to call them in the order listed until you get a reply. We were lucky on our second attempt and only had to wait twenty minutes for the hospitalero to arrive. The albergue is very nice with an excellent equipped kitchen. We are the only ones here, but if any one else turned up there were very clear instructions to be followed:

Pilgrim, if you are spending the night in this hostel and another pilgrim arrives, PLEASE, do not give them shelter. Indicate what your steps have been so that he does the same thing that you have done. No pilgrim can stay in this hostel without having been previously received by the Hospitalero. THANK YOU

We mooched around the old quarter of the town. It’s good to be in a place with plenty of shops once in a while and we bought food and a few other bits and pieces and enjoyed a couple of drinks in the sunshine