The Camino Frances: 800 km's from the French Pyrenees through Northern Spain to Santiago de Compostela 2022

 A Special Year Celebrating Ngaire's 60th 

Following on from our 310 km Leon to Santiago de Compostela 'introduction to the Camino Frances' in 2018, it was and has been a long held wish for Ngaire to walk the full length of the Camino Frances (refer to the 2018 blog archive). Having established our capability to embark on this adventure, it was only fitting to plan it to coincide with a milestone for Ngaire and none more fitting than the year of her 60th birthday.

It is not my intention here to re-hash our 'whats app' record of the day to day challenges and highlights but to present a more 'geographical' perspective based on the 4 provinces the Camino Frances traverses. I hope to best do this over 4 blogs with a photographic expose' to highlight the variations of the countryside we were privileged to experience.

Navarra - 9 days from Saint Jean Pied de Port (France) to Logrono. Basque Country

The fiercely  independent indigenous Basque's go way back before the Spanish and French nations were established. Their national boundary includes the mountainous border regions of both countries and extends into North Eastern Spain. The Basques who inhabit Spain speak Spanish and Basque, one of the oldest European languages, with their French counterparts speaking their 2 languages. This is the only difference between the two. The Basque national language, cultural practices, social norms and community structures are one and the same along with the a unwavering determination to keep it that way. There is no border for the Basques.

A very small example of this was my encounter with a father and son who I asked to confirm our correct way heading to the Spanish named Basque village of Valcarlos on our first day. The son, amusingly, indicated we were heading in the right direction with his father muttering to correct me using the Basque name of Luzaide.

Arrival at the train station from Bayonne (by bus)

Saint Jean Pied de Port

The Navarra Province, with the predominance of the Pyrenees mountain range, is obviously extremely mountainous. What was surprising to us was how extensive this prevailed through the whole of the province. In fact this applies to most of the Northern region of Spain with the exception of the Maseta (photos will define) once having climbed the plateau that it traverses.

Outskirts of Valcarlos (Luzaide)

End of the Pyrenees climb

Typical Basque Architecture 

Basque Mural

Pamplona (running of the bulls fame)

Alto del Perdon (790m) Camino landmark

Ria Arga

Signs of recent fires (top 2)

Vineyards close to the wine region of the La Rioja Province

Logrono. End of Navarra

A Special Year! Celebrate with Travel

 Tassie Birthday Trip

With our birthdays being close to each other's we have embedded a tradition to  celebrate with a short trip that falls in between. This year is a bit more special with Ngaire's 60th milestone. We decided on a favourite destination being Tassie for a 5 day   'birthday escape' . But there is more planned on the 2022 travel agenda more fitting and significant to Ngaire for this special year. More about that later, but for now welcome back to Tassie.

                 Happy 60th !

Our original plan was to explore some of the West Coast but surprisingly the destinations we picked were all fully booked. This turned out to be to our advantage in that we decided to explore a couple of areas we had previously only day visited. Being much closer to Hobart airport allowed more time to explore. With the rental car organised we travelled the 0ne hour drive to Eaglehawk Neck for 2 days to explore the Tasman Peninsula.

               Our base 

                      The local scenery  

Directly opposite our accommodation was a site of geological significance which attracts a high volume of tourist traffic. 

The 'Tessellated Pavement' is a rock feature formed over tens of millions of years by the force of the ocean against the shoreline rock formation. It is unique not only in the result of the ocean's force but factors of rock type, shape and the tidal influence determined the final result.

         The Pavement extends along a 300 metre stretch

We explored the Eaglehawk Neck area down to Port Arthur visiting a few of the many sites that offer a taste of this magical part of Tassie.

A Military detachment was stationed here for aprox. 20 years in large part to intercept escaping convicts from Port Arthur as the 'Neck' as the name suggests is a very narrow stretch and easy to control. This led to many of the convict escapes being made in stolen open boats which, in most cases, ended badly. The most famous escape was a group who stole a boat and ored part way up the west coast only to discover no suitable landing locations so headed back around to the east coast and made their way to southern NSW. 'Amazing'! 

   A small sample of many sites to visit

The highlight of our visit was a 3 hour wilderness boat trip from Port Arthur out to Tasman Island exploring the rugged coastline, caves and experiencing some of the wild life.

No Thanks!

The old gantry to basket people up to the lighthouse on Tasman Island

Penal Colony main convict housing block

From Eaglehawk Neck we headed north another one hour drive to historic Richmond, home to the iconic convict built Richmond bridge which will be 200 yrs old in 2023. 

This historic village has many heritage listed old world shops, churches and homes and is very reminiscent of many such places in the UK. A must visit in Richmond is the model of old Hobart set in the 1820's and of course the local cemeteries which are always worth visiting.

We spent a day exploring the town and took a day trip to the Freycinet National Park, 170 Km's up the coast, to see Wine Glass Bay which on a previous trip in 2009 were prevented by bad weather from visiting.

Old Hobart Town

Historic Richmond Bridge 1823. The oldest stone span bridge in Australia.

Wine Glass Bay

Our flight home was friday afternoon so we decided to fill some time with a visit to Mona, Australa's largest privately owned museum located on the grounds of Morrilla Winery in the Hobart suburb of Berriedale. The gallery rooms are on 3 levels underground and present classic, contemporary and visual arts and sculptures of a very eclectic and essentric nature and some being best described as challenging.It has a large outdoor area with a cafe, resturant and wine tasting and live music. Worth a visit.

We had a great time and stay tuned for the next 60th year celebratory excursion.