16th July 2023

Ochagavia to Isaba

So this was my return to Ochagavia. The reasoning going something along the lines of I wanted an unbroken trail right across the Pyrenees even if it was a mix of GR10, GR11 and PHR/HRP.

Getting back to the start proved to be a stressful experience, which I can put down almost entirely to my bad planning and flight choice. I had thought that by arriving early I would be able to pick up a succession of buses and arrive in Ochagavia in plenty of time. This always supposes that the public transport is running on time and isn’t already booked up. Which of course it was. The first bus was late so in turn all my connections got backed up.

I did scrape in to get the bus from Pamplona to Ochagavia. It was the San Sebastian connection which was late. The result was I didn’t get any gas for cooking and this was a problem because they didn’t have any in Ochagavia.

So I was left with banking on Isaba having some, which was my next stop and in the meantime it was eat at the campsite restaurant.

This day was going to be on the GR11. In the book they describe it as a fairly boring day as most of it is on Pista. For me, this was ideal. Not too many hills and easy terrain to walk on. Also, a lot of it was in woods, so I was out of the sun.

It was definitely a strange feeling to be back and walking. Lingering ghosts from the first trip accompanied me. The thought of the number of people who have undertaken this amazing adventure is quite overwhelming. And to know that those I met last time had long since completed the journey.

Unfortunately, Isaba was not what I was expecting. No campsite, expensive accommodation and also the fact it was Sunday meant most places were closed. I would have preferred to walk on, but without gas this was a dodgy decision. So I found a grassy spot about 1km out of town to camp and a track which led me down to a stream where I could wash myself and some clothes. It was then a case of chilling out until Monday.