Day Eight The Ruta del Ferro

Had a bad night but wheezed and gurgled my way through it, coughing lots. In fact coughing so much that my abdominal muscles are sore. Fortunately sometime during the night the tide turned and the gurgling eased so by the time I got up this morning it was gone. I'm still wheezing but not trying to breathe through fluid with every expiration. I'll probably be fine again just in time to go home!

Today it's blowing a gale. We thought it was windy before, but it's roaring down the valley this morning; so gusty that the soil is blowing off the nearby fields.

Hopefully it will ease so that we can go for a walk. We had planned on going to Llorts by the walking trail up to the Iron Workings. The council have just erected new signs indicating La Ruta Ferro, so I guess they're now preparing for Summer visitors (I don't think Spring ones count for anything).

It's Friday already and we leave at 9.15 on Monday. Our biggest worry now is that the bus will turn up!

By 10am we managed to get ourselves showered, dressed and fed by which time we thought we might brave the elements. The wind seemed to have died down a little and there was more blue sky so we ventured out into what turned into a very pleasant day.

We too the Ruta del Ferro up to Llorts and for once the book didn't lie when it said it was an easy walk. There were a couple of short uphill stretches that taxed the lungs but generally it was a gentle stroll. The views are always spectacular; the river just brings me constant delight. I could sit by it all day and never tire of it.

We finally discovered the sculptures and took photos. Very art nouveau. Barb swore one was a horse, and I'll go with that but I'm thinking it could easily be open to interpretation. At Llorts is the old iron mine. It was locked up today but I assume at times you can actually walk through a small part of it. We encountered a group of schoolchildren and waited for a good while at the mine before we started back down the trail so we could avoid them. As it was we encountered them a bit further down the trail where they stopped for lunch.

The wind was fresh but the howling gale had died and the sun was pleasantly warm; I took my jumper off soon after we left the hotel but kept my jacket on and it was just enough.

We had to cross a brook that went across the path using stepping stones and made it without even getting the bottom of my jeans wet.

We saw a lot of butterflies today; blue, red and black, cream and orange...I've never seen so many colours. Perth seems to have white and nothing else. You know, the ones that eat your veggies? Definitely got closer to nature today – I swallowed an Andorran fly. All that space and it flies down my thoat.

Llorts is even smaller than Arans and we saw the hotel that we had originally picked. Barb said she was glad we hadn't ended up staying there as it was an even longer walk into Ordino!

I'm still wheezing a bit but I think the walk did me good, and it's definitely warmer out than in.

This place has no heating and we've resorted to keeping the oven on all the time. It's barely enough but it has stopped us from freezing. The only warm place is under three blankets and a bedspread in bed. Love these early nights.