Stage3 ~ Sare to Esteben.

~ Water ~

• Springs (source) pure ~ bubbling up ~ or trickling ~ sometimes embellished by pipes and madonnas.
  A delightfull find ~ and usually shared with the cows, horses, birds and butterflys, that inhabit the hills.
• Mountain streams ~ I trust ~ It could be filtered (but not by me) ~ it is said flukes, spirochetes, amoeba, and of course coliform bacteria live in abundance. ~ Me ~ I don't worry.
• Lowland rivers I treat with caution ~ in such areas you can usually ask at a house for water ~ and I have allways been kindly treated!
• I allways try to carry half a litre ~ and keep this topped up ~ as I do myself ~ keep drinking when water is plentiful. Some hill sections required another 1.5l, carried in an old plastic coke bottle.
• On HOT sunny days I could drink 6l.
• Overnight camps need at least 3l ~ cooking and drinking with the minimum of hygene. ~ A source of water is of course a treasure for washing self ~ pots ~and sweaty clothes.
• And on returning home ~ I can't drink the water ~ it tastes foul.

  The Stage

  I'ts wonderfull what a night's rest will do, but it was going to be a HOT day again. I started at 7.00am ~ and modified the route a little ~ arriving at the pretty Basque village of Bidarry (you can stay here) after a shady lowland walk of 3hr. There are a few shops for supplies and a rest, but then it's climb up by a series of zig-zags, to a little church ~ delightfull water source ~ and then on to walk a quiet track atop the rolling hills. Finally the grassy col Zuccuta 566m and I needed to camp ~ so just along the path I found a shady tree and a nearby source ~ and it was rest after 8hrs ~ with a wonderfull view across the valley to the radar station and the vast stary sky.

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  Part 2

  Page created: 20th July 1988. Last modified: 26th July 1998.

  John Scholefield
  coldfish@itl.net