Sunday 7th January 2024
Having made the decision to avoid the trip across the Pyrenees, we headed back towards Pamplona, stopping off as usual whenever we found a place to explore. Our destination for the night, was Sarriguren, an almost newly-built suburb of Pamplona, which has a motorhome aire.
Jaca
Our first stop was Jaca, a small town with a citadel fortress, however we did take the opportunity to take in some of the views along the way. The following three images were all taken around a place called Jánovas:
The route was impressive in terms of the standard of road construction, including many bridges and tunnels:
…as well as the views:
It took some time to get past this group of cows, and judging by the evidence over a long stretch of road, they had been “on the moo’ve” for some distance.
The town of Jaca is a busy place with a citadel fortress built in the 16th century. Interestingly, there is a small herd of deer who live in the moat:
The town centre has a cathedral and some old/ornate buildings:
The town hall had an impressive nativity scene in the foyer:\
The town is on the “Camino de Santiago”, an old pilgrim route, which we appeared to be inadvertently following to some degree:
When we stopped for lunch a little further on from Jaca, we were again on the camino route.
Escó
Our journey continued, past more hilltop towns and amazing landscapes…
…and on to the end of a large reservoir, where we pulled-up briefly.
We noticed a church on the hill and on investigation this proved to be the abandoned village of Escó. Apparently, some years ago, the villagers were all bought out by the state as the reservoir was to be built. This was one of 4 such villages, one of which is completely submerged.
We pulled off the road and walked up to the village:
The village was still occupied and we met a shepherd watching his flock on the hillside:
We had a brief look inside the church, which was the highest building in the village standing on a platform which is a heavily buttressed terrace on the hillside. The belfry floor looked rotten and full of holes, but the nave and transepts seemed to be weathertight.
This is already a huge reservoir, but when we reached the dam at the other end, it became clear that the water levels would be rising further eventually as the dam is much higher than would be needed for the current levels.
I think probable, that the village would be high above any future water level in the reservoir so it is hard to understand the reason for its abandonment. My first thought would have been access, but a new road is being built high behind the village which I assume to be a replacement for the water-side route when it gets submerged.
Staying overnight at Sarriguren
I did not take any photographs of Sarriguren, but this provided a good stopover with free services, on the outskirts of Pamplona. It is popular with motorhomers and many were parked overnight in nearby roads.
There is a fenced sports play area immediately behind the aire, where some young men were playing football, but this became deserted when the rain came along. I imagine the turning off of the floodlighting later would have had a similar effect. We would be happy to return there as it was quiet and felt safe.
"See-u-Later" 