http://www.pyreneanway.com/blog About the French Pyrenees and the GR10 Sun, 27 Jun 2010 14:09:03 +0000 http://backend.userland.com/rss092 en [caption id="attachment_314" align="alignleft" width="300" caption="Mystery fungus"][/caption] I am walking in the woods, when I spot it. The size of my hand, bright red, with five prongs sticking out like a starfish, I’ve never seen anything like it before, I bend down to look closer and then reel back. It smells putrid. ... http://www.pyreneanway.com/blog/2010/06/time-bomb-explodes-100-years-later/ [caption id="attachment_292" align="alignleft" width="300" caption="The theatre group "Sorgin Haizeak" performed in the village square"][/caption] Before I went to Zugarramurdi, I had consigned witches to history. When I was a child, every time I went to bed I jumped in as quickly as possible. I was convinced that the witch which lived in ... http://www.pyreneanway.com/blog/2010/06/400-years-of-witchcraft-still-more-questions-than-answers/ [caption id="attachment_272" align="alignleft" width="199" caption="Tribute to Basque strength: harrijasotze"][/caption] We only go into the butchers in Leítza to buy some muslos de pollo – literally chicken muscles but we leave with directions for a museum dedicated to a different kind of muscles – human ones. The walls of the shop were plastered ... http://www.pyreneanway.com/blog/2010/06/not-chicken-muscles/ [caption id="attachment_262" align="alignleft" width="300" caption="Basque sports derive from everyday rural life"][/caption] We have each paid 30 euros to watch a man run 89 times round a bullring alone. The other competitor dropped out, but Xabier still has to run the 8.9km to the finish line in order to claim the prize. ... http://www.pyreneanway.com/blog/2010/05/mad-axemen-bet-6000-euros/ The hills of northern Navarre have long since been domesticated with drystone walls and impenetrable thicket hedges, but the paths are still resisting. Unlike in England and Wales, they have never been tamed. One evening, I tried to walk to nearby Zubieta, plainly visible in the valley below. I could see ... http://www.pyreneanway.com/blog/2010/05/a-walk-on-the-wild-side/ [caption id="attachment_239" align="alignleft" width="300" caption="Giant puffball mushroom"][/caption] Walking in the hills above Zubieta, in Navarra I come across some immense globular mushrooms. They look like giant puffballs to me. Fresh, puffballs have a wonderfully earthy smell. Cooked, they have a nutty flavour and a texture rather like aubergines. In principle puffballs ... http://www.pyreneanway.com/blog/2010/04/wolf%e2%80%99s-fart-mushrooms/ I say cheese and she smiles. She likes making cheese. “It is easy,” says Sagrario, “but hygiene is very important. Which is why I reheat the curds to kill ‘los gusanos.’” “¿Gusanos, como gusanos de tierra? – Worms, like earthworms?” I have just seen half a worm outside, left on the ... http://www.pyreneanway.com/blog/2010/04/basque-farmhouse-cheese-%e2%80%93-queso-y-requeson-vascos/ I have joined a walking club. The first walk is 22km with 1200m of climbing in total. I estimate 7–8 hours. I don’t need lunch, I am told, but I don’t agree, so I take one anyway. We set out at 8:15 from Lekaroz. It is soon hard to keep ... http://www.pyreneanway.com/blog/2010/04/i-don%e2%80%99t-understand-spanish/ We have just moved to the Spanish Basque Country for three months, to learn Castellano. It is still cold, so in the DIY shop I buy a bow saw and ask, in halting Spanish, where I can purchase wood for the fire. The man behind the counter replies: “¿Madera? No, ¡leña! ... http://www.pyreneanway.com/blog/2010/04/spring-in-the-basque-country-1-%c2%bfmadera-no-lena/ [caption id="attachment_196" align="alignleft" width="300" caption="Vines in the snow"][/caption] Today, snow has been slathered like sun-cream onto the Mediterranean beaches. In our village, the houses have icicle fangs biting into the wind. The Montagne d’Alaric (600m), the first bastion of the Corbières as they rise out of the plain, sparkles. We can’t ... http://www.pyreneanway.com/blog/2010/03/mediterranean-snow/