questions!

[Bob Spenger]

This is very dangerous advice. On the third day of my year 2000
pilgrimage, I left the hotel in Marsillargues with one liter bottle of
water full and only a couple of hundred ml of water in the second one. I
was confident that I would be finding the village fountains that a
friend had told me would be along the way. No way - there were none to
be found. Perhaps there are fountains along the LePuy route, but that
advice did not apply to the Arles route. Even my friend ran into trouble
on one occasion when he was about to fill his bottle from the fountain
in Lascabanes and suddenly remembered that the CSJ guide said to beware
of the water in that village. On that very hot day in southern France, I
did see running water in creeks and ditches, but I had no filter and did
not trust it. I had emptied the full bottle and was carefully rationing
that last partial bottle when, fortunately,  I saw a sign for a bar in a
village that was off the road a way. I didn't want to do any extra
walking but felt that it was essential to get more water. I found the
bar, where I bought a glass of juice and the bartender was kind enough
to fill my bottle for me. After that, I took care to make sure I had
plenty of water on hand, even if it meant over 4 pounds of extra weight.
A couple of days later, on the way out of St. Guilhem-le-Désert, there
was a rushing mountain stream that was probably safe water to drink, but
the trail soon leaves the stream and switchbacks up the side of the
Gorge de l'Herault. There is a lot of steep elevation gain and no water
along the way until far down the other side of the western ridge. I was
lucky in that there was a cool overcast, but on a hot, sunnier day, I
would definitely have needed to carry a ot of water.

Spain was no different. There were no village fountains that I can
remember from Jaca to Puente la Reine de Jaca, nor on the next two days
to Artrieda and Yesa. The driest day I have encountered was in September
of 2002, going from Roncesvalles to Zubiri. That was a shocker; it was
much tougher than the previous day going over the Pyrenees from Hountto
to Roncesvalles. The Pyrenees crossing is always a concern, but that one
was a relatively easy day, sunny, but with a cool breeze. There isa
fountain along the way, but I didn't really need anything to drink
between my breakfast orange juice in Hountto and a beer at a bar in
Roncesvalles. Going on to Zubiri the next day was a different matter. It
has more uphill than I had anticipated and the day was very hot indeed.
It was a full two liter day - I needed every bit of the water that I
carried.

Personally, I think that there is too much obsession of carrying too
much weight. I was berated on several occasions for carrying too much. I
don't know why those people complained. They did not have to carry it.

regards,

Robert Spenger
rspengeraadelphia.net



Alec McKenzie wrote

> There will be a fountain of good drinkable water in practically every
> village you pass through, and also at some places in between. If you
> don't see it, ask for the "fuente". You certainly don't need to take
> much water with you. Get yourself a 1/3 liter plastic bottle of
> mineral water at a shop, and keep the bottle to re-fill when you pass
> a fountain.
>
> Alec McKenzie
> alecamckenzie.me.uk
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: http://mailman.oakapple.net/pipermail/gocamino/attachments/20030205/b08abfb1/attachment.htm