<html><div style='background-color:'><P>A year or so ago there was some discussion of the highway tunnel under the Somport Pass. According to a notice on <A href="http://www.pirineos.com/">http://www.pirineos.com/</A> , an excellent source of information for matters relating to the Pyrenees, the road opened in January. At more than 8 km, the tunnel is something of an engineering marvel, however, it presents some possible problems. Not least is the failure of the Spanish and especially the French governments to improve the access roads from Jaca and Oloron to the tunnel entrances, causing potential noise and congestion on the highways. While the walk down from Somport on the Camino has been one of the more pleasant stretches of the ruta Aragonese, the increased traffic on the nearby road is likely to have at least some impact on peregrinos. Thankfully very little of the Camino is directly alongside the highway, but the Camino crosses it several!
times, and the noise level in the otherwise delightful mountain valley could become unpleasant. I will look foward to hearing from anyone who walks the Somport route this year about the effects of the tunnel.</P>
<P>E. O. Pederson</P>
<P>Seattle, WA</P></div><br clear=all><hr>Protect your PC - <a href="http://g.msn.com/8HMOENUS/2755">Click here</a> for McAfee.com VirusScan Online </html>