The days in Lleida were over and it was time to move on again. It was going to be a long day, but we were anticipating fantastic views travelling from Lleida to Bielsa, and we were not disappointed!
Lleida to coffee
The countryside around Lleida is heavily farmed, and very ‘neat’. It is apparently one of the most important fruit-growing areas in Spain, and produces c.60% of Spanish pears, as well as apples, peaches, nectarines, and so on. There are olive orchards too, and then grain crops. Why here? There is a lot of sunshine, but also rivers. And then there is apparently a lot of pig and poultry farming.
We turned off at Barbastro, and soon the countryside started changing, becoming rougher, with the mountains coming closer.
After about an hour we found a roadside cafe, the Meson del Cinca, just under El Grado, and stopped for coffee. A group of bikers was enjoying the sunshine outside, but we retreated indoors. The road had been alongside the Cinca River, hence the name of the coffee stop, and we were going to follow the river to its source opposite the Parador in Bielsa. Close by, on the opposite side of the road, is a huge dam across the river. The El Grado dam was completed in 1969. In the hills above the reservoir is an important shrine – wherever you look there seems to be something worth noting!
Coffee to Ainsa
The road took us alongside the river, and the wonderful view below over the countryside. We passed hilltop villages, and changing landscapes in an area known as the Sobrabe. This is a mountainous region in the north of Huesca province and apparently many of the people speak a local language, fabla. Boltana is the administrative capital (we stopped there later on), and Ainsa is the economic capital.
Ainsa
We visited Ainsa perhaps forty years ago, when we were camping at Torla, and we remembered a lovely mountain town. But that has gone. It was crowded with visitors, and very expensive. Even the car park was paying! So we walked around and then set off again for the Parador in Bielsa.
Ainsa to the Parador at Bielsa
The road from Ainsa to Bielsa is beautiful, but sadly there are hardly any stopping places, so all the pictures are taken through the car windows.
Bielsa was established in the 10th to 11th centuries, and the plan was to visit from the Parador. The town developed because of the silver mining in the area, and cattle trade across the border with France But, after Bielsa the road was awful – bumpy and uneven, just the sort of thing to give me problems, especially at the end of a long day.
What a day! And what a remarkable ending.
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