Sos to Estella
We took the usual road into Sanguesa but this time crossed the River Aragon, leaving the town behind us as we drove westwards along the river valley.
The valley is heavily cultivated in what is called ‘transitional countryside. Sanguesa, close to the Pyrenees, is colder and fed by rain, while Tafalls is warmer, on the plains, and has to be irrigated. So, near Sanguesa the main crops are barley, wheat and oats and this would account for all the ploughed land we passed. And in the irrigigated land there are market gardens producing asparagus (I saw the crops as we passed), peppers, tomatoes and artichokes. And in the nearby Ebro valley there are huge canning and freezing factories. I have noticed lots of bottled goods in the Spanish shops too, something you don’t readily find in England anymore
We stopped in Tafalla to check the tyres, which were showing as low – and then realised we had pumped them up the previous day on Imperial and not metric values… Onwards! Larrago was recognisable because of the church standing high on a hill, overlooking the town. We drove through here in 2024, on a different road to Estella.
Estella to Argomaniz
We stopped in Estella for coffee, but nothing more. We had visited here before – a very interesting town – but it needed more time than we had this day.
On the N132 we noticed a small layby and wanted a break from driving, so pulled over. And there we found the Humillidero de Arjuijas, a roadshine shrine to the Virgin just short of the village of Zuniga. But we also found a memorial to men assassinated during the Civil War. Their stories are unpleasant and uncomfortable reading.12
After we had taken this in we went for a walk in the trees, down to the River Ega, the river in the town of Estella.
It was beautiful, and peaceful, but we still had some way to go and so we were on the road again, driving through the Izki Natural Park towards Vitoria. The mountains here are covered with trees, which I believe are mainly Spanish Oak trees, but there are also beeches, other varieties of oak, and poplars. Autumn colours were starting and it was beautiful.
And then we arrived at th Parador of Argomaniz, our final destination during these wonderful weeks in Spain.
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