Mountain valleys and monasteries Spain

Travelled:136km from Anso
Visited: Hecho Valley, Monastery San Juan da la Pena,  Canfranc Estacion
Stay: Canfranc Estacion- free parking, water but no services. GPS N42°45.3120' W0°30.8490'

Woke up to blue skies and sunshine, so we didn't waste any time getting on the road across to Hecho. After a stroll around the quaint town, also with beautiful solid stone buildings, we headed north into the Hecho Valley. 

We again encountered a narrow road but we were rewarded with wonderful scenery of craggy mountains, beech and birch forests and a river running through deep gorges.

We then double backed and headed south to the Monasteries of Juan de la Pena. On this drive the landscape was very different with its red rocks formed when the Pyrenees pushed the old sea beds up. We also got a fantastic view of the valley and Pyrenees.

We first went to visit the Old Monastery which is half concealed under a bulging rock overhang. 

The legend is that the chalice used at the Last Supper was hidden here. We saw a replica of this Holy Grail in the chapel. 

There were also tombs here of kings and abbots. 

The cloistered courtyard was meant to symbolise the New Jerusalem. The capitals of its columns display biblical scenes. 

After a fire in the 17th century this monastery was abandoned and a newer one was built further up the hillside. Unfortunately this was sacked by Napoleon's troops. It has since been restored and houses a hotel and an interpretation centre, which had a unique way of showing what life would have been like in the monastery.

We then drove back down the hill into Jaca. We waited out the thunder storm and then headed north again on the N330, up the valley to Canfranc Estacion where we were told we could stay in a parking at the end of town. The village is well known due to its huge abandoned railway station, inaugurated in 1928 for railroad crossings of the Pyrenees from France. Unfortunately trains can no longer run due to the accidental destruction of a nearby bridge. During a break in the rain, we had a walk down the main street and then got back to Bluey as the next storm came in. Stayed warm and dry the rest of the night, hoping we will again wake up to blue skies and sunshine!