Another Province, Another Via Verde

We could have spent more time exploring Ordesa, and maybe one day we´ll go back, but after four days we moved on to Navarra, another lovely northern province. We took our time with the drive, detouring to Canfranc, Eco and Anso, heading to our next hotel later than expected. Too late to hike in Irati, too early for dinner, we followed road signs to the Foz de Lumbier.

the lumbier gorge and irati river

The Foz de Lumbier, is a via verde and follows an abandonded train line for 1.5 kilometers, with the option of walking back over rolling hills and fields. We stuck to the linear path along the train line, and enjoyed watching the light change on the rock walls. We saw a number of griffin vultures circling overhead. Tall Guy enjoyed walking through the two unlight tunnels. Pitch dark at the midway point, he had fun making spooky noises until Baby told him to stop. 

heading into the gorge

I like via verde hiking. Apart from being well maintained, family friendly routes, there are also information plaques along the way. It´s nice to know what you´re looking at. This gorge is one of three in the area, which you can easily visit in a long morning or afternoon with a car. We stopped at two. One is a lookout platform, beautiful but no trail. Lumbier is supposedly the most spectacular of the three, and it certainly was beautiful, especially in the late afternoon sun of summer´s end.