Hecho

You may become used to the second part of this title, since some of my sticks have a horrible habit of remaining on various forms of transport after I have got off.
Anyway I’ll start with the reception. It was at the Casa Blasquico, almost at the bus stop. The woman who owns/runs/cooks at it started by telling me she had no single rooms, that she could let me have a double for single use but that she would phone a couple of places first and see whether they could do anything cheaper. By the time she failed, I was heartily relieved as the place was growing on me by the second. It seemed a very reasonable price anyway.

I was to discover that this action was characteristic of a very kind person. Having discovered that I meant to go to see Siresa, about three kilometres away, with a 9th century monastery and that I had a heart condition, she took me in her own car and left me with only the walk back after I had finished my visit. Just as I was finishing this walk it started to drizzle then to rain softly. I found myself having to wait for the evening bus to Ansó, my next destination, in what became a long bout of lightning, thunder and heavy rain. Not only did the woman provide me with a sitting room and sofa to wait but periodically she brought me delicious cake and coffee at no extra cost.

The stick, as you will have gathered, stayed on the bus. The bus went on to Ansó [the same one as mentioned above] and I had guessed from the timetable that it stayed there overnight as the only service in the opposite direction is early in the day. I was surprised to learn from the woman that it actually returned to Jaca, where I had started – and that if I walked a few hundred yards to a junction, I could play the role of Dick Turpin. I did so but threatened neither the money nor the life of the driver – just retrieved my stick!