Day Nine, Over the Pyrenees

Day 9, May 26

St. Jean Pied de Port to Roncesvalles

774km to Santiago, 176km from start

Distance: 26km

Well we made it, but it was far from fun.

The stage ahead was long and involved a 1200M ascent (a bit under 4000ft), and, after the Spanish border, a steep 500M descent. It’s called the Route du Napoleon because it’s the path his army took when taking over Spain.

We’ve done that kind of day a few times in the past but rarely enjoyed it. This was no exception.

We started out early under dark skies. Sprinkles turned to drizzle, which turned into a hard, cold rain. Trail markings weren’t very good and visibility was bad. Because of the rain, if we tried to get the maps out, they’d turn to mush. We managed to make good progress though and there were enough fellow pilgrims on the path to be comfortable we were on course.

After around three and a half hours and about 15km, we were in the higher elevations and from there on, the day turned from your average rainy day slog to crap.

The rain got heavier and colder and the wind whipped up. It was easily gusting over 30mph and it sent the rain sideways at us. We were only wearing t-shirts under our rain jackets which was okay until then because hiking uphill generates a lot of heat. When our legs and fingers began to numb, we decided to put our fleeces on. That was quite a ballet act in the wind and rain, but we did it. After a few minutes, we felt better (duh) and the cold was ok from then on.

At the Spanish border there was a small marker. I decided to take a picture, reached into my pocket, and found that my camera had gone for a swim. Somehow the driving rain had found a small unzipped spot and that was the end of the camera. A while after crossing over, the path headed down. The wind and rain died down but we hit section after section of heel-sucking muck, mud, and sludge. We knew the finish line was only a couple of kilometers ahead so we just kept our heads down and plowed through.

After about six hours, we saw Roncesvalles. Very small village with a monastery now converted into an albergue for the pilgrims (sleeps 120!), two small hostels, and the church complex. We were tired, wet, cold, and couldn’t deal with the prospect sharing our lodging with 120 others; so we booked a room at the hostal. It was a smart move.

The church had a pilgrim service and the local hostals served a simple group dinner for everyone. Now that it was over, we enjoyed swapping stories with the rest of the folks.

My guess is that there are between 150-200 folks in the village today. That’s a big group of people and if that’s the number every day, we'll have quite a lot of company.

Villages: St. Jean Pied de Port, Honto, Roncesvalles

# Men in Berets: Who cares