We’re back in Roncevalles after a hard, hard day clambering over the Pyrenees, or at least one small part.

We started early

My recollections of the initial 8km up to the refuge at Orisson were of an unremitting steep, steep climb but today at least the first 3km were surprisingly gentle. Perhaps we were fitter now, perhaps they’d reoriented the mountain, who knows, but it was a welcome surprise.

The sun rose gently and its light flooded the valley.

5km from Orisson the mountain moved back into its original position and it was game on. Note Dorothy’s determined stance.

The following two panoramas give a pretty good rendition of the scene around 7 o’clock this morning as we climbed above the low clouds covering the valley floor and the sleeping town of St. Jean Pied de Porte.

A little later and a few hundred feet higher this is the scene that greeted us looking back to St. Jean. Note the way the ridge keeps the cloud constrained to its right hand side.

The ground rose ever more steeply and both of us had to push hard to get to Orisson. Last time we walked this route we didn’t manage to get out of the clouds until we were pretty much at the top of the pass. Consequently we only knew that we’d reached Orisson when we were perhaps 10m away. Today we had perhaps 100m warning as it lies hidden behind a sharp bend in the road.

Orisson is a popular overnight stopping point for pilgrims who don’t fancy or can’t manage the 24km trek from St. Jean in one go. It’s also a good place to get breakfast for those who’ve started early enough. We’d taken two hours and five minutes to cover the 8km, quicker than I’d expected so perhaps we’re not quite as old and tired as we think.

Breakfast was an absolutely awful wet, pre-frozen quiche, coffee and a glass of orange juice (specifically for its sugar content). Dorothy ate half the quiche, I managed one small fork full. Yuk!

Luckily Dorothy has also bought a cheese bocadillo which we polished off close to the top of the pass.

I found this little chap wandering around on our table.

After 20 minutes of well earned relaxation we said our goodbyes to Orisson

and left expecting a more gentle ascent.

Whew. Clearly my memory isn’t what it used to be. The next three km were as bad as the previous five and it was a genuine struggle to gain the altitude necessary to reach the top. But we were rewarded with some stunning views.

It’s difficult to get a sense of the gradient on this section from the images but it certainly gave our heart and lungs a good workout.

I’ve included the next image because it’s a lovely tree and it’s also one of the last we saw for some time as we rose above the tree line.

There were plenty of animals around, the first a particularly muscular bull

and then some sheep badly in need of shearing. These all seemed to be male so it’s presumably off to the abattoir for them shortly I expect 😞

The road seemed to go on for ever …

and we seemed to be no nearer to the top so we stopped for lunch

You’ve probably noticed that it’s tarmac pretty much all the way so far and indeed that is the case. Irritatingly, every few minutes or so a small gaggle of motorbikes or a car or a van would make its way noisily past us, pushing us off the path.

You might also have noticed that there are pilgrims in many of the pictures. That’s because at this time of year, perhaps 300 or so start out from St. Jean first thing in the morning. Everyone has their own unique speed of walking so there is some spreading as we go but I reckon that there are some 250+ pilgrims walking within a time slot of perhaps two hours. Lots of people 😩.

On yesterday’s backward walk from Roncevalles to St. Jean we met a grand total of two pilgrims walking towards us. The route was hardly as scenic but from a bubble perspective, it was bliss.

Back to today.

We left the tarmac shortly after lunch

and the remainder of the route was on country tracks and small gravel single file roads but thankfully devoid of traffic.

The top of the pass doesn’t appear to be marked anywhere but eventually all good things must come to an end and I decided that this stone must have been pretty close so I took a picture of Dorothy to celebrate 😊

The view is impressive

Shortly afterwards we did indeed seem to be heading down at least as often as we were climbing up so perhaps that really was the top of the pass. A more detailed image of the metal plate next to Dorothy is shown for any inquisitive francophiles.

We dropped back to the tree line and found even more sheep, some shorn of their heavy winter fleeces but most were still heavily overburdened.

The sheep in the first image; where have seen that expression before 😊.

The route took us finally to the split in the path where one trail drops precipitously through the forest while the second takes a more gentle winding line around the mountain. We’d taken the forest route last time so as a change we took the more open trail. A Spanish lady offered to take an image of the two of us as we prepared to decide.

Good choice. We were rewarded with views of the monastery at Roncevalles for some time before we arrived

and as a bonus we came into Roncevalles via the first part of the Val Carlos route that we walked yesterday and the following two images show what a difference 24 hours can make.

We were in our room at the hotel in Roncevalles by 2:30, eight hours after setting out from St. Jean.

We’ve enjoyed walking over the last couple of days; it’s been an interesting experience. Last time we walked here it was July 2016 and we were setting out on what we intended to be a 30 day journey to Santiago de compostela. For various reasons we didn’t finally complete the journey until 2018. This time around we intended to complete only a short section before returning home.

Last time we were pilgrims, albeit of a secular kind. This time we took no part in the Camino experience. Both times we found ourselves surrounded by people of all ages but bound with a common goal, of getting to Santiago.

Last time we chatted, we exchanged experiences and we ate together. This time they chatted, they exchanged experiences and they ate together.

Whilst we ate the menu del dia, with the usual range of options, they ate a communal pilgrim’s meal with little or no options. We ate as a pair, they as a group. We spoke quietly and privately, they noisily and publicly. They are pilgrims; we are not – we are on holiday, shortly to return home.

Bon voyage