We woke up to a glorious day today!  Ready to tackle the rest of the pass!

 
After a breakfast of cafe au lait, toast and jam and juice we set out on our trek with Sandra, Gjertrud and Francesco (Petar’s doppelgänger)… The scenery was breathtaking every step of the way!  We climbed the equivalent of 260 floors today and 240 yesterday… 500 floors!!! Every direction we looked was an amazing landscape!  We saw a number of horses, essentially wild, yet with bells on… Apparently they are there in the national park helping to control the gorse and other invasive species… Very cool… Here’s some shots of our climb!

 

When we got near the Spanish border, there was a very enterprising guy with a van and fresh fruit, juice, Hot Chocolate, boiled eggs… Cheese… Of course we bought more Basque cheese for our lunch!!! We also got our last stamp in France!

 
Here is a shot of the French Spanish Border, where we filled our water bottles at the fountain dedicated to Charlemagne’s brother Roland…A quick stop for lunchtime and shortly after that our climb was over and it was all down hill!

 
Above you can see Dan walking with Sandra from Scotland… Sandra, a Bowen therapist treated us all to foot and leg treatments once we arrived at Roncesvalles!! Sheer heaven!  We’re not booked into the large Albergue in the former monastery… Sorry all you purists, but we took beds in the new part, and for a hostel, everything is outstanding!!

After we settled we treated ourselves to a beer and chats with some fellow pilgrims, then a tour of the 11th century church, cloisters and museum/ crispy… Of course this work up an appetite so off to dinner… Another pilgrim meal complete with wonderful wine for €10… Then to the pilgrim mass where we were blessed with a 12th century pilgrim blessing that has been done for 800 years!

An amazing day… Getting ready for our next adventure.