Day twenty six - Saturday November 13

Departed: Saint-Jean-Pied-de-Port 7:45am
Arrived: Roncesvalles 2:00pm
Total hours: 6.25
Total kms: 26
Accumulated kms: 765.3
Weather: Sunny and windy as hell

Today was the big day on this walk, the day that strikes fear in the heart of some pilgrims and a crazed look in the eyes of others - the crossing of the Pyrenees.

I left early this morning so as to have enough time, and ended up blitzing it. I´ve always been a good uphill walker - I settle into a rhythm really quickly and can walk for ages - but I didn´t think I´d get through today so quickly. The hills weren´t actually too bad - there were a few super steep sections, but otherwise the incline wasn´t very difficult. The challenge was a wind that blew strongly enough to knock me sideways and backward many times throughout the day. From a certain altitude it just blew and blew without pause, for hours on end. Every now and then I would be sheltered by a larger hill or group of rocks and suddenly everything would become still and quiet, then I´d move a few paces forward and would be almost knocked off my feet.

But it was all worth it for the scenery alone, absolutely stunning. There's just something special about being so high up and able to see for so far around. God complex, me? Nah.

As Saint-Jean-Pied-de-Port is the traditional starting point, there are many more people here tonight. Still not loads, but perhaps around 15 or so. I wonder just how busy it will get, especially as I plan to walk some fairly long days and perhaps slowly catch some of the earlier walkers.

My reception at the albergue office and the bar where I'm having dinner was really quite cold and dismissive, I suppose it's the result of a long and tiring season. I'll have to be extra nice to everyone along the way!

I took lots of photos of the mountains, sorry about that.

Another self portrait, on top of the world.

A strange little statue of Jesus up in the middle of the mountains.

The sign reads "765km".

Snow! Yay!

Coming down the mountain.

The first albergue with more than about five beds in the room.

Day twenty five - Friday November 12

Departed: Gaineko Etxea 8:15am
Arrived: Saint-Jean-Pied-de-Port 1:00pm
Total hours: 4.75
Total kms: 21.6
Accumulated kms: 739.3
Weather: Sunny and warm

I'm sitting on a park bench near the post office because once again I've arrived in town when everything is shut! The post office opens soon, so I thought I´d write this, then post off a bunch of stuff home, find some internet, and eventually get into the accom at 4pm when it opens.

I'm in the final town of the first stage, or the first town of the second stage, depending on how you look at it, and I'm surrounded by the Pyrenees. They don't look so tough from here at all. When I got in, I almost considered just walking on to a hotel I know is two and a half hours up the mountain, but then thought I should do it the old fashioned way - all in one hit! (Lucky too, it was closed...)

Last night was fun, I ate dinner with the other guests and the hosts. I was was absolutely ravenous, I could not eat enough food. I had three bowls of soup, three plates of salad, about an entire loaf of French bread, two and a half plates of mains (cauliflower, beans, pasta and omelette), numerous chunks of amazing home-made Basque sheep´s cheese, and a bowl of fruit salad. Unbelievable. Everyone thought it was funny, the hosts kept trying to get me to eat even more. During dinner the husband host was teaching us to sing songs in Basque. It's funny trying to be taught a song in a language you don't understand with translations and explanations in another language you don´t understand. But it was all fun, and I was just happy to be eating lots of food.

This morning's walk was very pleasant and easy, with the sun shining strong all day. I started with a detour to the local bakery to try a local Basque speciality. I forget its name (something like Basque Cicse), but it was delicious - a pastry kind of thing filled with black cherries. The walk then progressed nice and easy, nearing the mountains all the way. I can't wait to get stuck into that mountain crossing tomorrow, although it looks as though I may not even see snow up there, it's supposed to be a really warm and sunny day again tomorrow as well.

Entering Saint-Jean-Pied-de-Port.

Day twenty four - Thursday November 11

Departed: Bellevue 8:45am
Arrived: Gaineko Etxea 3:45pm
Total hours: 7
Total kms: 24.4
Accumulated kms: 717.7
Weather: Sunny in the morning, overcast in the afternoon

Last night finished up being an awesome stay. The people who ran the gite - a really sweet elderly couple who spoke only a little English - were so super friendly and nice, and enthusiastic about the Camino that they had made folders and folders of information about it. We were asked to put a texta spot on the section of an atlas where we were from. There were many spots on Sydney and Melbourne, but I put down the first spot anywhere within a 200km radius of Mt Seaview!

I walked today with Agnes, who has been at the last few gites with me, and Lillian and Thomas, the friendly Swiss I met earlier who have caught me up with the short days. It was quite a nice day of walking and chatting to others. I wouldn't want to do it every day but today was really nice.

At one point a beautiful white cat came out of seemingly nowhere and walked beside us, like a dog, for about a kilometre. Not long after, a pony came galloping across a field to lick my hand. A day of walking and talking to the animals.

I can't believe it but after two days of perfectly pain-free walking, my right shin is now suffering tendonitis in the exact same place my left one was. It started yesterday and was painfully present down the hills today. I'm putting on the gel, and Agnes very kindly gave me a packet of arnica tablets which should help a lot, I'll buy more tomorrow. She also told me I should drink more water as apparently that can have a big effect on tendonitis.

Talking to her today I found out she´s a Vipashana (spelling?) student on meditation, and normally meditates a few hours every day. This was after I told her about Angie's sister Marcelle having just done a Vipashana retreat. Such a small and connected world.

This hill was much, much steeper than this photo makes it seem.

Day twenty three - Wednesday November 10

Departed: Navarrenx 8:45am
Arrived: Bellevue 12:30pm
Total hours: 3.75
Total kms: 17
Accumulated kms: 693.3
Weather: Pouring rain

Today was one of those days where I could walk 17km, or 44km, the only choices open due to accommodation restrictions. It just so happened that the weather is abhorrent, and so it worked out well. Rather than stick around all morning waiting for it to clear (I didn't think it would, and it didn't), I decided it was better to leave and get here earlier, giving me more time to dry things out. I've just been kicking back on the couch eating and doing crosswords, what a great, lazy afternoon!

Leaving Navarrenx, just before the rain really fell.

Day twenty two - Tuesday November 9

Departed: Arthez-de-Béarn 7:30am
Arrived: Navarrenx 2:30pm
Total hours: 7
Total kms: 31.8
Accumulated kms: 676.3
Weather: Sunny and overcast

The walk out of town this morning was absolutely spectacular. Even minutes before I left, as I put my boots on,  the rain hammered down outside. I opened the door and it stopped, right before me, then pretty much held off for the rest of the day.

As I walked west from Arthez-de-Béarn, the sun came up behind me, and to my left I had an incredible view of the Pyrénées expanse. As I made it out onto the country roads, dark rain clouds gathered everywhere but for the floating oasis of blue sky and sunshine that followed me - literally - for about two hours. I could see rain falling around, but none of it on me. It's almost enough to male me a religious man. Almost.

There were a lot of hills today, but as most of them were on tarred roads it felt like a relatively easy day's walk, which is reflected in the short time it took, even with three fairly drawn out breaks.

All day I walked toward the mountains and saw them grow bigger. I'm now quite close, and they actually don't look so bad anymore. Many peaks are covered in snow, but there are also many that aren't, especially in the direction I'm walking. I'm not really anticipating any problems with this mountain crossing now at all.

Day twenty one - Monday November 8

Departed: Arzacq-Arraziguet 8:45am
Arrived: Arthez-de-Béarn 3:15pm
Total hours: 6.5
Total kms: 30
Accumulated kms: 644.5
Weather: Cold, raining and windy

Totday was hands down the worst so far, weather-wise. For most of the day it rained steadily, and I was also walking into a strong headwind for most of the way. Combined with a morning of hills I'm very surprised I got here so quickly. The hills were challenging, I seem to have grown complacent after a few days straight of very flat walks. The training will be good for the Pyrénées crossing on Saturday.

Speaking of which, I had my first view of the the Pyrénées ranges today, and boy are they intimidating. A long line of formidable, snow covered peaks looming right across the southern border of France. It's amazing how close they look, and how I haven't seen them until today. I'm very excited actually, I can't wait to get there now I've had a glimpse.

Nothing much else to report, really, I was forced to keep my head down and my shoulders squared against the wind all day just to make progress. Apparently tomorrow morning will be the same, so I'm in for another wet one.

Oh, I downloaded a book on learning Spanish tonight and am finding it much, much easier than French. I figured that as I was making such slow progress with French, and I only had a few more days in the country anyway, I may as well start Spanish. I think it's been a good move.

Day twenty - Sunday November 7

Departed: Aire-sur-l'Adour 8:15am
Arrived: Arzacq-Arraziguet 4:30pm
Total hours: 8.25
Total kms: 32.2
Accumulated kms: 614.5
Weather: Sunny and raining in cycles

There was an ocean theme rolling on today. Early in the day, just outside of Aire-sur-l'Adour, the path came down through a forest to a huge lake, and as I came down through the trees and the water came into view, I had such a ridiculous longing to see the ocean. Even though the lake was substantially (and understandably) smaller, it was nice to stand there a while and take it all in.

Then the weather rolled through like breakers at the beach. At 5am, the rain thundered down outside. When I left however, clear blue as far as the eye could see. An hour later and heavy, grey clouds tumbled in and spent themselves, giving way to more sun. This happened all day long, I don't think I've ever seen anything like it. When the sun came out, the clouds almost completely vanished for a time then, off in the distance across the wide, flat plains I was mainly walking through, you could see a huge hand of darkness come reaching out over the countryside. As I neared my accommodation the meanest one yet gathered strength, bellowing loudly. I arrived at the gite and walked into the office literally seconds before the immense downpour began. Twenty minutes later - sunshine outside!

I met two lovely Swiss people today, Lillian and Thomas. They were also at the gite last night. They've walked from their house in Switzerland, which so far has taken about two months. They live about 3km from the Camino Trail (this leg begins in Germany and winds down into Switzerland, through Geneva and eventually into France and Le Puy, where I began), so they just packed, locked their doors and set out. They were really nice, unfortunately I don't think I'll be seeing them again as they stopped about 10km back and I'm walking a little faster than they are. I must admit to a slight pang of jealousy that I'm no longer the person walking the farthest of everyone I've met, but that will pass.

So, I'm in this gite on my own tonight, my clothes are drying in front of the heater and I'm hoping for sunshine all day tomorrow. Oh, and I passed two signs today - one told me I was 953km from Santiago de Compostella, less than an hour later another told me I was 924km away. Either way, I'm well under the 1000km to go sign I've been looking for. Yay!

These clouds looked much more intimidating in real life.

Day nineteen - Saturday November 6

Departed: Nogaro 7:30am
Arrived: Aire-sur-l'Adour 2:30pm
Total hours: 7
Total kms: 28.2
Accumulated kms: 582.3
Weather: Overcast

I should start by saying that last night's dinner was spectacular. If I was holding it up against the meals I get at home every night of the week it would have scored much lower, but thrown into the middle of my constant lentils, pasta, chèvre and soup dinners, it was mindblowing. A cold veggie stack followed by a mushroom and broccoli pasta, finished up with apple crumble and chocolate. I went to sleep with a very satisfied belly.

On the walk today I met a girl from Japan, I think her name is Miashi or something like that. She's the first pilgrim I've met (with the possible exception of Flan, although he wasn't sure of his plans), who is walking all the way to Santiago de Compostella as well. I think she said she was going to Finisterre too, but her English wasn't so good. She's been walking for about four weeks already, and started from Le Puy-en-Velay as well. I walked with her for a bit over an hour, then left her looking around a church. She was a slow walker, which was really good for me for a bit, but then my legs got itchy and I had to move!

There were a lot more harvested corn fields today, which is really only half a step up from barren fields. There was one beautiful section of forest, one of the nicest I've been through yet I think. The walk through here was randomly interrupted by loud gun shots though, as it was a hunting reserve.

I don't think I've mentioned this yet, but so much land in France is set aside for hunting. Loads and loads of it. I noticed in the first week how quite the bush areas often are here - at home, if you stand still for a few minutes while out hiking you'll usually hear a whole gamut of birds and animals and insects and reptiles all getting on with their lives. But here, when you stop you're often lucky to hear even a bird call. I now suspect it's either because the hunters have shot everything, or the animals have learned how to keep their heads down and their mouths (or beaks, or jaws) shut. It can be quite disconcerting turning a corner in the path and seeing a trio of men with guns. I just hope I don't come across anyone with an itchy trigger finger and short sightedness.

There was a full length mirror in the bathroom tonight (which, by the way, had only cold water due to some "problem" - that was a nice shower!). I noticed that right now I am resembling the physique of Christian Bale, unfortunately more in his The Machinist role rather than Batman. I think I need to eat more, my pants are indeed, as my mum warned me they would, falling off me. Speaking of which, now that I'm caught up in the blog (well, except for photos, they will come eventually, they're not that good anyway) - dinner time!

A stairway to heaven.

What happens when someone yells 'duck'?

The spraying machines look so War Of The Worlds to me.

I wish those creatures were bats, but they're not. Bats would be much cooler.