We rolled out of bed when the alarm went off at 6 AM, and were at the Gite Compostella breakfast by 6:30 AM. There we met fellow pilgrims Kate from Germany and Giovanni from Italy - they also were beginning their Camino today, but they decided to take the high route of Napoleon. The rain had stopped, and the high route is the traditional path - though for some reason it is poorly marked. (At the Office of the Pelerines yesterday, the agent registering us displayed a photo showing the trail split and said : "when you see this sight, make a hard right downhill!" Apparently lots of people get lost up there on foggy days. The plot of the movie The Way begins with the character played by Martin Sheen learning that his son died of exposure on the first day of the Camino, so he decides to walk the whole distance in his son's place.)
Lil and I stuck to our plan to walk the lower route, the Route of Valcarlos. In medieval times, bandits hid in the woods here and robbed the pilgrims, which is why so
many took the harder high route. We risked the threat of medieval highwaymen, but very few other people did. We only saw a few other pilgrims on this stage, despite the large crowd we saw yesterday at the
registration line. We met a solitary walker named Joseph soon after leaving St. Jean Pied de Port. There was a Japanese guy that spoke no English and moved at a slower pace than us, so we soon left him behind.
Joseph told us he was a retired butcher from Belgium. We walked with him all the way to Valcarlos, where we
stopped for lunch. At this point Joseph decided his pack was too heavy and that he would ride a taxi the rest of the way to Roncevalles.
The border between France and Spain was marked only by a sign welcoming us to the Spanish province of Navarre. No sign that there had ever been a customs checkpoint there.
After lunch, the route left the road and followed a dirt path through forests and beside people's houses. The hiking got steeper. But the way was clearly marked, so I was certain we were not lost.
Walking ahead of us was a German man, the only other pilgrim we saw all day. A little bit of rain started to fall, and we donned our rain gear. There were low clouds and fog, so good thing we were not on the
Napoleon route. The Camino came out of the woods and briefly paralleled the roadway again - and the German hiker disappeared. We realized he had given
up and hitched a ride to Roncevalles. The trail returned to the forest, and got a lot steeper. The rain stopped, so we took off our rain coats as we were heating up climbing the Pyrenees hills. (The Pyrenees mountain
chain is really just rounded green hills at this point, which is why it is the traditional route for armies marching between Spain and France.) The fog closed in. We took a several breaks to catch our breath - and
then we were at the top in thick fog. There is a bell which used to be rung to guide pilgrims lost in the fog, but fortunately we never got lost. A short downhill stretch and we arrived at Roncevalles. We made it!
We checked into La Posada de Roncevalles. Reserving a private room in Roncevalles was the hardest part of booking our Camino. There are few options and they are reserved quickly. The only room I could get was actually a quad, so
we had two empty beds. But the dorm at Roncevalles has over 100 beds and I doubt I would have been able to get any sleep in such a crowded, noisy room.
We met Kate and Giovanni from breakfast. They had taken the high route, but said it was too foggy to see much of anything.
There was a bar serving food, which was great because the hotel didn't have any dinner seating available until 8:30 PM and I was starving. The only place to sit was at the bar, so
Lil and I ate there. We met Nancy from the Bay Area and talked to her throughout dinner. We also bumped into Joseph from Belgium - he told us that he was unable to find anywhere to sleep in Roncevalles and would have to
take a taxi onward to the next town. I was glad we had reservations for rooms all along our Camino.
There was a church in Roncevalles that held a pilgrim's mass each evening; Lil attended that so she could receive the pilgrim's
blessing (a blessing spoken in Spanish is just as potent as one in English).
It poured again that night. We were fortunate to have had only about half an hour of light rain today. We had conquered the hardest stage of the Camino and I felt pretty good
about our chances the rest of the trip.
Still Photographs
