Magical and Wondrous Days!

Well we made it over the Pyrennees! We did it in 2 stages, one of 8 km to Orrison and then 18 km to Roncevalles. We were extremely lucky that we had good weather both days and were able to appreciate the scenery. It was definitely not as hard as we expected. Maybe the 41 days of walking we already had under our belt helped.

I cannot describe properly what it is like to walk over a mountain. Each time we turned around the scene was more spectacular then the previous time. The first night we stayed at a gîte 8 km from St. Jean Pied-de-Port that houses about 30 pilgrims. There were 10 Canadians at the gîte, 3 from Halifax, 3 from Montréal, us from Ottawa and 2 from Vancouver a real representation of Canada! At dinner, our table had 2 people from Australia, 2 from France, us from Canada, one from Ireland and one from Austria. It is the first time that we have seen such an international represenation.

The gîte had an excellent terrasse looking over a valley. In the evening we witnessed a complete rainbow that was as colourful as if it had been painted in the sky. I have never seen such a rainbow.

The next morning we started our walk over the mountain early for us, before 8 a.m. It was a clear day and I cannot describe what we saw. You will all have to come to witness it. Our pictures don't do it justice. We saw sheep and horses that roamed free and have priority. If they are blocking the path, you go around or you wait. It was also the first time we have walked with so many other pilgrims. Many start from St. Jean Pied-de-Port. It was quite hard to find a spot and time with no one around to take a pee!

I cannot use my little USB gizmo to add pictures on this computer, but hopefully in the next few days I will be able to add pictures that can give you a little bit of an idea of the magical days we have had walking over the Pyrennees!

Michèle