The Camino

Slept well finally! No snoring as all female dormitory last night.
Rudimentary breakfast but coffee was good. Set off to cross into Spain river the Pyrenees at about 8.15. Weather started bright and not too cold so we were soon in t shirts but not for long as it became quite cold very quickly. Unbelievably beautiful scenery when we could see it but lots of very misty patches where we could see very little.
Met up with Nomi from Houston Texas but originally from Israel. She had started out with a friend but had come to the decision today that it wasn’t working out so was working out how to dump him - quite tricky I should imagine as we keep meeting up with the same people so he might be quite hard to avoid!
Also met up again with Mark from Beilari on first night - he left at 6.30 am without breakfast and with no food and managed to get very lost. Saved from a very tricky situation by a lovely Irish couple with energy bars and who were on the right route. Walked quite a way with them. They are Camino addicts who have walked the Frances before as well as the Norte, the Primitivo and the Portuguese. Interesting discussions about Brexit - like most Europeans they remain completely baffled by the vote to leave and were very interested to know about what we perceived the benefits to be! We struggled…
Arrived in Roncesvalles at about 1. Very cold as we’re still high up. Couldn’t check into our accommodation so went to the bar and had tortilla and two beers each- felt very good after quite hard cold walk.
Now checked in and dinner in the hotel arranged. Hoping to go to the pilgrims service in the church attached to the monastery at 8pm if we can stay awake long enough. The church is beautiful with the most stunning stained glass. More to follow potentially…En savoir plus