Hiking into the clouds- Orrison

We left our sweet little pension in St Jean and headed into the Pyrenees this morning. Wait- let me talk about the pension before I forget. Last night I went to sleep listening to the laughter and murmurs of the bar down the street and happy pilgrims about to begin their journey. I woke this morning to the sounds of pilgrims on their way down the street and at 7am when I set my alarm, the church bell drowned out my artificial ring tone- calling everyone in. Soon sounds of singing drifted down the street into our window. It was lovely.

Last night was hot… remember… 108 degrees yesterday?! And Jon and I only had a window. The boys slept in the attic and had an air conditioner and when I went up to wake them up their room was actually chilly!!! At least THEY had a good night’s sleep.

The heat wave broke today and although it is still very very humid, the temperature was suitable and an answer to my prayers. We left at 9am and the breezes from the mountains kept us moving higher. I could NOT have done today’s hike with yesterday’s temperatures. The Way provided.

We are staying the night in an ancient shepherd’s house in an alburgue. There is a community meal tonight and we ordered sandwiches for our lunch tomorrow. I made all of these plans months ago at Christmas so it has been hard for me to remember what I planned which has been fun because it’s like a surprise for me!

The community meal felt like a scene from an old epic poem. We all sat and ate as a community at the hearth of a large stone fireplace and everyone introduced themselves and explained why they were there. The conversation was really cool-listening to stories of people from all over. I sat by a young 20’s German kid who quit his job as an engineer for Mercedes’ Benz to live on a commune and teach yoga. The dinner was chicken soup and veggies with a basque cake. I was starving and it was delicious. Even Daniel ate his veggies!

Oh also huge shout out to Jon for Fathers Day. I am grateful that he is willing to follow me on this crazy adventure! (And we really do make a good travel team- ask us to clean out the garage together and that’s a different story.)

It didn’t rain today. Will the weatherman be wrong again tomorrow?!Read more