Roncesvalles

What a lovely day today. Blue skies, warm, a bit of a cool wind at higher elevations, but nothing that a long sleeve shirt couldn't fix. The climb to Roncesvalles is about 1300 meters, and today was about 26 km or so. The climb was quite difficult at times. But the footing excellent because it was for 2/3 of the climb also a road. A few sightseeing cars on the road, but the road not much bigger than a pathway in Calgary! Very steep and steady for 20 km or so. The devil's staircase in Scotland was feeling pretty easy at some points on this trail! A lovely decent through a treed forest area with beds of leaves underfoot. Lovely views of the Pyrenees.

Many pilgrims on the trail. You are always passing someone, or they are passing you...You can see people ahead and behind. It is very nice though because you start to see the same people as you stop and start throughout the day. So am meeting people from Germany, UK, USA, Canada, Spain. The number of languages on the trail is new for me. Many people speak some English, but lots of conversations I overheard in other languages.

Roncesvalles is home to a beautiful monastery and now a hostel. Also crossed over into Spain somewhere in the Pyrenees, and my French was just beginning to improve and now I am switching over to my even worse Spanish!Read more