Larceveau-Arros-Cibits

This day has been the most spectacular, and the most demanding! First, we woke to stars and a totally clear sky - no fog! I had thought it was inevitable but no, it was perfect all day, cold start, warmed up to 21°, no wind - we are so so lucky. And it is predicted to continue tomorrow! Last time we came through here the weather was miserable, not actually raining, but cloudy and threatening to.

But we worked for our magic views! We were dropped by taxi about 5 kms closer, leaving about 19 kms for us to walk, and we are now in Basque country, and the taxi man was Basque and said it was the most beautiful part of France, and I think we agree with him! So we had a few kms to get to St Palais, where we had stayed last French camino, which was a little off the GR65, which was our route. Last time we looked at the map and worked out ourselves how to get back to it again, and walked about 20 minutes along little roads and connected up with the route and continued. Well today we were still on the Vézelay way, so we followed the GR654, which we have been following for the last few days. We knew the 2 GRs met and we continue together after that, but we found ourselves winding along paths, and then up one of the steepest and longest climbs ever - and this one was in a tunnel of hedges and trees, so we couldn’t actually see the views that we knew must be there…finally we reached the top and of course it was magnificent - sweeping views over to the Pyrénées and just beautiful green farmland, with the typical Basque houses, with the red-brown decorations. I had remembered a huge climb soon after leaving St Palais and connecting with the GR and was a bit mystified. We had been walking, and climbing, for ages after St Palais, and hadn’t even met the other GR. Well, we finally did meet up, and found the point where the routes all meet, and then continued on and found ourselves at the foot of the huge climb I had remembered..this time we had climbed over a mountain to get to the point that had taken us less than half an hour round the side last time! This all sounds complicated, but makes sense to me, and I want to remember it! Anyway, up we went again, and this was even longer and higher I think, but it was out in the open and we could see the breathtaking views all the time as we got higher and higher (and look back at the other side where we had climbed earlier!).

Since the routes had joined there are suddenly more pilgrims, and there was quite a collection of people having a lunch break up the top where there is a little chapel, and trees and 360°views. Just gorgeous. We had several breaks today - had a coffee stop at St Palais for old times sake - we had enjoyed staying there before, a very pretty and lively town, and then this afternoon after so much strenuous climbing we stopped again at Ostabat-Asme, just a few kms before arriving here. Nowhere here is flat, but everywhere is absolutely stunningly beautiful. It is just picture postcard country, and we were seeing it in all its glory with this perfect weather.

We found our hotel, and knew it was where we had stayed last time, coincidentally, as we were using a different booking company. It is spartan, but spotless and totally adequate for us, and it is refreshing to have clear surfaces to put things on, not lots of decorative ornaments which get in the way, even if pretty! The funny thing is that I found I automatically connected with the wifi! It must have remember it from before…there is a password, but we never found out and never needed it! Dinner here will not be like last night, but will be fine - probably the menu of the day, with no choices. I will try and find photos that do justice to the scenery. You just can’t reproduce the panorama, but will try. Last day walking tomorrow.Read more