Day 2 - onward to Burguete

We began our day with a somewhat disappointing breakfast in St Jean Pied de Port due to the lack of a menu and French language skills on our part.

Then we headed over to the tourist office where our shuttle van picked us up to drive us back to the monument of the Virgin of Orisson where we had been picked up the day before. Unfortunately, I don't have any pictures of the statue because visibility was so poor. I'd hate to be responsible for driving a van load of people up the winding road in dense fog while also avoiding the pilgrims walking on the road!

At first the only issue was poor visibility, but then we also had rain and wind. Fortunately there were breaks in the rain, but it was a bit of a slog, but without the extremely steep uphill climb of the prior day.

Part of the time we walked through a lovely forest on a path that could only be described as mulch. I don't know how thick the layer of leaves was, but it was kind of fun and bouncy to walk on. Along the way we heard cows, goats, sheep, and horses, and could sometimes see them despite the fog.

We walked past Roncesvalles which is where most people stop for the day because we had reservations in Burguete about 2 miles down the road at Hostal Burguete where Hemingway stayed when he was in the area. I regret not taking a picture of the beautiful well word staircase where Hemingway once walked.

We had a fantastic "pilgrim meal" at a restaurant down the road - lentil soup, delicious roasted chicken, and carrot cake accompanied by a nice bottle of red wine all for only €12 - including the wine! A far superior and more plentiful meal than we had had in France and for much less money too.Read more