15th April 2024 Off to Roncesvalles

We were both up during the night – I think the beans didn’t do Steve any favours as his belly was quite upset and made it hard to sleep.  Eventually we got some sleep but it wasn’t really what we needed when we had such a big day ahead.

There was no indication at all that the sun was going to peek through the clouds but we headed to breakfast hoping we might come out to those wonderful rays but no luck at all.  It was fully clouded in and remained that way most of the day. 

Our bags were dropped off for collection before we headed off up the hill after collecting the cheese baguettes that would be eaten during the course of the day.

The clouds were quite tight around us as we climbed and we kept coming upon horses with bells around their necks – essential in this weather as we could only see them when they were within about 25m or so of the track.

We missed the statue of La Vierge du Chemin and all the beautiful panoramic views as we couldn’t see it (it is located about 100m off the track).

The food truck was a very welcome sight and his selection was terrific from fruit to juice to iced or hot coffees and teas right down to boiled eggs.  Egg for me and coffee for Steve we sat around on some logs and chatted with other pilgrims who had stopped for a break.  There was even a sign to a toilet which was just an area screened by tall rock walls.

The track was quite difficult today but the hardest part for me is that there were very few landmarks and no views to keep your motivation and interest high.  It was basically a slog broken only by the occasional horse, flower or newly emerging leaf. In fact, we were often questioning whether we were on the right track and only the appearance of a small post with red and white painting confirmed we were. Often it was very difficult to even see these as the clouds only permitted a small amount of forward vision.

We came across one of the Emergency shelters and there were quite a few people in there as the wind had picked up a lot and the temperature had dropped significantly.  We had on pretty much all the clothes from our backpacks so were very happy to get out of the wind for ten minutes or so.

We braved the elements and after more uphill walking reached the junction on the top and headed right as I had done last time, and which the Pilgrims’ Office had also advised.  It was rocky and steep in places, but we came out onto the road shortly after that and decided to stay on the road rather that cutting across between the hairpin turns as Steve was having a few issues with his knee.

Steve’s knee decided to become quite painful a little while later on the descent into Roncesvalles so we stopped for a while for him to take some painkillers before continuing. We finally reached the church Iglesia de San Salvador de Ibañeta and the Monument for Roldán and this meant we were finally getting close to Roncesvalles and were getting below the cloud cover.

Down a sometimes-slippery path past a lovely stream we entered Roncesvalles before heading to our hotel (built in 1725) and getting to our room.  This was a very welcome stop as we were both very tired and hadn’t had anything to eat really since breakfast – apart from sharing one of the cheese rolls.  A few glasses of water then it was time for showers and doing the washing then we headed downstairs (thankfully this place has a lift!) to catch up on photos, blogs and vlogs!

We had the three-course standard dinner in the hotel’s restaurant and it was delicious – local produce and cooked beautifully – I had the warm salad with piquillo peppers followed by the lamb with chilindron sauce and finally the Basque cake.  The salad was delicious – the peppers were sweet and juicy and served with tuna, boiled egg, white onion sections (mild and sweet), olives (sweet and juicy) and delicious Navarran white asparagus.  The lamb is very different from Australian lamb (which I prefer) but it was what I felt like at the time.  The basque cake was the finest example I have had so far this trip, and the taste of almond paste was quite strong.  Steve had the Mushroom risotto, the Iberian pork cheeks in red wine and the Panna Cotta and we both left the table nicely full as the servings were not too large.

We ran into the Irish ladies and it turns out they had taken the left turn not the right at the top of the hill and had followed the more dangerous and steep path but had actually got lost and ended up walking another 5 kilometres to a small farm where they asked for help and ended up coming to Roncesvalles by taxi – another tale to tell!

Tomorrow they are predicting a new record low for this time of the year.  It will be a maximum of 7 degrees with 85% chance of rain ALL DAY. We have our wet weather gear out and also some extra layers just to stay warm as well.

Let’s hope we have a good night’s sleep as we both need it – off to Zubiri tomorrow.