Roncevalles to Akeretta - White Cows and Long-Haired Sheep

I lost two pages while trying to add pictures.  These first two posts belong at the very beginning of my blog.  Read these and then scroll down to find my June 22 entry.

 

St Jean Pied de Port - A Very Inauspicious Beginning

 June 19^th.  We arrived in St Jean Pied de Port after a long and circuitous journey - Ottawa - Toronto - Paris - Biarritz - Bayonne - St Jean.  The last leg up the valley by train was spectacular with thick forests, open meadows, craggy rock outcrops and a bubbling river.  When we arrived at the station in St Jean all the eager peregrinos with their large backpacks rushed off the train and scuttled up the hill to the auberge while Roxanne and I casually dragged our suitcases over the cobbled streets feeling somewhat smug as we knew we had a lovely hotel to go to.  Image our surprise and disbelief when we arrived at the hotel only to find it closed for the week!  After much deliberation we finally rang the doorbell and a reluctant inn keeper opened the door.  When we told him we had a reservation his only response was “No, no, no, no reservation - we are closed”.  Persistence played off, however, as while Roxanne stood in the street and guarded the luggage, I followed him inside and first pleaded then begged and finally insisted that he check his list of reservations.  This he did – reluctantly.  A few minutes later he bent forward, grasped his head in his hands and muttered several unrepeatable words under his breath.  Then after a few more seconds he looked up and said, “Please wait!”  Two hours later, after a great meal in a nearby restaurant, we returned to find a smiling host and a lovely room ready for us! 

June 20^th.  Next day we explored St. Jean, wandering up and down the cobbled streets, walking on the medieval wall that surrounds the city and climbing to the citadel.  From the citadel we had a magnificent view of the town, the valley and the mountains beyond.  Later we found the old bridge near the Porte d’Espagne and the 14^th century Gothic church, Notre Dame du Bout Pont.  Of course, we also made use of the many cafes and restaurants - especially for cold beers as it was ridiculously hot!  That evening brought the most violent storm I can ever remember with thunder, lightning, rain, hail and gale-force winds.  
 
Tomorrow we’ll pass through the Porte d’Espagne and cross the bridge as we head out into the mountains and up over the Col de Lepoeder at 1450m (4757ft).
 

… And On to Roncesvalles

 

 June 21^st.  Because of the storm we decided to take a taxi to Roncevalles the next morning and walk back up the Col de Lepoeder rather than attempting to cross it from St. Jean.  This we did, walking for about four hours in some of the most beautiful scenery imaginable.  The climb up to the top of the Col was rather steep but well worth the effort.  The views from the top were exquisite.  On the way down we stopped at the small chapel of San Salvador on the Pass de Ibañeta.  Originally built as a monument to Roland in the 11^th century it was rebuilt in the 20^th century as a simple chapel.
 

Now we are back in Roncevalles staying in a former monastery (the one described by Hemmingway in The Sun Also Rises) waiting for our special “peregrino dinner.”  The monastery, also built in the 11^th century, has served as a haven for pilgrims down through the ages.

June 22nd.  Today we walked from Roncevalles to Zubiri and later went on to Akeretta to find our hotel.  The first part of the walk was glorious - we started by walking along a lovely woodland path and then out into an open meadow.  Here we saw beautiful white cows and shaggy long-haired sheep.  All the cows had tiny calves and Roxanne thought this was significant because we had been talking about mothers earlier on the walk.  Not being the overly introspective type, I did not make that connection!  Roxanne makes connections all the time.  I do not.  The most I can say about connections is that walking through the meadow was an enormous deja vu for me from growing up in England.  I was surprised to find that I remembered the names of many of the wild flowers we saw along the way - buttercups, daisies, blue vetch, cow’s parsley, corn-flowers, wild orchids and deadly nightshade - not to mention the ever present duo of stinging nettles and dock leaves - stinging nettles produce a horrid and painful rash; dock leaves can be used to ease the pain.  They always grow together - isn`t nature wonderful!

 The first part of our walk from Roncevalles to Burguete followed the path taken by Jake Barnes and his friend Bill in The Sun Also Rises as they went on their famous fishing trip.  It would have been the path that Hemmingway himself used many times as he walked the same route (there is a large plaque to Hemmingway in Burguete).  What I find interesting is that although Hemmingway wrote extensively about this region, he never once mentions the Camino - even though the Englishman, Harris, walks over the mountains from St Jean Pied de Port to Roncevalles - almost certainly using the path that all the peregrinos use for the same walk.

 Later we passed through several deep, dark forests with very strange-looking and sometimes menacing trees (very Lord of the Rings!).  We finally arrived at Akerreta and at the beautiful Akerreta Hotel, built in the late 17-hundreds and lovingly restored by its present owners.  It was perfect because of its imperfections!  The owner proudly told us that it had been used extensively during the filming of the The Way and he pointed out the area of the garden where the communal feast was filmed.  It was also obvious that he had been very impressed with the actor, Martin Sheen.

 
Next day (today - June 23rd) we walked from Akerreta to Pamplona - a distance of 20kms - another beautiful walk.  Although we will not be here in Pamplona for the running of the bulls, it is still interesting to explore this charming old city.

Tomorrow we must leave early to walk to Puenta La Reina (about 25kms) over the Alto de Perdon where the famous peregrino statues dot the skyline and the wind turbines stretch for miles and miles across the horizon.