Walking into Spain (Fr 6 Sep '13)

Up at six to get an early start on today's climb over the Col Leopard into Spain. This is called the Route Napoleon because Napoleon used to march his troops into Spain following this route.  No, they were not making a pilgrimage to Santiago.

Breakfast was very simple: bread, butter, jam and ... soup -- or so I thought.  In the middle of each place setting was a soup bowl and those already seated had soup in it.   I asked my neighbour where he got the soup and he pointed to a large metal urn with a spigot -- looked like a coffee urn.  I poured some into my bowl and then the chef offered to pour some hot creamy stuff into it.  That's when it dawned on me that it was a bowl of coffee -- cafe au lait.   Tasty!  I learned that that is what you get  when you order cafe au lait in France in the morning.  We had a good laugh about the soup.

We left just after the sky lightened up -- 8 something.  Some left as early as 5:30, using headlamps to light their way. 

In contrast to yesterday's sunny 30+ degree day, today was cool, with low cloud/fog -- perfect for hiking.   The countryside was cloaked in mist which added a touch of mystery to our climb, but we could often just make pilgrims ahead of us snaking their way up and up.  This is one of the toughest sections of the Camino, partly because of the terrain and partly because many people are carrying far too much and/or haven't prepared themselves physically.

Heading out in the early mist:

Philippe (Ottawa) and Rosa (Korea):

Line of pilgrims fading into the mist.  Hard to see, but the nearest one is wearing a poncho -- very typical rainwear for pilgrims:

This cross is a famous landmark near the top.  At this point, you leave the road behind:

The only fountain on the way up, popular with four-footers as well

Jan joining the queue.  She had to wait a long time because the guy ahead of her drank like a horse:

Jan surging too early, mistaking the cattle crossing ribbons for the finish line:

Trail down to Roncesvalles through beech forest, one of the last remaining stands in Europe:

25 kms down, only 790 to go

Our packs are very light and we'd done a ton of walking to prepare ourselves over the past few months, including hikes in the mountains surrounding Vancouver, so we hoped we'd do okay getting through this leg of the walk and it turned out great.  Much easier than we expected.

Jan and I have been suffering from a cold the past few days and it's meant restless nights, coughing etc that we know disrupts the sleep of others sharing our room. So we were hoping to pick up some meds in Roncesvalles to relieve some of the symptoms.  Unfortunately, it's a tiny village -- only 90 people (although over 200 pilgrims will stay the night!) so no pharmacy, so we pressed on to the next town, Burguette, made famous by the fact that Hemingway used to like staying here for days at a time to fish in the local stream.  

Pretty town of Burguette:

Pharmacies in Spain are completely over the counter operations.  You can't wander the aisles and find what you want.  You must ask, and with our limited Spanish and a bit of miming we came away with some medicine that worked well.  No pilgrim hostels in Burguette, so we walked up to a private home with a sign "habitations, chambres" and got a great room to ourselves, with a double bed and our own bathroom (first time in 10 days in Europe) and breakfast -- 35 Euros for both of us.  We slept like babes.  

Dinner was an adventure.  In Spain, restaurants don't open until 7 or 8 pm, so we are eating quite late.  I made a big blunder when ordering from the 3 course set menu in Spanish.  First course was a rice dish, but basically just a big bowl of rice, very dry and sticky, but I've decided to eat as much as possible in these situations, as you never know what the next course might be, or when you might get your next meal.  I like lamb, prepared any way, so ordered "Cardero" without asking the waiter how it was prepared.  When my second course arrived, I was shocked to learn it was a huge plateful of lamb -- but not the kind of lamb I was expecting -- it was lamb's LIVER, and the only other thing on the plate were cloves of garlic.  (The garlic was quite tasty).  I haven't had liver in years and don't actually mind a bit of it, but just couldn't eat forkful after forkful of the stuff, but managed to get through about half of it.  Dessert was spectacular and my motto is all's well that ends well and we left feeling good.