Overnight - Albergue de Roncesvalles
Believe the elevation charts! This was one tough stage. The famed climb up the Route de Napoleon was everything it was built up to be. Some really demanding inclines started shortly after leaving St Jean and continued especially after Orisson, where I filled my water bottles but didn't linger. The payback in the views from the top of the Pyrenees was sensational. The descent that followed the 20 kilometre climb was similarly brutal in places, although I could have avoided the worst of the descent had I been able to understand the sign at the top of the mountain that evidently also suggested a much gentler option.
All in all, it was a very strenuous, but intensely satisfying, start.
And for a change of pace, after the albergue-sponsored dinner at a nearby bar, I attended the 8:00pm Catholic mass in a several hundred years old church. It was a very elaborately appointed, gothic cathedral adjacent to the albergue. Quite the experience.
Weather - The remnants of some overnight rain was apparent on the ground in St Jean but the rain itself had long gone by the time I’d set off. Any lingering clouds were burned off by the time the sun had risen and the rest of the walk was beneath a largely cloudless sky. A welcome cooling breeze kicked in toward the summit at Col de Lepoeder. By the time of arrival back down in Roncesvalles, the temperature must have been approaching the 30’s.
Health - There were no problems at all with the feet. The New Zealand wool inserts I’d brought along, and the new walking socks, seemed to have combined well. The knees were also behaving themselves, although the steep downhill section immediately after the peak really tested them out. Other than some fatigue, which quickly dissipated after a shower on arrival, the health is good.
Food - Breakfast at the hotel (orange juice, coffee, long bread roll with butter and strawberry jam); Gel; Apple; the remaining half of a 500g bag of jubes (purchased at Gatwick airport a couple of days back); 3 Coke Zeros at a Roncesvalles bar watching stage 6 of the Tour de France (it feels very odd watching this race in daylight and actually being awake when they cross the finish line); Communal dinner at a bar promoted by the albergue (bread roll, pasta, chicken with chips, tub of yoghurt)
Expenses (in Euro) - Accommodation - 12.50 (pre-booked and paid before I left Australia); Food/drink - 15.80; Other - 0.42 for the church collection (it was all the coins I had!) Total - 28.72
Walking time - 6 hours, 15 minutes (start 6:45am, arrive at accommodation 1:00pm)
Brierley distance - 25.1km (total - 25.1km)
Daily Steps - 44,659
Total Camino steps - 44,659
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