Now for the count and the amount:  Today was 12 miles, bringing our total to 458 miles overall. We crossed two more rivers, the Oloron and the Saison. Most noteworthy is the the Saison river is the former border for the Basque country … though many of the current Basque residents would object to the use of “former”.

After two nights in Navarrenx, we were rested and ready to get back on the road. It seems the town was ready to see us out and even sent a balloon to keep an eye on us to insure we were actually leaving! 

The walk today was as easy as a 12 mile walk could be, with cooler temperatures, forest covering, and a thoroughly level surface most of the way. Importantly, Diane’s shin was quiet (pretty much) the whole way! Praise God!

As we closed in on our stop for the night, we were greeted by the horse equivalent of Munchkins!

Okay, so they’re ponies, but they do remind me of Munchkins …

Two more days of walking before St. Jean. The excitement is growing!

Today was 15 miles, bringing our total to 473 miles, overall. Tomorrow we will have about 13 miles to complete the formal part of this journey.

We can almost touch the Pyrenees now.Our next stop, St. Jean Pied de Port means: St. Jean at the Foot of the Pass. We are close!

Today was 15 miles, but could have been longer had we not chosen a “bypass option”. These are noted in many of the guidebooks but really require a “buyer beware” sticker. They are not well marked, and will require a good deal of sleuthing to figure them out. Today, we took the detour down on the map below, after 13 (really, 11.3 plus 1.8) kilometers. 

Done correctly, it saves about 3 km of hiking and an additional serious climb. We had trouble finding the start of the detour, so I defaulted to Google maps, which only had a cursory knowledge (no cell signal to fill in the blanks).

Net, we did a bit of wandering but within 20 minutes we were confident that we were on the right path. The challenge was that another couple chose to follow us … but backed out after 15 minutes or so (they went back to the starting point).  Bill tried to track them down to assure them that the short cut was indeed working, but no luck.  It’s an important reminder that ultimately you are responsible for your own walk.

On the way, we encountered these ducks who seemed to be very frightened of Diane. Perhaps it had to do with Diane’s recent dining habits (can you say; magret, confit and pate?

Grandchildren are amazing! We have been blessed with 6 and were expecting the 7th in mid-October (we’d be home then). In typical youth style,  Natalie Wishart surprised us by arriving yesterday! We are so happy for her parents, Stephanie and Eric, and only wish we could have been there for that moment.

We did share the news with the 20 French men and women staying at the hostel we were at. They were properly happy for Natalie!

Regards,

13 miles today, bringing our total for the walk from Le Puy to St Jean Pied de Port to 486 miles. That is the formal end of our journey.

Okay, as explained, we are now in the Basque country. The Basque country, which spans both France and Spain, consider themselves semiautonomous; Basques first, then French or Spanish.

Last night’s gite (hostel) was run by a Basque couple who cooked us a Basque meal, told us Basque history, and sang several Basque songs. Here is a short piece of one of the songs (not really a worthy representation of the great singing)

The evening ended with a phenomenal moonrise, which was nearly full. 

Alas, the last day of hiking together had to come, so we hit the road. 

Diane led the way, pointing out the directions in both French and Basque languages. 

And in too short a time, we arrived in St Jean, where we started our first Camino four years ago. 

We will save our observations and thoughts for the next few days. For now, we will simply enjoy the moment.

So, here are the numbers: 486 miles walked, or 12.5 miles/ day of hikng. 48,400′ of climbing, or an average of 1,240′ of elevation gain/ day of hiking.

By prior standards, this was an “easier” Camino. On the Del Norte, we averaged 15.5 miles. For our first Camino,  the Camino Frances, we averaged 14.7 miles.

As anyone who’s ever done this knows, the is no such thing as an “average” day or  “easier” walk.  Each walk, each day has it’s own uniqueness and challenges. Just simply enjoy the beauty and ‘suck it up’ when it gets tough. When it is all done, you will be so thankful you chose to do the walk and to stick with it when it got tough.

For us, the toughest part has been the last few days. We have chosen to recover, first in Roncesvalles (the first stop for Pilgrims on the Camino Frances), then in Pamplona (the third stop for Camino Frances Pilgrims). It is by far the toughest thing for us to watch these adventurers going out to play … and us sitting on the sidelines. We ache to be out walking!

We saw this familiar sign in Roncesvalles and just knew we could do that! Hey, we did it in 2014. Not this year, though.

But this is recovery time, so we need to relax and ‘be tourists’. Blah! So, we make such poor tourists!

To all those who stayed with us through the walk, thank you so much. Your comments, thoughts, and prayers meant a great deal to us.

Bon Chemin and Buen Camino!