11 miles of walking brings us to 430 miles, overall. Actually, today was 11 miles walking and 4.5 miles driving. A long story, but we had to change where we stayed and got the new proprietor to pick us up. Diane’s shin, while continuing to improve, was in no mood for more miles.

We seem to have good internet today (hurray!), unlike yesterday when neither wifi nor cellular was working. The truly frustrating part was it was a grandchild’s birthday and we wanted to sing Happy birthday to him. While we tried, it wasn’t the connection we had hoped for.

Them changes: The sun continues to rise last and later each day. Always beautiful, but later.

Them changes:  The food. We started with lentils and sausages. Then Aubrac beef.  Then Aligot (mashed potatoes with stringy cheese), then duck (17 ways). Recently, the trend has been for eggplant casserole. Today, we saw our first green salad with tuna in it … a Basque/Spanish food. We’re must be getting close!

Them changes: The mountains.  Our first glimpse of the Pyrenees was about a week ago. The last three days, we’ve seen the mountains grow closer and closer.Right now, it appears as if there is only one valley, about 20 miles wide, separating us from the base of the Pyrenees. We’re ready!

Them changes: Music. After completing our walk today and awaiting the ride to the new place, we ate at a nondescript diner. 

Now, the food was good (this is France, after all), but the music was outstanding! The proprietor was playing some excellent Chicaco-style blues, with a little Texas blues thrown in for good measure. We could have stayed there the rest of the afternoon just to listen. Not a French experience, but really nice!

Enough for now.  Work to do …

Today was 9 miles. We now have 439 miles walked. Tomorrow is another shorter day and will bring us to our third and final rest day of this journey.

The day began with our fifth river crossing of this trip. We’ve crossed the Allier, the Lot, the Garonne, the Adour, and now the Gave de Pau river. 

There is (we think) one more river to cross before St. Jean Pied de Port.

Of note, we saw our first “fresh” field of sunflowers today. 

First, of pigs: Probably the most photographed porcine by Pelerins, “Rachel” (like “Welch”), is the permanent greeter at Arret et Aller Chambre d’Hotes.

She is a most gentle and gracious hostess, but wow can she snore! For the cows and horses around here, they attach bells to keep track of their whereabouts. For Rachel, just let her sleep and you know exactly where she is!

People: While the Camino Frances is probably more cosmopolitan, this Chemin does a fair job at representing a good representation of mankind. Beyond the usual suspects; French, German, American and Australian, we’ve met: Austrian, Norwegian, Swiss, Swedish, Danish, Japanese, Korean, Bolivian, and Canadian peoples.

We’ve seen children as young as 1 and women who are in their mid-80’s. We’ve seen families, friends, colleagues, father- daughters, mother-daughters, and just plain couples (like us).

It helps to speak some French and to be willing to learn a bit on the way, but it is definitely a life experience in meeting new peoples and having a new adventure or two.

Au revoir

Today was 7 miles, bringing our total to 446 miles, overall. We’re getting there!

Last night was spent at Gite Nadette, a comfortable accommodation, a bit off the beaten tracks. The pluses are:

• A nice meal and a bed.
• A terrific view!
• A very nice pool.
• A caring hostess. 

The challenges are:

• A bit off the beaten path (about 1.25 miles).
• Some peculiarities, which when understood, simply become an enjoyable part of the experience!

All in all, we had a great meal, a great sleep and a great time!

We’re continue to close in on the Pyrenees, visible above the morning fog at Gite Nadette.

As we walked along, we could see that the rolling hills and farmlands are starting to give way to foothills and forest. 

We are now in Navarrenx, a completely fortified village dating back to Roman times.

A bird, a pain, no it’s Super- Diane!

It seems that “Pinson” is the French name for a type of bird, similar to a Finch.

We’ve been told this by several French persons, but this time they showed us the info.

Pain: Diane’s shins continue the slow but definite trend towards improvement. This is a very good thing. We both wish the healing would go faster, but hey, at least she is able to continue walking. That is s big blessing!

Tomorrow is our third and last day off. Life is good! We’re have about 45 miles left to go to get to St. Jean,  in three walking days,  so a day off is a good thing.

Bill and Diane

Today was 0 miles hiked. Our total remains 446 miles, overall.

Today’s rest day is in Navarrenx, considered one of the most beautiful villages in France.

Okay, you’ve heard that before. Actually, we’ve traveled through about seven “most beautiful villages in France” on this trip.  The term is an official designation given to about 150 villages throughout France. These villages introduce themselves with signs like this one, from Montreal de Gers.

So, we’ve seen about 5% of them. Not bad …

Speaking of signs, here’s an always helpful public service announcement from your feet that we saw coming out of Arzacq.

(Hint: it’s about angry feet!)

And the animals, here’s a friend Diane made in the village of Eauze.

There has been an abundance of the cute varieties of animals. 

And we’ll close this out- takes review with a credit to Diane’s fighting spirit. Here’s a photo from Moissaic:

Maintenant, on va profiter de notre repos!

A demain!

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!