The Pyrenees and Roncesvalles

So today I crossed a mountain range on foot. Because I´m AWESOME.

It was beautiful but nearly pure hell in every other way. I got some awesome pictures, though none of me weeping bitterly every time I got to the crest of a rise and found that the path just turned around the mountain and kept going UP. Some of the inclines were EXTREMELY steep and they seemed never to end.

(Happy happy - back on a QWERTY keyboard!!)

This morning, after almost NO sleep (10 in the room, M&F, every creak and snore and noise from the window woke me up), I got some honey-flake-type cereal and a bit of coffee, grabbed a wrapped sandwich for the road, and hauled out of town. Dunno why I was in such a hurry...think I was trying to catch up with Clara. Glad I never did. She´s beast. Anyway, I walked alone for a while, and then with Karl the Belgian for a while, and then with two little old ladies named Mimi and Jocelyn, also I think from Belgium, one of whom was wearing a bundle of weeds and ferns and grasses for a hat, looking like some little grass nymph. They went really slow and stopped a lot, and advised me to do the same. Met up with a Mississippian named Joe and then an Austrian named Christa. None of them stayed with me for long...most passed me...but Christa moved slow enough for us to keep pace the rest of the day.

The mountains just never ended. I passed a house with a long red roof that ran right along the rising hillside behind it, and I think I probably took about five more pictures of the same house as it got smaller and farther below me.

Did I mention STEEP?? And NEVER ENDING?? You just can´t imagine. Loose rocks didn´t help. In some places the grass on the path was surprisingly thick and green, presumably because it feeds upon the blood, sweat, and tears of pilgrims. The views of the valley were breathtaking...when I´m not on a 20 minute time limit, dwindling to 6 minutes now, I´ll see if I can figure out how to download some pics.

When we FINALLY reached the end of the upslope, we found something far worse. It was 3pm, and we had two roads to choose from: a paved road sloping gently down the side of a mountain, and a dirt and rock road heading STRAIGHT down the mountainside at a suicidal tilt, complete with loose rocks and tree roots. After 10 hours climbing mountains. Guess which one had the arrow and which had the X (meaning wrong way)? YYYYEAH. So down we go, at a snail´s pace, thighs trembling, knees giving out, toes smashed against boots, blisters rubbing, dappling light making the loose rocks and tree roots even more treacherous than normal...DISASTER. And NO signs to let us know how much farther. Rolled both ankles twice but managed to not get any major injuries.

Long story short (because so is 3 minutes), made it in to Roncesvalles and have a bed in a giant cathedral with 160 bunks or so...heard a Spanish mass with a Pilgrim´s blessing, and got fed. Tomorrow´s trek, only 22 km, would like to go farther but should shut up since God only knows how I´ll feel tomorrow when today has time to set in.

But the bottom line is, I MADE IT OVER THE PYRENEES. Bragging rights forEVER. Lovin´it.

Last notes: still no hat, didn´t use sunscreen so shoulders and face are warm, and finally got a shell. More tomorrow...should be a much shorter day.

Love you all!!!