Walking again in the dew. It’s autumn and the weather is cool, over night the dew has settled heavily soaking our little tents to the core. Of course we are on the border with Spain so the sun starts beating down early and the temperature is on its way to 31. Hot again for our last full day in France.
It’s a much nicer track out of Ostabat through back tracks covered in trees. It takes only 4kms to reach Lauserre where we find a boulangerie for breakfast. It’s a much more on road adventure from there, in the heat of the day makes for a tough run. Nate suggests an option for lunch but with us forgetting it’s Sunday we decide to bypass as we have only been moving for an hour. Everything seems closed after that for most of the day and by 3pm the sun is beating down and we are feeling it. Lesson learned, take food when it’s on offer.
We crawl into Vieux St John only a handful of kms from our final destination and flop at the only open bar in sight. After downing any and all drinks on offer and revived on peanuts and other bar snacks we are eventually ready to move again.
Not long later we arrive in St Jean marking the halfway point in our Camino. 760kms down and just a bit more than that to go. It feels like an accomplishment, there’s a part of me that wishes we started here and now we would be finished but that passes quickly. It’s a new adventure again, new places, new language, new country.
St Jean Pied de Port is pretty, small, but bursting at the seams with a far more international group of excited pelerins just starting out. Feels very alive, very positive, and the people all look so clean, so to speak. We do not. We had planned for a rest day here to regroup, but not really needing it and looking at the weather forecast we realise that we can’t wait, tomorrow is blue skies and sunshine and the next day a storm is forecast to set in. Tomorrow it is.
We camp at the edge of town at the municipal, getting some washing done then head for a quick meal out, surrounded by these shiny new pilgrims.
Only the small matter of climbing the Pyrenees tomorrow.
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