It’s a standard start to the day, milling around in the dark packing up tents, then collecting our supplies to get us through. Coffee and croissants for a nervous breakfast and a trip to the epicerie for a wild camp dinner later.
There’s not much to do but start stepping our way up. Straight out of town on the Napoleon route the road starts climbing….and climbing….and climbing. St Jean is at 160m altitude and the top of our journey today is going to be touching 1400m so the climbing doesn’t stop. The day is heating up early as well which makes for tough work.
A few kms out of town we arrive at Honto which has a little vending machine to stop at. Honto to Orisson is the steepest stretch of 3km walking and 450m of altitude to gain. By the time we get to the restaurant/refuge at Orisson we are puffed out and ready for a break. Lunch is spent there with a cold drink and some cake to rev the engines a bit.
It takes an age to get through lunch we spend maybe 3 hours and eat far too much, celebrating/squandering our early gains with dessert that won’t feel good later, but it nails what we need. The place is filled with pilgrims, many will stop there for the night, unless you have a tent the two first day options are 11kms to Orisson or 26km to Roncesvalles, Orisson is a good choice to stop. Still, not for us. We continue up, it’s not quite as severe as our morning incline but we are soon over 1000m, it opens up and the terrain becomes very sub-alpine.
It is a slog. No doubt. The payoff is the staggering views 100kms back into France. The boys are monumental in working their way up the hill. Nate has limitless energy, Max is carrying a heavy pack but is managing his own pace perfectly. Alissa has no issues getting herself up either. Everyone is super impressive and we make pretty good time for us.
As we reach the Vierge de Orisson we take a break. The boys cartwheel and holler, Tom runs excitedly. We are tired, no doubt, but can’t stop smiling and take copious photos. It’s not over yet but there’s something truly spectacular in what we’ve done today.
We’re not quite sure where we’re sleeping tonight, there are only a couple of options to camp but we keep moving. Almost without realising it we pass in to Spain near the Fountain of Roland and it gives us all a second wind. We had half an idea to camp up here somewhere but there is a record of a mountain refuge not far away which we set our sights on.
Another 5kms of climbing and we stumble across a little stone hut with a fireplace and a couple of rough bunks near Col de Loepeder. The view stretches down the valley almost back to St Jean 15kms away and 1200 metres lower. We sit there exhausted yet elated watching the sun set on the most incredible view and know we’re experiencing something special. The feeling of watching the dipping sun over those hills isn’t really describable. The boys are fizzing at this point, happy tears flow freely (Alissa at least), everyone is so proud of themselves. A lifetime memory for sure.
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