Going to Church in the Mountains

April 24, and tonight we´re in Spain! What a ride! Our first day into the Mountains was thwarted by dense fog, and our arrival at a Hostel that had no room for us. They carted us back down the mountain, packed in a car and speeding down narrow winding roads, on steep edged mountains and on a road a little wider than a driveway. Needless to say, it was the most dangerous and exciting thing that has happened to us, but St. Iago was looking after us and kept us on the road, with the help of the young woman driving.
The next day, we had to do it all again in reverse, this time, playing skittles with the many pilgrims who were wandering up the mountain to arrive at the place that we had left off the night before! From this location, at Orrison, we restarted our hike to Spain. THe route was exhilarating, to say the least (I can´t upload pictures from my current location, but we took endless numbers of them.) Cheryl and I were totally pumped by the scenery and spent the entire day off the trail and hiking along all the summit ridges we could find. Beautiful views of the Interior of the Pyrennes and us looking down at the pilgrims proceeding on the road below us, and far below them, the fields and towns of the valleys. We were walking along broad backed ridges with long cornices stretched along them. We got to about 1600 metres, with the trail itself eventually topping out at 1440. That is all from St. John Pied which is only about 250 metres!
Eventually we crossed the Spanish border and the steeples of Roncevalles appeared below us, the Refugio especially dedicated to Pilgrims. If ever we visited a great church, there has been none greater than the one we hiked through today, with the sky as its vault and the mountains as the alter.
Steeply descending we arrived in the Refugio, a small town really, centered around providing lodging and food for Pilgrims and guarding the route over the pass as it has done for 1500 years, since long before the rediscovery of the bones of St. John. After lounging around in the heat of the afternoon, we were processed like cattle and then assigned bunks in an enormous stone refuge, which turned out to be one of our most comfortably warm locations on our whole trip!!
Cheryl and I missed it, but Joan and Jola attended the mass for Pilgrims which was held at 8 pm that night. A special cermony was held by four priests, the massive organ was played in the great hall of the church and a role call was made of all of the countries represented by the pilgrims in Roncevalles that night. It was a broad list from across the planet, and there were probably over 150 pilgrims resting in Roncevalles that day!
Now we are half way to Pamplona, hiked through rolling forest land, and adapting to the variation in travel that Spain offers. Everything from rooming to meals to language and food, has all changed slightly. Still only one kind of Beer though....and 250 kinds of wine! Now we are also travelling with many more pilgrims who have started the trip in the last day or so, from one side or the other of the Pyrennes.
Tomorrow....Pamplona, Joan has assured us that she would like to participate in the running of the bulls.....but Cheryl asked her in Spanish and she MAY not have understood....
Hopefully, we´ll soon be able to add some pictures to our journey, which is currently SPECTACULAR.