Day Three Saint Jean to Roncevalles

This day is known to most as the hardest walk of the entire Camino. That is quite intimidating to anyone, but you have to begin sometime and we did with Jodi, our Aussie friend we met in our hostel. We passed the mother daughter from California just as we crossed under the Spanish gate out of the old city and began the walk up.  It was cloudy but not raining at the start. We had very pretty, misty views back into the valleys of France. Our walking pace got us to Hunto and Orrison rather quickly, so we stopped here for a coffee and the last restroom break before the end of the day. By this point it was lightly raining and we put on our rain jackets and continued up into the mist and clouds. 

I am sure the views from this area are gorgeous, but we saw nothing but white 40 feet all around. This made for very little reason to stop and everyone was feeling very good so we kept going and got into an area of significant wind and mud. At its start was a food truck giving stamps and offering food and hot drinks for sale. We all were getting cold and could really have used the warmth, but we went on.  Soon the trail leveled into a very muddy road and crossed over into Navarra and Spain at the fountain of Roland. By this point there were about 10 of us all picking our way through the mud. Soon we began to see better and our Irish trio from Dublin passed us and made sure we followed the safer, less muddy way going down. This ended up being part road and part trail, but Roncevalles soon came in view as the sky cleared a bit and we could see the monastery and alberge. They have built a new very modern albergue here and it was amazing how nice it is. Dutch hospitaleros were volunteering and we soon got our bunks and showered and washed clothes. Also we went into the old alberge that is still set up as on large dorm room for overflow. For dinner, we had the pilgrim menu at La Posada, the restaurant that was used in the movie as the first alberge. It was a community dinner with a Catalan couple and our Aussie compadre. Soon we went to mass and received the pilgrim's blessing as millions before have as they started the pilgrimage in Spain. The priest then kindly gave all of us a tour of the crypt and the cloisters and the choir loft and finished the tour with a short video a pilgrim stating there had just made of his camino. Soon though we dragged ourselves back up to our beds and quickly went to sleep. 

I was so proud of how David did and how he talked so much with Jodi. It was fun to walk slightly ahead and listen to them talk about cultures and other topics. She is a psychologist that had a family wedding in late June in Paris, so decided to walk to Burgos on the Camino. She has been good company and David seems to enjoy the friendship.