Day Two. Orisson to Roncevalles
17 km 820m up 620 down
Yesterday up date Arrived after a steep climb at 5:45
The path was short but steep. There were some glimpses of views but low cloud obscured it mostly. Jean and I excited to be on the way but concerned at leaving late in r the day. Lovely green damp countryside. Flicks of sheep and goats and herds of cows. Finally arrived after many stops at 5:45.
Dinner at 6:30. Shared introductions after dinner and Sam (USA) aged ten sang and played the mandolin.
Got up after sleeping in the laundry. Warm and comfortable I got double bed Jean on camp stretcher. Breakfast and then off. Managed to score a pack cover which was great as morning came with heavy mist.
No views all day.
Highlight was coming upon a herd of horses on the road. I was being overly friendly and the stallion growled a low rumble. I quickly backed off.
We went up and up. As you can see from the photo there was snow at the top. We accidentally took the steeper faster path down which we hoped to avoid but it turned out ok and although muddy and rocky was mostly dry underfoot and not too dangerous. Arrived 4:15pm to a clean modern building catering for over 300. 280 the night we were there. Went to the 8:00 pm mass and pilgrim blessing. Very nice. Pick up laundry and went to dinner 8:45 pm. Some of our fellow pilgrims used their fork to help themselves to slippery pasta. Jean and I decided to give the pasta a miss.

Managed to lose two pairs of knickers under the table but did not realise til further down the track.

Bed lights out 10