We arrived at Roncevalls today.; it was a long walk up the Pyrenee Mountains. We stopped at the statue of the Virgin Mary that overlooks the valley where we started our walk yesterday. My sister died in February of this year and I brought several of her rosaries with me to leave in various places along the trail in her memory. We chose a blue beaded rosary to hang on Mary's arm. And said a few prayers before walking back to the trail to joined the others as we walked towards the break in the fence on the boarder between France and Spain. It has a grated base that prevents the animals from crossing the boarder. Yes, mostly cows and horsees that roam freely from their farms that are located along the route.
It's a long walk up and down but with a welcome relief of food and drinks for sale about half way on the trail. A loca.l farmer provides the refreshments and we are happy to pay for them.
The final approach to Ronncevalles is a long, steep hill full of trees and you arrive at the Monestery at the bottom. On my 2015 Camino... my first.... I walked this trail in pouring rain and arrived fully covered in mud as I mostly "slid" down the hill from several falls. This time Jenn took me on a different and much safer route; a long twisting rockt road .... but no mud! We arrived tired but clean this time and we were amazed at the impovements in the Monestary. Many upgrades and well organized. The rain began just after we arrived but we were able to skirt the edges most of the time. We loved the new single beds and took advantage of the very inxpensive laundry that they did for the pilgrams. We had a good hot meal for dinner and breakfast in the morning. Plus they packed a lunch bag for us including a bottle of water.
No comments:
Post a Comment