We started off with a pilgrims farewell at St.Jean Pied de Port and immediately started climbing out of town through a steep cleft valley with towering cloud covered Mtns in the distance.
It only took 8 kms to reach the Spanish border at Arneguy and with a few celebratory photos we settled in for some real climbing !
In hindsight the climb athough relentless wasn't actually all that bad with a good surface all the way and gradients of between 5-10% meaning in my case often a spare gear or two.
The scenery was stunning, with switchback after switchback revealing fantastic views back down the valley - apparently mostly missed by Henley who reported later as being mainly on auto pilot and in pure survival mode expecting the 30 km climb to finish him !
Misreading the route details I`d told Henley the climb was in fact 30 kms so was surprised myself when after 20 kms the summit at Ibbaneta, a lone church on an isolated plateau, came into view!
I knew it was the summit as a) it was icy cold b) pilgrim walkers were converging on the church from the Mtn forest and c) It said summit !
From there it was a quick 3km downhill to Roncevalles to grab a coke from a bar with a log fire (this is summer !), then sit outside in the chilly yet sunny conditions, check the route notes about the missing10 kms and wait for Henley.
After a good 30 mins H finally arrived in good health although worried about the possibility of 10 more kms of climbing.
When I told him that we had in fact done all the climbing for the day and that was only 6 kms to our accommodation for the night I thought he was going to break down in tears he was that relieved !
Our arrival at Burquete now only 45 kms from Pamplona, bought with it a new set of problems.
Henley (in charge of accommodation) after finding the French nearly impossible to understand was confronted with his first Spanish communication - in his words like Russian on heat !
After leaving me outside for 30 minutes in the cold he finally emerged to tell me he had booked a room - admittedly it has 4 single beds, but it does come with ensuite and WiFi !
After a couple of short cycling days we front some real Spanish riding tomorrow having to go through and then around busy Pamplona heading towards Puente La Reina and just maybe, given our earlier views of the condition of the Spanish Camino riding a little on the Camino itself !
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