Day 2 Up & Over the Pyrenees
Day 2 | Sept 10 Destination: Espinal ….with 774km to go.
“The earth has music for those who listen.”
-William Shakespeare
Slept like a rock last night (for 5 hours). Everyone up and at it early as one must be out of the allbergue before 8 am and on the road. You can’t find a better albergue- Lauren bought the property - an old farmstead and added to it beautifully. This is his livelihood now. Today’s trek will add another 200m of vertical and take us to our zenith in altitude over the course of a 6 hour day. Goal is to make it to lodging in Espinal. I will take it especially easy today - I forgot I had walking sticks yesterday. I also discovered a bunch of weight snuck into my pack from ‘stuff’ I forgot to weigh 😳
Success ! Wet, drizzle, solo walking, beautiful - hiking sticks VERY needed - mucho thanks to those who told me BUY THEM.
Pilgrims dinner was good, conversation deep & meaningful. Got to know Max, Dillon, & Britt more - Nederlands, Deutschland & America.
Longggg day. A great day of solitude & new friendships
Destination Espinal; Albergue Rural Haizea **
‘Wabana’ light this a.m. leaving Albergue Borda.
Notice ‘signage’ on rock (red white stripe)- better not miss it! Yes, this is the trail over the Pyrenees. Difficult to get lost, but not impossible
Very few pilgrims on this stretch ahead of or behind me in France before the Spanish ‘border’ into Navarra
Niebla (fog) frequently greeted my mornings. This looks level but in fact it is straight downhill - you would roll until you hit a tree to stop !
In Espana now… this is the only signage confirming I left France some steps before
The famous mileage selfie…with a daunting number of kms to go
My new Basque friends enjoying each other on their weekend days off. Speaking Basque, Spanish, and learning English. It moved me every time I saw young people and school children out and about being kids in the midst of a worldwide pandemic! Mostly, they are just shrugging it off and happy being outside
