Lights out at 10:00 pm and Donna lies on her bunk awake all night because she is a light sleeper. Needless to say the sounds of snoring from all the free red wine and biological repercussions from lentils made for a musical ensemble.

Lights on at 6:00 am and get the heck out of the albergue by 8:00 am. Sue and I decided to take it slow because of the lack of sleep, and the altitude. It was “RFD” (rain, fog, drizzle). Rain was sideways and the climb was treacherous. We even saw snow.

When we hit the Spanish border the weather began to clear slightly but it was slippery and still foggy. Even with the inclement weather  we had some laughs.

It was very cold but we were determined to get to Roncesvalles.

I heard this morning that 2 guys from Edmonton took the wrong path and had to be rescued. The signage is good in places and not so good in others.

Passing the Virgin of Orisson we came across a pop up cafe which was awesome as we had another 5 hours of hiking and we needed some warmth and protein. We had boiled eggs and a café con leche. Just what we needed.  As they say the Camino will provide.

Hiking the Pyrenees is challenging but we figured that after what we accomplished the day prior to Orisson would make for a good day. We reached the top and the steep decline was hard on my knees. This little fellow sent me a message to go it slow.

You can prepare all you want for this but then adding in the elements adds to the experience. I am very thankful for my poles. Sue and I stuck together as the rule of hiking is not to go it alone.

As we descended we spotted the monastery we hoped we would be staying in tonight. 21 kilometres later we landed at the front door asking for a bed and thankfully there was one. We had to line up for 1 hour to get our passport stamped, grab our bed 187 beds over 3 floors and dinner ticket for 20 euro.

Sue and I had a café con leche and a brandy (Carlos III) for 3.40 euro. Of course this was after a hot shower. Dinner was horrible but our beds were awesome!

After dinner we headed to the church for the Pilgrim Mass where the priest announced all the countries that were walking and blessed us all in our own language. It was very special.

Unfortunately a room with 60 beds with men and women made for another sleepless night. Little did I know that the next day would be even more challenging.