Day 10 : Saint-Jean-Pied-De-Port

Day 10 : Saint-Jean-Pied-De-Port, originally uploaded by raoul_dewinne.

A long biking day again of more than 90 km, I'm getting used to it, as a matter of fact I'm getting better at it by the day, however my sweet lovely passenger seems not to get used to distances above 70 km. Sure the biking was not very flat - today we had to overcome a total accumulated ascent of 735 m, which is as if we climbed Belgian's highest 'mountain' starting from sea level - whatever that means. Nevertheless, all these hills add up and some of them were pretty long and steep (7 to 9%). We were thankful again to our friends, Guido and Yes, who liberated from some not-so-useful luggage. The more you bike the less you get attached to things you have to carry yourself. And by now we even feel sorry that we didn't get rid of even more baggage - weight is really a killer variable in this mountainous terrain. Saint Guido where are you?



It was getting warmer and warmer (27 C) and I made a mistake not buying lunch in the city of Dax where we started the day. Village after village turned out to be a ghost village, no people on the streets, no people to keep the shops open either - OK I know, France is on holiday this month but that doesn't mean that we don't need lunch!



The prize of the day goes to the person who recognized the Belgian flag for the very first time this trip - a savvy Frenchman saved the honor of his country.



We came across a so called pilgrim's cross, which is a cross on which passing pilgrims can lay down a small stone (supposedly to have been carried from home). As I explained my honey, that stone represents the worries and troubles the pilgrim wants to leave behind. Unfortunately we didn't bring such a stone with us, "Yes, I did" my honey said, "Really?" I asked, "Yes, you...!" she joked, since she finally realized that - not knowing what to expect - she blindly has followed me into an out-of-the-normal way to celebrate our 25th anniversary. Another proof that love is blind, but a proof of love indeed :-)



But today's excitement culminated in the name of the destination: Saint-Jean-Pied-De-Port, a name almost as mythical as Santiago de Compostela. The earliest recorded pilgrims from beyond the Pyrenees had traveled to Santiago de Compostela in the middle of the 10th century, but it seems that it was not until a century later that pilgrims from abroad were regularly journeying there in large numbers. By the early 12th century the pilgrimage was a highly organized affair. Three established pilgrimage routes from starting points in France (Tours, Vezelay and Le Puy) converged in the Basque country of the western Pyrenees in Saint-Jean-Pied-De-Port. From here on a single combined track crossed the Spanish border, called El Camino Frances.



Although we had met, now and then, a lonely pilgrim so far, here you only meet pilgrims. Hikers and bikers from all over the world. At last we no longer feel abnormal :-))

The local St-James Association had registered 74 different nationalities in 2005! That Belgium and other Western European countries are in the top-10 is quite normal, but that Canada was in the 5th place and the U.S.A. in 9th is quite remarkable, but also South American countries like Brazil were high up in the ranking - or how tiny medieval Saint-Jean-Pied-De-Port remains a truly international focal point for more than a thousand years.



But despite all those amazing facts, my honey was completely exhausted. And this time, even a romantic dinner place on a terrace next to the river could not make her really feel better since we were right across of the beginning of the steep long climb that was patiently waiting for us next morning. Our toughest nut to crack was still to come! Watching my honey's face and reading her thoughts made me think of a creative plan B. But first, let's have a good night's sleep.