Made it over the Pyrenees

Wow, that was probably the most challenging day I have ever experienced!  I made it to the village of Roncesvalles (valley of thorns) in one piece after crossing the Pyrenees from France into Spain, starting in St Jean at 6:30am arriving at Roncasvalles at 5:30pm.  There was a 1300m ascent to the pass, then steep 500m descent for the last two hours.  It was hot, the sun was high, and my pack heavy.  My body is in shock.  Luckily the other Camino pilgrims are helpful and encouraging; we are all travelling together as a family.  So now I sit in a pilgrim hostel in an old monastery, tummy full, and planning to go to bed soon.  My wounds today range from foot blisters to a huge welt on my lower pack where my pack rubbed.  And I mean HUGE welt.  Tomorrow I will walk towards Zubiri but depending how I feel I may stop at intermediate accomodation.  This is not a race of course and I don´t want to wear myself out completely on Day 2.

A neat side note about today... the route I followed was the Route de Napoleon, and has been used not only by Napoleon but also as a route across the Pyrenees by many other groups in the medieval period.  Much of the route is high and open, as opposed to other routes in deep dense valleys below the peaks where it was easier to be ambushed in the medieval era.

Nearing the pass over the Pyrenees, still in France at this point

Taking a break in the shade, utterly exhausted and light headed, but still 4km descent to go