Warning - Basque Food Porn - The French Side

St. Jean Pied-de-Port is where the Camino Frances begins, where most of all the Pilgrims from France arrive from their various other paths, whether they started in Arles, Paris or Lyon, or from countries further north or east.

They choose here to cross the Pyrenees Mountains, saying adieu to Frances and 'ola to Spain. There are other crossings depending on which Camino one does. For example, there is the Somport Pass, from Oloron in France to Jaca in Spain, a route favoured by Romans since the were known as Romans instead of Italians. Then there is the Portalet Pass as little to the east, both of which join up at Jaca. Then there is another border crossing on the coast, but as that does not cross the Pyrenees Mountains, that would be an entirely different sort of Camino.

We have chosen St. Jean Pied-de-Port, which means at the foot of the pass ("port"), where both Charlemayne and Napoleon took their troops over the mountains, the former before there even was a town. The actually took slightly different variations tot he route. Charlemayne took the valley route and Napoleon, not surprisingly, took the most difficult trek over the highest part. the Romans for their part like this route as well, for it meant they could control the element of surprise. It was also the safest route from ambush and theft, which is why pilgrims favoured it too. The lower route through the valley became notorious for pilgrims being beaten and stolen from.

Both passes join at Roncesvalles, although it takes 26km and a climb of 1500m for the one and 24km and a climb of 1000m for the other. The other difference is there are two small towns on the lower pass, Arneguy and Valcarlos, while none exist on the high pass. In bad weather it is not only recommended but demanded that one avoid the high pass, although of course some pilgrims don't take lightly to demands. On the other hand, although the lower pass has some shelter from wind and rain, it also includes stretches that have to follow along the main highway, as vehicle drivers tend to prefer long and winding to impossible climbs.

Given all that, and the weather forecast for storms tomorrow, we shall take the lower road, and arrive at the Spanish Border 8km quicker. We will also stay overnight in Valcarlos for Roland's sake (to be discussed later!)

In the mean time we have prepared our pilgrim's passport with a commencement stamp at the Pilgrim office, a kindly volunteer drilled holes in our scallop shells (that we brought from B.C. beaches) so they could be tied to our packs as all Camino pilgrims do, and we have split our time between practice hiking up hills and eating vast quantities of French Basque foods, such as brebis cheese, roast lamb with red peppers, chargrilled duck, trout with garlic and parsley, iberian ham and white asparagus, robust black pudding and baguette toasts, local Irouleguy wine, cider, chicken in tomato sauce, fois gras and greens, country pate, and Basque cake, with its almond-flavoured custard between two pastry-like layers. And a glass of champagne because it is our 27th Anniversary!