Orisson

At 7:30 a.m. we left to walk over the Roncevaux Pass -- above shows the end of Rue d'Espagne, which marks the beginning of the Road over the mountain. We're walking the Napoleon route, the steeper of two routes to get over the pass and the way we also walked in 2011. The optional route, Valcarlos, is at a lower elevation. 

Just as we did before, we're staying 1/3 up the peak in Orisson at the Refuge Orisson. It's around 4.8 miles almost straight up to Orisson from Rue d'Espagne.

Flowers by house near St. Jean

Up, up we go, slow and steady

After an hour's climb, there was a map of the valley that showed St. Jean and other towns.

Refuge Orisson, run by Jean Jacques -- 

another great pilgrim hostel!

To the right is the Road that leads to the refuge.

Fabulous views from the veranda

Refuge Orisson's water fountain ready to fill water bottles

Enjoying lunch with walkers Julia and Pat from Portland, Oregon

Jean Jacques prepares tables where pilgrims can rest and refresh.

In the afternoon we walked to the statue of the Virgin, Vierge d' Orisson (in Basque the "Statue de la Verge de Biakorri"). It's 6 feet tall and was supposedly brought from Lourdes by Basque shepherds. On the way we saw semi-wild horses that galloped across the road to another grassy field. 

Shells and other objects were left by the Vierge. 

We 'hitchhiked' back to the refuge, 'flagging' down a French couple. During the ride they told us about their travels in California. 

The communal meal at Orisson -- soup, pork, yoghurt, & French bread. A father and daughter from Tennessee sat across from us. They were walking the Camino for a couple weeks.