From Borda, over the border

4/9/23 Day Two

Borda to Roncesvalles. 16km, 4.5 hours, 600m elevation.

We had a lovely breakfast at Borda and said goodbye to Laurent, off to conquer the rest of the Pyrenees. The scenery was beautiful, and we were accompanied once again by the sound of the grazing animals bells.

Shortly before we crossed the border into Spain, we visited the humble Virgin of Orisson. There were circling birds of prey which made the whole scene quite ethereal.

Stopped for a cafe con leche at the food truck, and caught up with Susan from NY, and Cristina from Sweden, who gave us some salted licorice to try. After a while we stopped for lunch and a sock change.

The descent into Roncesvalles was swift and steep, 200m over 5km in strong winds. We stayed at the Roncesvalles-Orreago monastery which is very well set up to accommodate large amounts of pilgrims each day, it has a 200 bed capacity.

Before dinner, we checked out the grounds, viewing the cloisters, church attic (rood loft?), and chapter house. In the chapter house we found King Sancho the Strong's tomb, as well as Thoughtful Dan.

We paid $14 euro to stay, $12 for the pilgrims dinner, $5 euro for breakfast, and $6 euro for picnic lunch because we really wanted the souvenir lunch bag.

After dinner I went to the 8pm pilgrim's mass at the Collegiate Church of Santa Maria (which included Eucharist) and then off to bed before another big day.