14th of August looked already like autumn. The fog had spread over night in the river valley of the Gave d’Oloron and made it look like a November day. Even the temperatures had dropped a lot overnight. After breakfast the fog had lifted a bit, but stayed still so low that the Pyrenees couldn’t be seen. Normally you can have a beautiful view from Sauveterre-de-Béarn as the terrace at the tower of Monréal is high above the valley. Down by the river a beautiful towered bridge mirrors in the river. There was the story that in medieval times a lady was thrown off the bridge to show that she was guilty, but she didn’t drown and came up to the surface again. After that she was dressed like a queen as she proved not being guilty.
Actually you would run more the risk to hit a rock under the water surface as the waters were so low below the bridge, but it beautifully mirrored the fortified city of Sauveterre-de-Béarn. We had to leave the valley of the Gave d’Oloron and get into the foothills of the Pyrenees which looked like Bavaria. Not only the landscape reminded us of being at a special place, but also the people had their own mentality. All the toponomy was given in two different languages: French and Basque. In Saint-Palais or Donapaleu as the locals would say, we wanted to get our stamp but the tourist office was closed until 2:00 in the afternoon. So a good reason to take a lunch break in town at the restaurant of the hotel du midi, which also means the noon place, but could also mean the south.
Our presence with our bikes drew its attention and there were tourists even taking photos of our bikes with the Saint James shells. A lady from Paris who had visited her cousin at the hotel was very interested in our project. She told us that she escaped from the coast to the inland because it was so crowded by the beaches and expensive that she didn`t enjoy it anymore. Even inland she mentioned the crowds of people due to the fact that families want to swim in the rivers in that heat because the beaches are closed due to a plague of jellyfish.
After lunch we got our stamp at the tourist office and the recommendation of making reservation already at the Pilgrim hospice at Roncesvalles, where we probably will be the following day. The stamp she gave us showed the stele of Gibraltar. A place close by where three ways of Saint James unite to continue as one to be the Camino Frances starting from Saint-Jean-Pied-de-Port. We had to make extremely steep climbs and wonderful downhill rides on paved roads, which let us just roll through rolling hills towards the setting sun.
Passing through the city gate of the citadel of Saint-Jean-Pied-de-Port we were suddenly confronted with masses of tourists while we were looking for our pilgrim’s hostel. It was only a small door and a long narrow corridor in a medieval house we had to pass through with our bikes. We had to completely unload the bikes, because if not we wouldn’t have fitted through. The nice lady from the hostel called Janis was very understanding as she already had two Dutch bikes parked back in her back yard.
We climbed with our stuff up to our room on the second floor and grabbed our towels and soap to take a wonderful shower after this hot day. After dinner we left for a nice walk up to the citadel to enjoy the beautiful sunset. We were very happy with what we had acheaved by now, and surprised by ourselves being now on the Camino Frances although we always thought we would do the Atlantic coast at first. But now changed our plans due to the busy coast during the main holidays as tomorrow is Maria ascension.
That’s reason enough for the people of Saint-Jean-Pied-de-Port to celebrate all night long. There were festivals everywhere with different bands and groups. We enjoyed the life in the roads after sunset, but couldn’t stay too long as the hostel is closing its doors by 10:00pm. Back in the room the heat was still captured from the day and we had to open the window even with the risk of being eaten up by the mosquitos. Just sitting on our bed and writing our last postcards before leaving France made us soaking wet again from our sweat. Outside the party got louder and louder and we somehow tried to find sleep.
