Mio el Camino de Santiago de Compostela - 7

Day 7 Saint Jean Pied de Port -> Pamplona


Happy Easter!


Cloudy day with showers. Showers with snow.


So, as I have decided yesterday, rain or shine I've got to go. I passed by the church before leaving the town. I reached the mountains in a couple of hours. A cycling pilgrim passed me by. I actually this same guy yesterday when he arrived in Saint Jean Pied de Port. But then a second glance confirmed that he was clinging to a slow running car so he wasn't pedaling at all. I was jealous. I had to remind myself that I was on my own pilgrimage.


With snow droplets, the sight around as I went up was beautiful. But after a while I realized it's the Pyrenees mountains as it was now really snowing. To actually cross the snowy mountain was no joke. The road kept going up and the snow kept piling up. I had to walk my bicycle with its icy tires. Sometimes the snowfall was so hard that I could not see the road. I was afraid that I might head to a ravine. I tried to stick in the middle of the road. I switched on my bicycle's LED headlight on a blinking mode so I would be noticed by drivers of oncoming vehicles. Or so I hoped.


I could not walk up at a normal pace because I kept slipping down. My hands were beginning to ache from too much cold. I was wearing cycling gloves but these were not enough to keep my hands from frostbites. All of a sudden I encountered a barking dog. I thought it was the aggressive type so I immediately took out my camera tripod, extended one of the legs, held it like a sword and I posed like a knight ready to fight. But then I noticed that the dog stopped barking and was looking at me like with a big question mark on its face. The dog then continued and kept barking while moving away. I noticed though that it was not going back towards its owner's house, but was pointing me to the snow covered road markings. The dog was trying to show me the way! Not completely convinced, I tried to shoo it away. Instead, the dog kept going farther, showing me the rest of the way. It was as if the dog knows that I could not find the road buried in deep snow. A big help.


After hours and hours of walking alone up the snowy mountains, I finally reached the highest point to my relief. The snow on the road down was cleared off. I rode my bicycle with extra care because I know I could simply slip off course on this icy road. I stopped by at Roncesvalles to get a stamp and rest in a heated room. I even tried to put my frozen gloves on the heater. I spent some time in the church hoping for the snowfall to subside. The snow outside was knee-deep.


When I left the small town, the sky began to clear and the sun to shine but it was still so cold. My now wet gloves started to freeze again from the cold wind and I couldn't feel my hands. I could only hope that I don't use the bicycle breaks to stop because I couldn't move my fingers.


Hours of chilling snow and wind passed by before I finally found a fair weather. I arrived at Pamplona on a sunny afternoon as if the thick snow was only a dream. However, I arrived late in the city that I got no time to stroll around and take some pictures. It was getting dark outside.


I slept in a Refugio. It looked like a hospital but was, way, way well-equipped. Refugios provide the bed but not the beddings. I used my sleeping bag for the first time. Next to my bed is this German guy who wanted to have a conversation with me but he didn't speak English, only German and Russian. I, on the other hand, could only understand English, Filipino, Japanese and maybe some Spanish. He was a cyclist too. But with our limited hand gestures and mutually understood words, the conversation didn't last long. Well, I didn't mind. We don't have the same pace so I was pretty sure we won't meet again.
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