There were a couple of times through the night when I thought I was suffering a serious fever. The room was so hot I even opened the window to hang my head out and breath. It was only in the early hours when I visited the bathroom and found others panting in the hall way that I returned and opened the window completely to provide relief to the dormitory. I wasn’t dying after all! Nine pilgrims in one room – unimaginable for my non camino friends. Just another day on the camino.

So after recovering from heat stroke in the chill of the French Pyrenees we all headed up for a breakfast of bread cereal and bread 🙂 Here I was also offered vegemite by a kind hearted country woman. I drank my coffee and ate my toast (with vegemite) and headed out again with Michelle and Janine again going up up up in an undulating way. Thats how I describe it anyway. Up steep up not so steep up steep again. Onwards to the first stop at the statue of the Virgin Mary for second breakfast. Orisson had packed a sandwich for me which was ham and cheese. i was forward thinking enough to grab some butter at breakfast which Michelle had stowed in her food bag. The spork I had hidden away was useful for spreading butter but not helpful for much else with bread crust as hard as a timber chair leg!

The vultures were circling again however I think we all felt safe knowing there were many options they could choose for dinner that would be easier targets than us. I had lightened my pack and sent on a few kilos and was confident I could move with speed if required. I was not to be mistaken for road kill today. Although Michelle informed me the extra cheese I had bought was half a kilo and had she not taken that burden the added weight with the addition of energy giving chocolate would have sent the pack weight skyward and may have provided some resistance should the need to escape have arisen. I was under the misconception I was now an ultralight hiker. One day!

Anyway today was definitely more up than down again but at least the final leg was all down

We arrived at the converted Monastery at Roncesvalles to be greeted with a new lift to the third floor and a whole dorm of cama bajas! Single bunks with cabinets and skylights. Before dinner my neighbour Jacques from Corsica introduced himself and many others from Orisson and Beilari shared war stories of the day from where they were scattered across the dorm.

We headed to the bar with the hope of hot food to tied us over until dinner. Hot chips, croquettes, anything. Nope = Kitchen Clos ed. So I bought a beer, a Swiss Army knife and a block of chocolate instead. It’s not the wilderness you know – but at least I could now cut cheese and open wine! And keep my energy up with chocolate if required. I was also carrying a stash of bananas as anyone who has grown up near bananas knows they are an extremely lightweight capsule of goodness for emergency breakfast requirements. I will learn one day!