a brief visit to St Jean de Pied Port - SJdPP

September 2011-Grainne and I and the 2 husbands decided that we would meet up in France  share a few days together before they continued their main holiday in the pretty little village of Port Bourgenay. We decided to make a brief visit to Bordeaux and then continue towards the beautiful city of Bayonne where we spent 3 nights in farmhouses on the edge of the city.

Farmhouses were fabulous, as was the weather. Regrettably the summer months in Ireland had been extremely wet so is was wonderful having warm sunshine. In fact is was very hot sunshine!

The shells were appearing again on the routes through the west coast of France so we couldn't resist the chance to visit the main starting point for the Camino Frances from our base in Bayonne when we were so close .

Here we are just after the coffee and cake break in the town of St Jean de Pied Port

                                                                                        

We visited the Pilgrim's office to gather information for our forthcoming walk and it was amazing to see so many people of all ages starting  from this point and planning to walk the entire 500 miles to Santiago de Compostela. Most  were carrying huge backpacks, walking poles etc.

Now we had got this far, we just couldn't resist driving a circular route towards Roncevalles then Pamplona and back to Bayonne via San Sebastian. On route to Roncevalles we saw the pilgrim route crossing the road at many points on this absolutely gorgeous day. We also became aware that this is probably one of the most challenging parts of the "Way" for walkers and that the section we were planning was physically a bit less challenging. Who knows though?maybe some day ..........?

We stopped near Roncevalles for a walk around, the views were stunning, it was very windy and we spoke briefly with 2  ladies from Finland who were on their first day of walking.



Looking a bit windswept at the top of the Pyrenees



We  stopped a while on the outkirts of Pamplona to pick up a picnic by which time the temperature had reached a staggering 36 degrees. We had to search for shade to eat our picnic!

Finally  we returned  to Bayonne with a brief stop in St Jean de Luz back in France. After our days in Bayonne were over the journey back northwards commenced.  After a short stay in Port Bourgenay for me and the husband, we would be going back to Roscoff for the ferry home leaving Grainne and the husband to complete their holiday.

Before this however another encounter occurred with the shells! After spending the day driving we hit the supermarket for something good to make for our evening meal. We settled down to have a cuppa while the dinner was a work in progress. The painting hanging on the wall, yes, there they were again- the scallop shells, another sign for us!

Are we following the shells or are THEY following us ???