Day 39 - A Return to the Camino Frances : Ostabat to Saint Jean Pied de Port

Well, today we connected the dots by arriving back at the place where we began our first Camino, and where we first heard of the Le Puy Way and its beauty. As always, coming to the end of an adventure was bittersweet, although we still have two days left.

We shared a breakfast in our gite with the many many flies and our fellow hikers, and then headed out into the countryside for the final run into Saint Jean Pied de Port. As we left Ostabat there was a beautiful pink sunrise, although the day was generally overcast.

We left the road and walked along a forested track for a bit. The countryside looked magical cloaked in mist, with the white and red Basque houses, and the flocks of grazing sheep. The sound of bells on grazing animals in the mist, whether they are on sheep, horses, or cows, is something I will always associate with the Pyrenees.

Although there were some very beautiful stretches of path, for a lot of the day we followed the highway, either walking on a trail beside it, or hiking directly on it. This was not really a very romantic approach to St Jean Pied de Port.

Around 11AM we came to a small chapel which was open, and we stepped inside. We were able to climb up into the choir area at the back, and we found a small bat hanging from the ceiling. As we left the bells began ringing, and for some reason they tolled 40 times. This was slightly unnerving, and caused the bat to take off as well.

Another random but interesting wildlife discovery was one of the largest earthworms I have ever seen!

Around noon we arrived in the town of St Jean le Vieux. We were in no hurry to end our hike, so we stopped for a coffee at the hotel. As we sat there several hikers we recognized passed us by, and we were struck, as we often are, that one of the amazing things about the Camino is that you can find yourself sitting on the sidewalk in a town you have never been to before, and you know people.

After our coffee we explored the town a little further and stopped at the bakery for a pastry.

It was a short walk through a small town with a cheese farm to St Jean Pied de Port. Just before town we passed the junction with GR 10, which of coarse made us think. We had seriously been considering hiking on GR10 up to Irun and the Camino Norte, but we didn't have quite enough days left to make it up there before our flight home. It was exciting to enter St. Jean from the top of the hill, having put it in a different context.

As we approached the gate in the old city wall we saw that St Jean Pied de Port has been designated as one of the most beautiful villages in France. We also encountered a large tour group, and a white trolley filled with tourists was just squeezing its way through the gate. Somehow this gave the town a different feel to what we experienced on our first visit.

We made our way down the main street, just as it began to rain. We were struck by how excited and full of anticipation the other pilgrims were. We hadn't made a reservation for the night, so our first stop was the pilgrim welcome office.

 As we stood in line at number 39 we realized that the conversations around us were suddenly mostly in English. The lady on front of us was from Quebec, and we struck up a conversation with another very friendly lady from South Africa.

After getting our stamps we headed across the street for a coffee and a slice of Basque cake while we tried to decide where to stay. We were partially tempted to try to get a bed in the same dormitory where we stayed at the beginning of our first pilgrimage on the Camino Frances, but at the same time it felt like this might not be quite right. We walked down the street calling gites as we went to see if they had space, and looking in on others. No one answered, and none of the gites opened their doors before 3 or 4 pm. We didn't really fancy hanging about in the rain with our packs for the next 2 hours, so we took it as a sign and called a Chambre d'hotes we had passed on the way in just outside the city walls. The British couple who run it had a free room, and somehow this felt right. Although we envied the hordes of hikers in the dorms, eager to begin their new journeys, we somehow felt we didn't quite belong in their midst.

After checking in and doing chores we walked through town again, checked out a few bookstores in the hopes of finding a photo book on the Chemin Compostelle that we had been seeing across France, and headed down to the train station to change our tickets for Bordeaux to one day earlier. As we waited in the station we met two of the couples we have been hiking with, who were heading home. We suddenly realized how different this hike is – there is no grand arrival at a destination, where everyone can meet up and spend a night celebrating, and no final mass. Many people walk into town, get the next train out, and are simply gone.

After this somewhat sobering experience we sat in a covered cafe and had a crepe, while watching the world going by and reviewing our many experiences along the way. We spent a quiet afternoon in town, did laundry at the laudromat since it was pouring and nothing was going to dry, and generally just walked around. We also visited the church, and were able to attend the pilgrim mass, which is something that was relatively infrequent along the way in France.

We had a celebration dinner down by the river, which consisted of goat cheese salad and rose wine, and then in the evening we went to listen to Basque chants in the church. This was one of those unexpected things that turned out to be amazing!

 
The first part was presented by a large group of singers, and the second part was sung by two very talented teenagers. Basque chants are very lively and happy sounding, and many of them seem to involve a chorus that the whole audience sings. It was kind of fun to see the gite owners from the place we stayed at in Ostabat having a lovely time in the audience, and to realize that a lot of the audience were locals who knew the language and the chants.

After the concert we walked around the town for a bit and Sean took photos, and then we headed up the hill to bed.

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Practical Information: 
Distance: 22.5 km

Cumulative ascent: 625 m

Cumulative descent: 613 m

Max Temperature: 22˚C

Accommodations: Maison Errecaldia