Day 33 Saint-Jean-Pied-de-Port

Wednesday 19th October is the final day of this latest adventure. It's not so obvious but if you navigate to my profile you can see a list of other trips. Or just click here.

I start my final day by heading out from my woodland retreat along a well laid out path. The heat of the previous day is still present and I suddenly feel drowsy. After a while I realise I am going the wrong way, retracing my steps to the cottage I pick out the route I think I came in on and am soon free of the woodland. I silently sympathise with Hansel and Gretel.

Walking through the morning heat, 18 degrees at 9am, there are kites soaring overhead but close enough to see the white patches on the underside of their wings.

Strolling along a lane I see a flock of 100 sheep heading my way. I am at a fork in the road and it's not clear to me which way the sheep are going and therefore where I should stand. The farmer shouts "over there", "you want the sheep over there?" I gesture, "no, I want you over there" comes the bellowed reply. So, it's worth knowing a few words of French.

There is a gateway into Saint-Jean-Pied-de-Port that marks the finish or transition for the camino routes coming down through France. Being a fortified town there are actually quite a few gateways. This one marks my entrance to the town and my finish. One hundred metres on and there is a pilgrim office where I receive a stamp on my credential, or pilgrim passport.
The gateway people pass when starting their camino Frances to Santiago is another 400 metres through the main street of the old town by the church and river.
It is off-season but still plenty of tourists and that should help me move from being a walker to being a tourist. On my day off the umbrellas were painstakingly taken down, as the final umbrella was removed the heavens opened for 5 minutes drenching everyone then the normal sunshine service resumed.
The houses in the area are white with maroon windows and doors, the only exception to this is the occasional use of racing green. I ponder this and the answer comes when I see the Basque flag.

When I was planning this trip one question was whether to walk the 975 miles from Le Puy-en-Velay to Santiago de Compostela which would have added an extra month. So the question is, do I wish I'd taken on the longer adventure. In truth I opted for the one month walk and today I am ready to stop. However, had I opted for the longer voyage I would be champing at the bit to get started on the second half; walking the GR10 along the Pyrenees would take two months so there's a thought.

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