One mountain range down, two to go...

Our hostel at St. Jean Pied de Port was pretty amazing. We stayed in the home of a woman with 7 cats, 2 dogs, a chicken and a rooster, all of which were wandering around inside when we first arrived. Anyone who ever stays in St. Jean needs to stay with Christienne and her circus of different animals. Paul and I shared the nicely appointed honeymoon suite, which was wonderful. Although our first auberge was quite warm and cozy, we were unable to sleep very well because of all of our nervous energy about our first day hike, which took us up and over the Pyrenees into Spain. We left St. Jean at 5:30 AM, walking out of town with our headlamps illuminating the waymarkers along beginning of the Camino. For 7 hours and approximately 20 kms, we were walking up what was essentially a mountainside. I almost lost Paul to fatigue and exhaustion, but we finally crossed the border entering Spain and reached the summit of the mountain pass we were hiking along (about 1500m in elevation). The descent down into Roncesvalles was treacherous and exhiliarating, but we finally reached the ancient monastery after 8 hours and 26 kms of hiking.