St Jean Pied de Port to the end of the world

We had a wild day crossing the Pyrenees into Spain: rain, sleet, hail, thunder, lightning, high winds...The camera stayed in the pack. Then it rained for the next several days of walking, but cleared when we walked into Pamplona.

 This statue honors the running of the bulls.

We stopped in at a tapas bar and took turns choosing the tapas we would share.

Fiesta de Gigantes--each village had a "gigante" that they brought to march in the procession. One strong person balances the wooden frame inside the figure on his shoulders and marches through the town with help from accompanying guides.

 Storks! Nesting on chimney tops and church spires!

 This world map was landscaped by students in the village of Cirauqui to commemorate World Environment Day in 2012. Cool!

 Cindy's clothes line...not easy to get things dry when it rains a lot.

 Free wine faucet for pilgrims. Unfortunately it was about 8 a.m. so not too tempting...

Martin Sheen left his mark on the street in Belorado.

Cathedral in Burgos

 Cindy and our Norwegian friend (whose name I'll probably misspell) Ann-Berit. She walked with us for several days. When Tom and I decided to stop walking the Camino Frances and take the bus to the coast to walk the Camino del Norte, she stayed and walked with Cindy for a bit longer. We said good-bye as they left in the rain in Burgos.

 We took the bus to Gijon and walked through eucalyptus forests and had some great views of the coast.

 The gorse and heather were both in bloom.

 At the alburgue (the word Spain uses instead of the French gite) in Ribadeo, the German contingent cooked dinner for all of us staying there. Then we hired taxis and went out to Cathedral Rocks, accessible only at low tide.

 From Ribadeo the del Norte trail turned inland and we intersected the Camino Frances in Arzua. There was an instant increase in the number of people on the walk. It was 2 more days walking to reach Santiago.

 This is the goal for many: the cathedral in Santiago, complete with scaffolding.

 The cathedral is famous for its "botafumeiro" that hangs in the center. It doesn't look very large here, but when it is lowered so the incense inside it can be lit, it is as tall as the priests. It takes six men to swing it across the cathedral and security to keep the aisles cleared so no one gets hit with it. Apparently they swing it every day during the noon Pilgrims' mass during the summer. It was quite a sight to see it swinging!

 We celebrated reaching Santiago and parting ways with our German and Danish friends from the del Norte with big platters of paella and plenty of wine.

Then Tom and I headed for Finisterre, literally "the end of the earth." Most people end their pilgrimage in Santiago. Some walk another four days to Finisterre.

The hydrangea were spectacular!

 By the time we walked to Finisterre, Cindy had walked into Santiago, rested a day, and had taken the bus to Finisterre where we were re-united. This is the view from the lighthouse at the end of the point.

Jacques also met us there and we had our photo taken at the 0.0 km marker.

 Another day's walk north from Finisterre took us to Muxia, a gentle little village on a spit with very few pilgrims. This was the best place to end our walk.

Photos: Conques to St. Jean Pied de Port

These are photos of the last half of the walk in France.

 We walked above the clouds as we left Conques.

 We often stopped for coffee along the way. Jacques and Roland-from-Germany are with us.

 This is Spanish broom in bloom--it grew wild all over the place.

 In Livinhac on April 23 we stayed at La Magnanerie in this tower that once housed silkworms.

Recycling bins were everywhere in both France and Spain.

These scallop shells (the symbol of the Chemin/Camino) were blowing in the breeze like wind chimes.

We spent the night at Vaylats at the Convent of the Daughters of Jesus on April 28.

This rocky field was plowed and planted.

We took a rest day in Moissac. The geraniums above are in the garden of the wonderful gite we stayed in. As we left we walked along a canal.

Jacques was still entertaining us.

Most of the woods/forests were managed--the trees were planted in rows. This was true for evergreens as well as plane trees (sycamores) and eucalyptus once we got a little further west.

These are the stairs in the house we stayed in on May 4 in Auviller. Originally a farmhouse, parts of it dated back to the 11th Century.

The house above in contrast with a view from a nearby overlook of the nuclear power plant.

Notice the furniture on the ceiling in this restaurant....

The cemeteries were quite different from ours. Families are buried in granite vaults and many memorials are placed on top.

Wheat and barley had made heads and were starting to ripen.

Notice the trail sign under the Do Not Enter sign. We looked for such signs at every intersection.

These are fava beans in bloom.

Cindy and one of our favorite Camino friends Laetitia. She had the most beautiful laugh!

I toured the church and cloister in Romieu. The narrow spiral staircase reminded me of the one in the arm of the Statue of Liberty. Underneath this staircase was a hidden one used to escape unwanted intruders. A spiral staircase under a spiral staircase: think about it....

Sometimes walkers find messages in strange places. Laetitia was ahead of us and had written our names in the mud. Here's a photo of Cindy's.

This is an earthworm. Yikes!

Vineyards were slowly replacing grain fields.

The grapes become wine in places like this.

The Pyrenees in the distance....

Sometimes the other walkers were sheep.

This cattle guard appears to be called "passage canadien."

We've reached St. Jean Pied de Port, the start of the Camino Frances as opposed to le Chemin de St. Jacques that we have been traveling. We rested here a day, which was a good call--it was pouring down rain the morning of the rest day. Below was our view from our gite: pilgrims heading out in the rain.

To be continued........