L'hospital D' Orion to St-Jean Pied de Port and St. Jean to St. Pée sur Nivelle: the Pays Basque

Ruth and Gordon: We completed the Voie de Vezélay yesterday at the pilgrim Disneyland of St. Jean Pied de Port.  Suddenly we were no longer on a quiet route with just a few pilgrims. St. Jean is the starting point for many pilgrims from all over the world. At our Gite last night we shared a meal with French, Catalan, Italian and Dutch Pilgrims... Oh, am I forgetting someone Gord? Bruce? Yes, there was also a young Swedish pilgrim who for some reason Gord has mentioned several times.  He keeps mumbling something about stereotypes and some movies he watched in the 1970s.

This morning we said goodbye to Bruce and Marg who are taking the train to Bordeaux for a few days of R & R without those implements of torture (the bicycles).

We are currently in the Pays Basque, the French portion of the Basque region.  Cycling on small roads in the foothills of the Pyrenees this morning, it felt like we had indeed entered a new country.  The houses and the farms have a different appearance, and the strange alphabet soup of the Basque language appears everywhere.  This is an area with a variety of cheeses, many made from sheep's milk, as well as a famous red pepper.