The way of Saint James #42

This post was written Sunday September 27th, but not posted until today due to problems with internet

I was up early today. 05:30 to be precise. The gite did not serve breakfast, but I had bought some stuff in the shops yesterday, and I managed to ferret out a teabag from the stuff that was in the kitchen, so it was no real problem.

It meant that I was out the door at 06:45. It was still night, and I left Saint Jean under the light of the street lamps. I had worked out the route from the map, so I knew where to go, and the darkness was not a problem. On the road to Lasse, there were a few places where the street lamps petered out and I was walking in total darkness. But those stretches were few, and overall, it was interesting to be walking when all the world was quiet. The sky was clear enough to see the stars, or some of them anyway. And at times, I would pass a house where I woke a dog, which resulted in a noisy passage past those houses. And I heard several cocks greet the morning as well.

After Lasse, the sky went through several shades of deep blue, from black, through cobalt blue, to eventually a dull grey. A mist had formed, that was blanketing everything. But my route was upward, and soon I was into sunshine. The great bulk of Munhoa mountain was visible in the early sunlight.

As I went up the mountain, it was possible to look back and see the blanket of clouds in the valley, almost like a glacier, filling she space and covering everything. Even when I go to the top and looked back, it was still the same. Perhaps a little bit had cleared but not much.

Looking forward, I could see my way onward from Munhoa, and so I began the descent.

But I missed a turn. I went straight on when I should have turned right, and I went a full kilometer before I realised I had made a mistake. Then I had to figure out where I was and what had gone wrong and retrace my steps. I found the turn that I had missed and was soon heading north, with Oylanderoy mountain in front of me.

It is possible to ascend Oylanderoy, but I had lost enough time with my error on the route, so I decided to continue following the route which goes around the side of the mountain.

The slopes of Oylanderoy are home to a very pretty flower that I had not seen before. It looks like a crocus, and it could be some variety of autumn crocus, but not one I am familiar with. It is definitely different from the ones I have seen in the Jura.

Having skirted around the side of Oylanderoy, the rest of the route was a simple descent into Saint-Etienne-de-Baigorry. It is a small village, but it has a gite, and that is where I am this evening. I arrived before the gite opened, which allowed time for a beer in a hotel just across the road.

The total step count for today was 41,058.