St Jean Pied de Port is one of the main towns that funnels pilgrims across the Pyrenees. Sarah and I took a day trip here, to the beautiful Pyrenees foothills, and stayed in a lovely bed and breakfast. A citadel was at the center of the village, and the main part of the village was fortified by an encircling wall.
We arrived right at high-time for all of the pilgrims to arrive and bed down for the night. It got quite busy for awhile there, although in the morning it was perfectly silent and deserted again.
We didn't do much here except walk and eat and look, but we did meet several lovely people. Among these people were a New Zealander and her Australian husband. And as Facebook delivers my news more quickly than my blogging does, this story may be old to many of you. However, this 65 year old couple was doing a 2-3 month long pilgrimage, walking from the Mediterranean to the Atlantic. When Sarah asked them what inspired them to do this trip, the New Zealand woman said slowly but earnestly "We've always liked to walk, we just thought we'd go on a long walk" . . . classic stoic understated New Zealand. Made me laugh and miss home like nothing else. Below is a picture of them strolling off on the next day of their walk :)
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