Ken's 2nd ancestral tour from Spain to France
Day Six Iruña to near Biarritz

Friday 14th May 2004 Portion-controlled breakfast but the whole bill, including the telephone call was only E60.55. The day looked a little brighter & we had no trouble in getting out of town to the Roncesvalles road. This went over a smaller pass first & the whole route was very pretty. We passed many walkers coming our way & I tumbled that they were on the St. Jim route.

The Roncesvalles Pass from just outside Iruña

The old pass with pilgrims

Roncesvalles Monastery

At one point, we saw the path coming in from the side with walkers who turned out to be Australian & confirmed (I asked if they were on the 'Jim walk') that they were on the way to Santiago de Compostella, very muddily. We stopped at Roncesvalles, which is tiny &, as it turned out today, very cold, so we had coffee. The top of the pass is not much further & even colder. I got out & was photoed by a Dutch cyclist by the phony Roland memorial.

Ken & the phony 'Roland Memorial' at the top of the 'new' pass.

Back to the 'new' pass. The battle area is off to the left.

Luzaide

Ken's ancestor, Loup II, Duke of Gascony, organised the ambush of Roland's rearguard after Charlemagne had trashed Iruña. The Moors are usually blamed but it was the Basques. The route was as delightful on the way down, still in Spain. At the last village, I filled up with bottles of wine for our Chateau Socialist friends. The border is not marked by other than a change of road number & gradually, although we are still technically in Navarre, better quality bulding maintenance. We stopped in St Jean Pied de Porte for a good look round the ancient village, which is parallel to the modern one but behind the walls. These become very complicated at the top, where there is a formidable Vauban-style castle, to the top of which we walked. Lunch at the Café Navarre at the bottom (elaborate salads, mineral water & coffee for E29).

St Jean Pied de Porte
The bridge into the Old Town	Through the Bridge Gate	Start of the climb up the castle
The old school at the top of the castle	Welcome for pilgrims	View of the town from the castle

Then, a leisurely drive with only one major road works before the on-going one in St. Palais, where this year, we found the elusive D11, a very attractive green road to Bidache. The, on to our friend's chateau near Biarritz.