Stage 2: Valcarlos to Burguete 15kms

Of Rain, Birds & Slugs: This was the theme today as I hiked further into the Pyrenees while Annemarie took a price inflated "taxi" to Burguete to drop her gear and walk back to Roncevalles to meet me. The sun in Spain must be somewhere on a plain in another part of the country today. The rain was definitely on order in this area as I headed out shortly after sunrise along the highway out of Valcarlos. I was fueled up on a cold piece of toast and a hot cuppa tea at an inflated price...but no matter, I also had a health dose of adrenalin to move me along and to keep me warm. It rained today...thick drizzle to start then all out rain and wind...but no fear as I had my trustee Spanish poncho and my gaiters in place over my increasingly grubby throwaway t-shirt (which will give the boot tonight). I was the only pelegrino on the trail over the Ibaneta Pass as the many criss-crossing spider webs that drapped themselves across my nose will attest to! However, I did have the company of some very nice song birds (until the rain became too heavy) and many, many big black slugs who clearly were in their element today. I guess there were also a few mountain goats that I spyed across the valley, but they were heading for cover at the time. I had expected to reach the summit of the pass in about 4 hours with a few planned recovery stops along the way to change socks, take photos and munch on the goodies purchased last night (refer to prior entry for details). However, said rain made any stops pretty much out of the question so I just decided to hoof it to the top as quickly as possible...which turned out to be in 2 hours, 20 minutes. Numerous times along the way I said a small thank-you for all the training and stairmaster work. Mount Doug this climb wasn´t, but once I got into my walking stride things moved along pretty nicely. The trail is pretty clearly marked, but in places its not so clear which way to proceed so those who have passed before have added stones to make small cairns along the side of the trail to mark the way, and I had great enjoyment adding my own small stones to the cairns as I passed by...just me and my shadow. At some parts the water was running as a stream down the trail and there was lots of muddy sections, but for the most part my feet kept fairly dry. At the top of the pass there is a small church and several stone marker posts as well as one of those boards that you look out across the view and see the various names of the peaks identified. I looked out and saw only cloud (I was in the middle of one) and rain! From this point it was happily down hill through the flowering heather to the monastry at Roncevalles. As I had arrived earlier than planned there was no Annemarie in sight, so I fortunately found a small cafe (this is the site also of a very large albergue - dorm for 100´s) where I was able to strip off my soaked clothes (poncho condensation & sweat) and put on a dry shirt and jacket. I then treated myself to a cup of very hot tea and munched on a very nice Toblerone!! What a pleasure! Annemarie showed up a short time later and after obtaining a beautiful stamp in my Credencial from the monestary we stopped briefly for photos at the road sign showing only 790kms to Santiago...only! Then we walked in the rain back to our nice hotel and hung gear to dry and washed a few clothes for tomorrow. A pretty nice day. Tomorrow its about 20kms to Zubiri with lots of up and down walking as we work our way towards Pamplona. Sorry the photos are in a separate post...Spanish computers and such being what they are... Buen Camino!!