Day 8: St-Jean-Pied-de-Port to a woodland glade near the col d'Irau

Escape from pilgrim central, red kites and buzzards soaring overhead, amazing views of where we've been and where we're going, unreasonable gradients up and down, etorki sandwiches, more climbing, cold beers at a gîte, winding tracks, a close encounter with a herd of huge basque cows, so many butterflies including peacock and painted ladies and a whirlwind of little blues, brambles by the handfuĺ for snacking and the perfect woodland glade to camp in with a little river running through it, eating a dinner cooked on the fire… 

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I found my first five leaved clover! In fact I found two on the same day in totally different patches of grass.

Nature is weird and wonderful

The gîte d’étape Kaskoleta was a very tempting place to bivouac at – there was a friendly welcome, cold beer and beautiful 360 degree views all around. But we still had energy left in our legs so we carried on to find a spot to wild camp. The spot we found was in a lovely secluded woodland glade. It was peaceful, right by running water and perfectly situated by huge banks of blackberry bushes for feasting on the next morning.


The Vital Statistics:
Total hiking time: 9h30ish
Peak: 867m
Total ascent: 1177m
Total descent: 650m