Roncesvalles

This was my first real taste of the Camino de Santiago, I stayed in my first albergue and wondered what I had got my self into. The albergue at Roncesvalles is one of the largest on the Camino, about 120 beds in the one large room, quite daunting. They are all bunk beds and two bunk beds are pushed close together to make what first appears to be a double bed. I went to sleep with the person in the next bed only inches away from me! There are over flow tents so there is no worry about getting somewhere to sleep.

The need for ear plugs becomes apparent. The noise of 119 sleeping pilgrims is enough to keep anyone awake.

Roncesvalles is not a town, more a tiny village. There is no shop, two bars and the church. Book your evening meal at one of the bars before the evening service in the church. The bars get very busy so if you don’t book you will wait sometime or not get a meal at all.

The service in the church is worth attending, even if you are not the least bit religious. It is conducted in a few languages and a blessing is given for all pilgrims setting out on their Camino to Santiago.

Walking from Roncesvalles is easy going and not hard or challenging until the day walking into Pamplona, which can be tough if it is very hot.

There is nowhere for breakfast here, (when I was last there). However only about one hour away (walking of course) there is a cafe which serves breakfast to pilgrims. It is well marked and on the route.

(French: Roncevaux, Basque: Orreaga) is a small village of northern Spain (Navarre Cities), in the province of Navarre; situated on the small river Urrobi, at an altitude of 2,950 ft. among the Pyrenees, and within five miles of the French frontier. Population (2002) 27. Location: 42°59′23″N, 1°20′4″W.

Roncesvalles is famous in history and legend for the defeat of Charlemagne and the death of Roland in 778, during the battle of Roncevaux Pass.

The small collegiate church contains several curious relics associated with Roland, and is a favorite place of Catholic pilgrimage along the Way of Saint James. The battle is said to have been fought in the picturesque valley known as Valcarlos, which is now occupied by a hamlet bearing the same name, and in the adjoining pass of Ibañeta (Roncevaux Pass). Both of these are traversed by the main road leading north from Roncesvalles to Saint-Jean-Pied-de-Port, in the French Basque Country.