Looking out the window this morning was disheartening - the mist blotting out the views of the mountains and even the tops of the nearby hills. During the excellent breakfast the mist became a drizzling rain, which persisted even as we procrastinated over packing and preparing the bikes and saying our goodbyes. A tough day today, heading over one of the cols of the Tour de France - first ridden in 1910! This being the Col d’Osquich (no, I’d never heard of it either) As shown by the photos, there were helpful markers every km to show how far we were from the top, and how steep the next km was going to be. The map has the col as an observation point, but there wasn’t much observing going on today, with the clouds so low. We did observe an emblem that has been created in the near vertical field just opposite the restaurant near the top (we only just managed to see this through the clouds. The climbs today weren’t so bad, it was the descents in the rain, with the brakes continually applied lest the bikes get out of control and slide out on the wet corners. Tractors use these roads too, and occasionally there is a lot of mud on the road, increasing the slipperiness of the surface. We are back in the land of two languages on each sign - this time Basque and French. Lots of references here to Basque culture and history. The villages here seem subtly different to the others to the east - more spread out, and the houses lower and larger in area. Barcus and other small villages we have seen have these large walls erected - for the Basque game of pelota - as this was a game played on Sundays and other church days in Basque Country. It was played against the wall (or walls) of the local church, with the open-air church courtyard as the playing field. The shape of the wall (we have only seen free standing ones) shows the link to the church walls of the past. We had lunch in the porch of a church, which was great as this church had a seat, and it was out of the wind and drizzle. A flock of sheep going past kept us company for a few minutes - quite a rural setting. Not as many cyclists today. One group of MTBers were heading up a hill as we were heading down, and a group of English sportif cyclists were getting out of a van to head down a hill we had just ridden up. I knew they were English because I asked where they came from. I think they were on a small group tour (maybe 7-8 of them, at least one woman). We arrived to a warm welcome at St Jean Pied de Port (from now on, just S-J!). Our hosts offered to wash our clothes, so we changed without further ado to make the most of our time here. The town has traditionally been an important point on the Way of St. James, the pilgrimage to Santiago de Compostela, as it stands at the base of the Roncevaux Pass across the Pyrenees. Pied-de-Port means 'foot of the pass' in Pyrenean French. The routes from Paris, Vézelay and Le Puy-en-Velay meet at Saint-Jean-Pied-de-Port and it was the pilgrims' last stop before the arduous mountain crossing. Above the town at the top of the hill is the citadel, remodelled by Vauban in the 17th century. Now the main building is used as a school(!) The cobbled rue de la Citadelle runs down hill and over the river from the fifteenth century Porte St-Jacques to the Porte d'Espagne by the bridge. From the bridge, there are views of the old houses with balconies overlooking the Nive. Many of the buildings are very old, built of pink and grey schist, and retain distinctive features, including inscriptions over their doors. We arrived in the town in the late afternoon, when the pilgrims start to arrive and seek lodgings - there is a Pilgrim Office for providing just that kind of help, and it was pretty full when we passed - goodness knows what it is like in peak season! A big day, and a tough one, for us, with another big one tomorrow! Since our arrival in Barcelona, we have clocked up just over 1000 km to date, with over 12000 m of climbing!