El Camino, St Jean Pied de Port

The next journey has started and I am having a few days in St Jean PP before starting El Camino, the pilgrim route across northern Spain to Santiago, nearly 800 km. It is a beautiful medieval walled town with narrow cobbled streets.

 The town sits on the confluence of two rivers right at the foothills of the Pyrennes. The old bridge across the river and one of the many towers.

 A view of a cobbled street.

Another view of the streets.

 One of the buildings facing the river.

 One of the rivers that runs through the centre of the town.

 One of the bastions protecting the entrance to the town. There was a moat but here it has been filled in and is now a car park.

 And this is the reason that I am here to walk El Camino. This is one of the better marked junctions on the route where two long distance paths cross.

 And a typical French village scene with the small village dominated by a church and a chateau.