Stage Bergouey - Ostabat

The final stage of the Via Turonensis, leading to the point where the great French routes converge. Between Bergouey and Ostabat the pilgrim crosses the hills of Lower Navarre, with a rolling profile, several short climbs and a landscape of very green meadows, bracken slopes and white farmhouses with red timbering.

After crossing the Bidouze, the way climbs towards Garris, an old Navarrese town laid out along a street of traditional houses, once the site of an important livestock market. Shortly afterwards comes Saint-Palais, Donapaleu in Basque, the historic capital of Lower Navarre, where the coinage of the kingdom was struck. It is the only place with all services on the day and the right spot to stock up.

On leaving Saint-Palais the route climbs towards Mont Saint-Sauveur. On its slope stands the Stele of Gibraltar, a monument erected in 1964 that symbolically marks the meeting of the routes from Tours, Vézelay and Le Puy. The name has nothing to do with the Rock: it derives from Xibaltarre, the Basque form of Saint-Sauveur.

A steep path leads from the stele to the chapel of Soyarza, on the hilltop, from where a broad panorama of the Pyrenean chain opens out. The descent leads to Harambeltz, a former priory-hospital tended for centuries by a community of lay brothers; its chapel of Saint-Nicolas, of Romanesque origin, preserves a notable altarpiece and paintings.

Ostabat-Asme, a short distance on, was in the Middle Ages one of the great stations of the road, with hospitals and inns able to lodge thousands of pilgrims. Today it is a peaceful hamlet of Basque houses, with accommodation and basic services. From here a single road continues towards Saint-Jean-Pied-de-Port and the pass of Roncesvalles.