Finally made it here after struggle with buses! We went to the square where we had got the bus the day before,
only to find a market set up. After several buses had turned up, but not ours, we asked a driver and he told us
we had to get a different bus to the railway station and change.
First thing to do to calm our shattered nerves after all that was to find a posh restaurant with coffee and cake,
which we found after looping round through the village of Arnad.
From there we crossed Dora Baltea,and walked alongside the river and motorway to
the old village of Hône with the usual closed church and castle on a hill.
Then across the river again and through the medieval village of Bard with its imposing fortress,
and down again to a roman road, complete with roman arch and roman cart ruts worn into the rocks!
Finally after walking through the long suburb of Donnas, we reached our goal of Pont Saint Martin and its famous bridge.
According to the legend, he 4th c. St Martin of Tours proposed a pact to the Devil:
in exchange for building the bridge in a single night, Satan would receive the soul of the first
living being to cross it. The Devil accepted, and the bridge was miraculously completed.
But in the morning, Saint Martin tricked the demon: instead of a man, he sent a dog across first.
To celebrate the end of this stage, we treated ourselves to an ice cream!
