The first task, coming from Saint-Jean-Pied-de-Port (SJPP), is to cross the Pyrenees. This involves over 4000 ft climb and then 3000 ft descent, all over the course of 25+ km. Now, I find 25km a challenge even over flat ground. Which this is, most definitely, not. So my plan was to stop at a lodging halfway up, at Orisson.
This is what I did: 2000ft climb over 8 km with my 20lb pack. It was a long, hard slog and I am so glad I stopped. While I could possibly have made the crest before sunset, the three hour descent would have been treacherous in the dark (many people are seriously hurt trying exactly that).
At breakfast this morning, our host said that 500 people were leaving SJPP today! For comparison, when I was walking the Le Puy route in France, it was about 40 fellow pilgrims per day. And there are not 500 beds in SJPP; they had to open up the old fire hall to bed down the last 50 late arrivals. Also our host indicated that the crowd is not dying down until the last week of September. The surge used to recede after the first week.
So I’m continuing to book well ahead, by several weeks. It does not look like we will have the surge spreading out, since nearly every day has experienced a similar headcount.
Tonight dinner was a wonderful vegetable soup, reinforced with beans and puréed— substantial and very tasty. Also roast pork and a well-sauced vegetable dish of tiny French peas and carrots. Dessert was another slice of that wonderful marzipan-filled Basque cake (I’m really going to have to find the recipe).
Lodging: Refuge Orisson
Kitsambler's Journeys 
I am so glad you are walking again. It is always such a joy to read your blog! I am terribly sorry for your huge loss and everything else you have faced recently.
Congratulations on that first hard day and having the wisdom to stop when you did and the foresight to book ahead. You aren’t mentioning weather, so I’m assuming it’s great. Well done!
Good decision to stay in Orisson and if you get the recipe for the cake, I hope you will share it.