On the Road!

​Two tough days of hiking.  St Jean Pied de Port to Roncesvalles is usually called the hardest day of the Camino.  Indeed it was.  25 Kilometers with 3,000 foot elevation climb.  Thankfully, the weather was fine and the scenery was beautiful. But it was almost as hard as the hardest days of riding the RAGBRAI bike ride across Iowa.  Today, we hiked from Roncesvalles to Zubiri.   Less distance but harder on my muscles.  Much of the day was in the rain and the trail was slick.  After yesterday, what goes up must go down.  We had some steep ascent early in the day then 1800 feet descent, most in the last 4 miles.  Over slick rock with water running down the trail into large puddles and muddy patches.  At the end, not only was I sore (I hadn’t practiced descents like that) but with new blisters on the tips of several toes.  I am walking around kind of funny now, but so are the majority of the people at the albergue. There is a lot of Basque influence here with many signs in the Basque script.  The Albergue is cold, the showers quickly run out of hot water (mine never had any hot water) and the heater in our sleeping room doesn’t work.  However, there are about 20 in the room, most are people that I recognize from the trail or at the albergue in Roncesvalles.  Everyone got together for some pasta prepared by two Italians in our group for dinner.  It was good.  Companionship is wonderful. Italians, French, Spaniards, English, Japanese, Tiawanese and a couple of other nationalities that I haven’t identified.  Tomorrow, we return to Pamplona and we hope to stay in an Albergue that is situated in part of the sanctuary of a 14th Century cathedral.  And hopefully, my muscle kinks are gone.

Saint Jean Pied de Port

​Today, Dave and I arrived at the traditional starting point for the French route of the Camino de Santiago.  We left the hotel and walked 3 miles through the rain to get to the bus station.. It was sort of a shake down of our wet weather gear.  Life is learning and I learned that I needed to make some modification in the way that I used my rain gear.  Ponchos, when used with backpacks, still require a rain jacket if you are going to have your arms free.  Even if you think that you can keep your arms under the poncho.  

The ride from Pamplona was uneventful.  We couldn’t see much because of the rain/clouds and the steamy windows from the other wet pilgrims on the bus.  The route was parallel to the route that we would walk back to Pamplona over the first four days of the Camino and all the hill climbing and switchbacks pointed to the significant climb of the first day.  There were several Americans on the bus but about half the bus was communicating in a different language.  We had some nice conversations while waiting for the bus and while we were on the road.  

When we got to St Jean, the rain was coming down hard.  Harder than we had run into in several days of rain in Pamplona.  Dave was using a rain suit but I got soaked while retrieving my backpack from under the bus and getting the poncho situated.  St Jean is a cute medieval town that has been featured on Rick Steves.  Old buildings, city walls and some narrow winding streets that we mostly pedestrian now.

Our first stop was the Pilgrims office where we had our Pilgrim Passport validated.  We also received a briefing on the trail conditions.  The higher Route de Napoleon is closed due to snow but the slightly lower route (only 3,000 foot climb) is passable.   We also received our Camino scallop shells.  Mine is now hanging from the back of my rucksack.

We had reservations at our first albergue and it was a short 5 minute walk from the Pilgrim’s office.  It is sort of a rambling building but with rooms of only two beds.  That works!  It has an area that you can wash clothes, a common bathroom and shower and a nice sitting area where you can read and talk.  However, only one other couple (there are about 16 people) spoke English.  The rest were Korean and Japanese and English was not one of their skill sets (nor do I speak their languages).  The dinner was family style with soup, a lamb/noodle main course, dark chocolate dessert with a nice red wine.  I am now about ready for bed.

It is supposed to stop raining about 3:00 AM and the temperature should be in the mid 40’s.  Fine hiking weather.  Breakfast will be at 6:00 and the first opportunity for a stop will be about 5 miles in.  We’re off!

Buen Camino 

Back on the Camino

​I have wanted to return to hiking the Camino de Santiago ever since Jo and I hiked the Portuguese arm of the pilgrimage route.  I really enjoyed the Portuguese Camino, but I wanted to experience the longer French route of the Camino in more of a pilgrims manner of carrying all your gear, having the freedom to choose where to stay, when to stop for the day, and when to start the journey,  

Last fall, I saw an old classmate at a get together.  Actually, Dave was more than just a classmate, we had roomed together at West Point, we were in the same ‘pod’ of about 30 who went through all four years of West Point together, we went to Ranger School together and Field Artillery School together.  Dave had wanted to hike the Camino for years.  He is an avid backpacker but hadn’t found the time or opportunity.  He jumped at the chance.  We set the date and started training for the 15 or so miles of backpacking each day and worked on whittling our backpacks down to the bare minimum essentials to conserve weight.   

Earlier this month, Dave retired from IBM, we purchased the tickets and we are now in Pamplona, Spain for 2 days of Holy Week and tomorrow we will take the bus to St Jean Pied de Port which is the traditional starting point for the Camino.  I end with the traditional greeting/farewell on the trail.

Buen Camino!