…begins with a single step.

Pamplona to St Jean Pied de Port

Our last day in Pamplona was so hot – we didn’t have the energy to do any more exploring. We found the bus station, bought our tickets, then a shady spot to have a light lunch and some sangria until the sweat was pouring off us. Dinner was a generous helping of gelato!

Not sure if it was the heat or jet lag, but neither one of us got any real sleep the night before we were to check out of our room at the Hotel Yoldi (a wonderful place to stay if you are ever in Pamplona). Which is what I blame our mix up in the departure time of the bus!! 🙄 We somehow thought it was leaving at 1pm and – uhhh – it left at noon… without us!

Well, I can’t repeat the words that came out of our mouths. Thankfully, there was another way to get there. A taxi! Yeah, the taxi was a bit more than a bus ride, but we had reservations at Gite Makila made months before, so we had to get there. And besides, we were starting our Camino the day after! So.. relieved we had that resolved, we settled in for the ride. Unfortunately, we hadn’t had time for lunch and the road to St Jean is v-e-r-y curvy! Think 🤢. What a relief when we finally made it to the quaint little French town. Our auberge didn’t open until 3, so we had time to register at the Pilrim’s office – to get our Credencial, a shell for our backpacks and our first stamp! 

That accomplished, finding some food was next . Which was another adventure – we were hot, tired, HUNGRY and couldn’t seem to find a place that served a salad or vegetables. How do these people have a daily poop when all they eat is bread and meat?! So we ultimately settled for a platter of bread, prosciutto, cheese, quince jam and pepperonci peppers accompanied by a glass of sangria – it waas delicious.

Sated, but still hot, sticky and a bit exhausted, we headed back to our auberge and showered the sweat off. The hostel is really nice – centrally located, clean, quiet and quite comfortable. We’re sharing a room with 2 young French women who are planning to backpack the Camino – sleeping in a tent rather than albergues.

Tomorrow is the day! Pyranees here we come!

Up, up, but not all the way to the top

And it’s finally here!! The day we start our long awaited Camino.
We were up just before the sun, dressed, reloaded our backpacks and sat down to a very nice breakfast which was included in our stay. We were only walking 5 miles this day. [We chose to break up this section and were stopping just short of the apex, since the next stop would be another 10 miles – [6? to the top, and then downhill on some rocky stretches.] Therefore we weren’t in a rush to get on the road. Plus it was raining! After the oven-like heat the day before, the air felt wonderful; but we weren’t going to walk in the rain if we didn’t have to. Haha. Also knowing it would let up before 830 and that we only had the 5 miles to go, we took our time.

About 8a, the rain had let up to a slight drizzle so we decided to get going. We slowly made our way down the cobblestone street, taking pictures there and on the famous bridge out of the small village. By then most of the other pilgrims were ahead of us and out of sight. Oh jeez, which way do we go now? And why hadn’t we figured this out last night? We have to do better! Taking out the map we’d been given at the pilgrims office, we found directions but there are two routes to Roncesvalles – one over the Pyrenees and a lower route. We decided we were on the right path and headed up.. and up… and UP.

The overcast sky and a bit of drizzle made it a pleasant hike. We stopped often to take pictures. Surprise, huh? It was so beautiful – green mixed with gold rolling hills, red tile roofed houses scattered around the countryside, late summer flowers blooming along the path… periwinkle blue flax, white queen Anne’s lace, purple thistle.

We reached Auberge Orrison, just under a mile from the one where we were staying and had some lunch since we couldn’t check in until 3p. The view there was lovely but where we stayed – Auberge Borda – the view was even better, and it was pretty idyllic. A great start to our Camino experience. We met pilgrims from France, Italy, Mexico and Ireland: Mary and her three teenage sons were walking only a few stages; Lorenzo, a yoga instructor from Florence who we would meet up with several more times but parted ways with in Zubiri; Juan who was finding “his way” on his motorcycle; and Marie-Helene, a dear French woman who we walked over the Pyrenees with. And though she took a bus back home from Roncesvalles, we are keeping in touch.  A lovely 3 course dinner was prepared by the host and we were treated to a beautiful sunset and a spectacular sunrise.

After a quick breakfast the next morning, we began the final stage of our ascent to the top of the route over the Pyrenees. Lots of sheep, goats and horses along the way and breathtaking views. Even though this day was an easier grade, it was more difficult because of the heat. And there wasn’t much shade.

We were ecstatic when we finally reached our albergue. This one was a huge contrast to the night before in numbers of people. Roncesvalles albergue has 300 beds. It’s an old monastery dating back to the 12th century. Lots of snoring going on that night! Thank goodness for my earplugs!!

Next stage – Roncesvalles to Zubiri!

“Live for the moments you can’t put into words.”