Steps Taken Today: 48,269 Blister Count: 0
Spanish Word of the Day: viento (wind)
What We Learned Today: It's always up from here!
It seems ironic that we begin the most difficult stage of the Camino on Sunday, the traditional day of rest. And to top it all off, on Mother's Day This stage begins in the town of Saint Jean Pied de Port in the southwestern corner of France. Our endpoint for the day is Roncesvalles in Spain. The distance is 25 km, or about 15.5 miles which would be fine if it was level. The challenge is that the route goes over the Pyrenees Mountains, with an elevation gain of 1100 m (3600 feet), and a peak elevation of 1300 m (4300 feet). Talk about starting our odyssey with a bang! This is why we choose the"difficult", or "more difficult"hikes back home to prepare. We figured that if we could survive Dog Mountain in a wind and hail storm, Huckleberry Mountain in the snow, etc. then we at least had a shot of making it over the Pyrenees alive.
On many parts of the Camino there are small towns or villages every several kilometers along the trail, so you can adjust your daily distance depending on the weather or how you feel. Many of these towns have an albergue, or hostel where pilgrims can spend the night for a reasonable fee, typically about 10-15 Euros. There are also options to get a meal or to purchase food to take with you. Unfortunately, on this stage once you begin the serious climb up the Pyrenees there are only two options, make it over, or turn back.
So, we knew that the first stage was going to be difficult with the length and elevation gain. But nothing could prepare us for what we would actually encounter. The length of the first day plus the elevation gain alone is overwhelming to us mature hikers (cough, cough)...however, what was so incredible was the wind. For those of you who have seen the movie The Way (a movie about the Camino that I highly recommend ), I'm now 100% convinced that the main character died while on his first day going over the Pyrenees because he was BLOWN OFF THE MOUNTAIN! ! Why nobody told us about the wind that we would experience is beyond me...it's so much more of an issue than the length of the day or the elevation gain. The wind is simply hellish and brutal. We laughed later on that we pictured ourselves like the poor weather person who gets sent out to report on a hurricane. It takes a lot to knock me over but many gusts did almost that...luckily I caught myself every time thanks to my walking sticks but there were many people who weren't so lucky and were knocked down.
Oh my goodness, I can't believe we actually survived the first day! It was so difficult! But first things first, here are photos of us just starting out from St. Jean Pied du Port in France, a very cute little town at the base of the Pyrenees that caters almost exclusively to the pilgrims who walk the Camino. It was uphill from the start!
The Pyrenees are stunning. The area looks like Switzerland and the Alps, although smaller in stature. The scenery is absolutely beautiful. At the albergue, we found our bunk bed (in a room with maybe 100 others...you should have heard the snoring! ) and took showers. By then, the place to wash out clothes had closed. Since we have 2 sets of clothes, we're going to have a problem in a couple days! There was also no Internet, which was a bummer. What they did offer, however, was a wonderful pilgrim dinner. We ate with 8 others from all over the world. The camaraderie between the pilgrims really is something special. To do this incredible journey with like-minded people is truly special. Dinner was over about 10 and we fell into bed.
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| One of the statues along the way |
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| In case we were counting, only 765 km left to go! |
