First Days on the Camino

Day 1

The first hike of the Camino, from St. Jean Pied de Port FR to Roncesvalles ES  covers 25 kilometers and 1200 meters of elevation gain. The road turns up right out of town and stays that way for 15 K.  We hikes through fog in the valleys to being above the clouds in the cols. it was a hard hike but beautiful. 

We stayed for the night in a very nice and modern albergue built next to a 12th century church. We ate the "pilgrims dinner" that many of the local restaurants serve.  It was a very good meal for €9. 

After dinner, we proceeded to over sample the local wine offerings with a young Irish couple we met, Owen and Veronica, and Hank, the Dutchman, who Therese was chatting up to share his bottle of wine. Too much wine for the first night. We barely made it back to the albergue before it closed. 

Today's good intentions are for our children, Matt and Katie, their spouse/fiancée,Kristen and Rich, and their animals. They have made good choices in life and love 

Day 2

It rained and was cold all day long, pretty miserable compared to yesterday.  The trail was very wet and muddy. 

The 27 K hike to Larrasoana was very peaceful but still a lot of hills. 

The albergue here is not very nice compared to Roncesvalles. We immediately went to a local bar for a beer and to dry out. One of the local nuns is here enjoying dinner and two bottles of wine. 

Today's good intentions are for our parents, in memory of Rita andOllie and in honor of Dee and Don.  They have given us the wisdom to have made good choices in life. 

Buen Camino

At the start of our journey. Only 610 miles to go!

Buen Camino. 

St. Jean Pied de Port

I don't care what most Americans think. France and the French are great. 

We are staying at a wonderful B&B in St. Jean, the Maison Ziberoa, owned by a delightful woman, Marie Josee. Her other guests are also walking portions of the Camino. We had a great time yesterday getting to know everyone. It is so nice here. 

SJPdP is an old French village at the edge of the Pyrenees mountains with ancient walls and fortifications. The old portion of the city within the walls has some great shops and restaurants along  narrow cobblestone streets. So many things to see  and such little time . . .

Therese is already buying things--Basque fabric, espadrilles, etc.  Fortunately. we will be shipping a bag ahead to Santiago so we won't have to carry all the goods for the next six weeks. 

Tomorrow we will begin our journey. We will buy some bread, cheese and sausage to eat along the way and perhaps a bottle of wine. It will be a long day: 27 km with 1400 m of climbing. We start with one of the toughest days on the Camino. 

We Have Arrived in St. Jean Pied de Port

The RyanAir flight from Dublin to Biarritz was interesting. The blue and yellow planes are definitely no frills. I couldn't decide whether RyanAir is the Megabus or school bus of the skies. There were tons of children on the plane (going on holiday, I presume). 

After a 90 minute minibus ride, we arrived in St. Jean Pied de Port where the Camino Frances begins. We are staying for two days in St. Jean at a quaint B&B, the Maison Ziberoa. Here's a pic:

Therese is taking a nap so I'm off to explore the town a bit. 

Out Cold in Dublin . . .

. . . and it's not from the Guinness. 

And We're Off

We left RIC right on time at 1:20 this afternoon. We had a beautiful flight up the East Coast with great views of Manhattan from 32,000 ft. 

We have quite a bit of time before our 6:15 flight to Dublin so we decided to have an early dinner at Legal Seafood. The soft shelled crabs were actually

pretty good for airport food. Since Aer Lingus wanted 20€ for dinner on the plane, this was a much better choice. 

The beer in front of Therese is mine. She says that she will not drink until dinner tomorrow evening when we are in St. Jean Pied de Port, FR. Yes, a nice Bordeaux will be great with dinner if we can stay awake. 

Therese's plan is to take an Advil PM when she gets on the plane, put on her compression socks, put in her ear plugs and settle in for the flight to Dublin. Hopefully, she will get some sleep so that she is not too crabby tomorrow. We'll see. 

After the overnight flight to Dublin, we will transfer to RyanAir for a flight to Biarritz, FR. From there, we take a taxi to St. Jean. With luck, we will make all of our connections and arrive some time tomorrow afternoon. 

We will be boarding in a few minutes, so I'll post something more along the way. 

What is the Camino?

The Camino de Santiago is an ancient pilgram route(s) from many places in Europe to Santiago de Compostela.  It is in the Cathedral of Santiago where the remains of St. James purportedly lie.

Pilgrims have been making this trek since the Middle Ages.  There is no single Camino.  One can start in Italy, Germany, France, Portugal, many points in Spain, and even Ireland (at St. James Gate where Guinness is brewed).

Therese and I will be following the Camino Frances, probably the most popular of the Camino routes.  It begins in southwest France in St. Jean Pied de Port.  On the first day, the route crosses the Pyrenees into the Basque region of Spain and then across northern Spain (through Pamplona, Burgos, Leon, Sarria and then Santiago de Compostela).  Fortunately, we will be going through some of the famed wine regions of the country: Navarra, Rioja, Cava, Rias Baixas.  It's a tough job, but . . .

Here is a map of where we will be traveling:

Overall, the route is about 780 kilometers -- about 485 miles.  We will also add another hike on the end, to Finesterre and back for another 200 kilometers.  All in all, it will be a bit over 600 miles in six+ weeks.

Our backpacks are packed and we leave tomorrow.  We have an interesting journey planned with JetBlue, Aer Lingus, RyanAir and Express Burricot.  Through some miracle, we will arrive in St. Jean Pied de Port on Wednesday afternoon to spend a couple of leisurely days in southwest France before we begin our pilgrimage.

Wish us luck.