Day 1 St. Jean Port du Pied to Roncesvalles
Wow! What a gorgeous day. What an experience. Breakfast at the hostel was at 6am and when we finally made it out to the table it was clear that a huge majority of pilgrims had already come through. A whole group was getting up to start hiking as I was sitting down. After a heartfelt "Buen Camino," I watched them walk past the window and off down the street even though the sun was only just beginning to lighten the sky. I can understand their anxiety, the hike today is considered one of the most arduous. 15.6 miles up and over the Pyrenees. And the first 5 miles are STEEP! After our instant coffee (in a HUGE bowl), multitudes of toast with butter,our supplemental banana and delightful conversation we were ready to head out the door. We passed right under the church bell as is was chiming 8am.
It was a festive start. Everyone, excited to be starting the Camino, waved hello to those that passed, slowed down to chat with others, took pictures at every turn and was generally in great spirits. While the positivity continued all day the over-the-top enthusiasm dwindled as we started up the hills. And up and up and up. The first miles were all on road way. In fact, most of the day was on the road. We walked UP for 7 hours. But oh, was it beautiful. The views of the Pyrenees were stunning. The mountainsides were green and well manicured with sheep grazing all around. All day long the tinkling of the animals bells followed us. At one point we saw some horses out grazing and to shannon's delight we got to watch a sheepdog do her thing. She had those sheep in a perfect rectangle! Meanwhile, you could see the mountains stretch out behind them and the villages down in the valley. Picture-eqsue.
However, it was sunny. No treecover until we got into Spain and the sun was relentless. With the constant breeze you didn't really notice the heat,but when we stopped for lunch it was clear that we had started to get burnt. I (shannon) was SO happy to have the hats-I'm so glad Jamie was dedicated to those purchases.
By the time we got into the beech forests of Spain, we were happy to be out of the sun and didn't mind the lack of a view. The decent down into Roncesvalles was rough! Seven hours up and then one hour down. It was a very intense downhill! However, when we got down to the bottom it literally spit us out at the Albergue. It is (or was) a monastery and it seems like it exists now solely for the pilgrims. A whole little economy has sprung up around it. 2 restaurants, 2 hotels, and a shop. It is sprawling so it looks like a little village but everyone here is a pilgrim or a traveller of some sort. Very interesting. Jamie pointed out as we were walking around that it's really been a 1000 year tradition of travellers stopping here. Really cool to think about .
We are booked tonight for the pilgrim menu at the restaurant across from our hostel. Hope there's lots of food! We are famished!
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