So, after we traveled from Atlanta through Istanbul, Madrid, Soria, and Pamplona finally arriving at our destination: Saint Jean Pied de Port (meaning Saint John at the foot of the pass), it is needless to say that we were very tired and jet-lagged. Emotions were high and we had a fair bit of culture shock and language-barrier problems to get though. But we did, we finally made it to the traditional beginning of the Camino Frances, which is the most popular of the routes on the Camino de Santiago de Compostela.
When we arrived in Saint Jean, we were greeted by the majestic Pyrenees mountains, which I must say are far more intimidating in person than they were in my imagination. After settling in to our hostel, we spent a lovely evening walking around Saint Jean on Thursday and getting fully ready for our trek in the morning.
This morning (Friday) we woke up a little later due to jet lag keeping is up so late, but we were out the door and filling up our water bottles at around 7:45AM. We headed through the city to the real start of the Camino, which was a very exciting moment!
The first 8 km or so of today are entirely uphill and very difficult. We were enveloped in a cloud the entire time which was hard, but became a blessing in the end because we couldn't see the great distance we had further to go.
At the 8 km mark is a small town called Orrison (just a restaurant, hostel and maybe a few houses) where we stopped to catch our breath and drink some coffee.
After that, though it was getting harder to motivate ourselves to keep going, we continued up the many hills and mountains of the Pyrenees. We made friends along the way in cafes, along the side of the road, and later in the albergue (hostel). We saw plenty of wildlife - including sheep, cows, wild horses, lizards, cats, a mule, vultures, and many, many slugs. The views were beyond spectacular and we were in continual awe and raptures while pushing ourselves to keep going. All in all, I would say that though this rivals one of the most difficult experiences of my life, it definitely also rivals one of the most beautiful experiences of my life.
Finally arriving in Roncesvalles after 8.5 hours of mostly uphill slogging, we were filled with utter relief, exhaustion, and pride. Although I cannot speak for my fellow pilgrims, I can say that I would do this again (maybe with a week-long break or so) for the amazing experience and awe-inspiring views. Overall, I think we can safely say this was a breathtaking experience, literally and figuratively.
(I'm not sure when I'll post this because I must wait for proper wifi first and hopefully pictures will follow soon)
The first 8 km or so of today are entirely uphill and very difficult. We were enveloped in a cloud the entire time which was hard, but became a blessing in the end because we couldn't see the great distance we had further to go.
At the 8 km mark is a small town called Orrison (just a restaurant, hostel and maybe a few houses) where we stopped to catch our breath and drink some coffee.
After that, though it was getting harder to motivate ourselves to keep going, we continued up the many hills and mountains of the Pyrenees. We made friends along the way in cafes, along the side of the road, and later in the albergue (hostel). We saw plenty of wildlife - including sheep, cows, wild horses, lizards, cats, a mule, vultures, and many, many slugs. The views were beyond spectacular and we were in continual awe and raptures while pushing ourselves to keep going. All in all, I would say that though this rivals one of the most difficult experiences of my life, it definitely also rivals one of the most beautiful experiences of my life.
Finally arriving in Roncesvalles after 8.5 hours of mostly uphill slogging, we were filled with utter relief, exhaustion, and pride. Although I cannot speak for my fellow pilgrims, I can say that I would do this again (maybe with a week-long break or so) for the amazing experience and awe-inspiring views. Overall, I think we can safely say this was a breathtaking experience, literally and figuratively.
(I'm not sure when I'll post this because I must wait for proper wifi first and hopefully pictures will follow soon)
oh, what a beautiful description of some of your experiences - may these breathtaking memories stay with you for the rest of your life! xx
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