Category: Saint-Jean-Pied-de-Port

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Saint-Jean-Pied-de-Port to Roncesvalles

24.2 km and 6:23 (see map).

Clear blue skies, warm, nary a breeze. 16 km up to 1,400 m, then level for a while before 5 km descent into Roncesvalles. Beautiful walking. Bunk for night in 180-bed albergue in old monastery. €10. Albergue is full. Phone about to run out of charge so this will be all I’ll post until later. Will put some photos up too – took at least a hundred or so.

Leaving Saint-Jean-Pied-de-Port. About 5 deg and foggy.

8.75 kg pack weight. Not bad. Includes sandwiches and copy of Eucalyptus.

Into the mist we go.

Out of the fog after a few km, to rolling rural vistas.

The camino diverges from the road part way up the hill to Orisson.

Lots of signs pointing the way. Not much chance of getting lost.

The approach to Orisson albergue and an espresso. Did think of staying here for a night, but it was full and anyway was keen to go through to Roncesvalles. Nice albergue nonetheless.

Post-espresso view of Orisson albergue, looking back down the hill.

Getting higher.

Some snow on the distant big peaks of the Pyrenees.

Ever higher and what do I see around a corner? A coffee cart. Turned out to be a good place for a lunch stop.

The unprepossessing marker of the border between France and Spain.

Through a dead forest, well that’s what it seemed like – leaves from last autumn on the ground and no new growth on the trees. Late bloomers.

Emergency shelter near the Col Lepoeder.

Snow near the col.

Emergency wifi at the col. Social media updates not supported.

Down through a grand forest …

… to the albergue in an old monastery. €8.00 for the night.

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A day in Saint-Jean-Pied-de-Port

Picked up my pilgrim’s passport / credential yesterday. It’s stamped at the start of the camino at the pilgrims information centre (and at the end too), and along the way at the albergues.

Recommended pack-to-body weights at the info centre.

Will weigh my pack before heading off tomorrow.

Prayer house and inclinations (wishes) ‘thing’ up the back of Beilari. Inclinations are written on small pieces of paper, put inside small plastic balls then added to the thing. There are lots of them in there so it’s obviously a popular activity. A bit like a wishing well.

More queues at the pilgrims centre. They coincide with the arrivals of trains from Biarritz / Bayonne so aren’t always there.

Plan to head off around 7:30 am tomorrow. Walk will either be around 8 km up to Orisson – if I can reserve a bed at the refuge there (will find out later this evening), else 26 or so mostly uphill km through to Roncesvalles. I’m okay if it’s the latter as the forecast is good, the days are long and I’m in reasonable walking shape.

Stocking up on carbohydrates.

Grimbergen. Blonde. Quite partial to them.

It was a communal dinner last night at Beilari. And really enjoyable. Josef the host facilitated introductions – essentially over the course of a few games (and a glass of passable port) each of the 21 or so peregrinos there introduced themselves and explained why they were doing the camino. Quite moving to hear the various motivations. Dinner was pretty good – bean soup, salad and a sort of vegetable slice thing, and rice pudding for dessert.

Everyone moved on today except me (many / most limited on time available to do the walk), so there’ll be a new group of peregrinos to meet tonight. I’m looking forward to that. Also looking forward to tonight’s meal, but hope there are a few more carbs in it than there were last night (having a beer now can thus be considered prudent risk management).

Not sure whether there’ll be wifi wherever I am tomorrow night so maybe no post. Will have the SPOT running through the day so you’ll be able to track my (slow) progress (link at top right of blog).

So tomorrow is the start of my camino, my pilgrimage if you will.

Pilgrimage teaches you to keep going – forward. It teaches that your only obligation is to this moment, right here beneath your feet; there is no ‘there’. Santiago de Compostela might be your destination, but it is irrelevant if you do not take the next step.

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The final transit leg to the start of the Camino Francés

Bayonne to Saint-Jean-Pied-de-Port (‘Saint John at the foot of the mountain pass’). The train leaves later this morning; takes about an hour. Good weather up there today – this forecast from yr.no:

Early afternoon …

Wonderful trip up into the Pyrenean foothills, for much of the way alongside a river and through farmland.

What’s the collective noun for a train load of disembarking peregrinos (pilgrims)? A disembarkment?

Seems the town name is hyphenated. Must fix in all my posts.

In and around the township (the old town is walled):

Cathedral count so far (Gothic or otherwise): 0 (not including Bayonne; expect count to increase over coming months)
Splendid bucolic scenes: 47+ (gave up counting soon after leaving Bayonne)
Peregrinos on the train: maybe 50 (all strangely quiet)

A queue at the pilgrim information centre (where you get your pilgrim passport) …

… but patience paid off and I got in later during a lull.

The albergue where I’m staying for a couple of nights opened at 2:30. Josef the owner explained the house rules, the most important of which is the communal dinner at 7:30 and a close second being the hours of silence. Nice place (will post some photos tomorrow) and the communal dinner will be an opportunity to meet some people.

The ‘family’ who stayed the night at the albergue.