With toes almost in blisters and downhill knee not happy and 28 Kms in 30degrees ahead of me, my Camino buddies…encouraged me to take a bus today!!! At €2 a ride it was kind of a no brainer after 7 days on these old feet! This was of course after a beer…and my FMO (fear of missing out) on a nice restaurant dinner with the team at 8pm … so another beer, some local wine and a great dinner…I rolled into bed and slept until 7.35am!!! Sue (2) and I had arranged to meet at breakfast at 7.30am…I was late! As I had to pack up my three legged dog(suitcase who list a wheel yesterday) and have to reception before 8am to be transferred!

Breakfast was rather a non event, so we trucked off and graced the laundromat with our presence! Then met our other two Camino buddies for a coffee before they left for their next destination (not ours!)

Here we are looking bright and chirpy and relaxed…without the footwork ahead of us today!

Stupidly I ordered a cappuccino instead of a latte…and ended up with half a cup of cream and chocolate bits…

Sue and Sue left Betsy and Bob (2nd goodbyes) via the hotel to drop laundry, then strolled through the town towards the bus station!

The choices for kiddie treats in the bakeries is over the top…

A little more than the smiley faces we get in New Zealand! I know three little grandsons who would be in heaven!

Logrono is a really nice city, with a mix of old and new…

On the walk we found a pharmacy…there are lots of them on this route, and treated ourselves to a new more suitable knee brace…ready for our next days on foot! Right next door, an optometrist who fixed Sue’s glasses (a screw thing) and re tightened my sunglasses so they didn’t fall off every time I bent over! No charge and great job!

A mere stroll to the bus station..

And I purchased a €1.94 ticket to my next town of Najera! Leaving around 11.45sm and arriving at 12.15pm – a mere half hour!

As I got off the bus there was a street market in full swing!

Of course worth a wander! To fill in time until 1pm check in!

I then joined the last 100meters of today’s Camino trail en route to my hotel …

This is a very cute town…still open until siesta at 1.30pm…I thought I would look for a replacement suitcase, but none to be found…so my three legged dog will have to go the distance with me!

I did find some postcards and stamps so plonked myself at a bar…

To sip and write! And wile away a bit of the afternoon! As you can see it was a big beer and filled in an hour or so!

I then went in hunt of a postbox….these seem to be not a thing – will check with reception! As I don’t want any extra baggage to lug around…

I think my other two friends have arrived (walking) but no socials so will just go hang out on the street to see if I can catch them…no seriously an early ish dinner and early night to get ready for the next few days! Today was a mere 5.5km stroll total, tomorrow is a different story!

The first week has been everything expected and unexpected – from winter to summer from rain to sunshine…and some great connections with people from all “walks” of life!!!

“ It will be both glorious and unbearable…Every road is lonely…Every road is holy….The only error is not walking forward” (poem culpable by Joy Sullivan)

Today was all of the above….just know that walking forward with my new Camino Family….

Makes it all worthwhile! Here we are at dinner last night…as 6 are soon to become three! Betsy and Bob take a train tomorrow and Sue 2 (or 1) is having a rest day! My feet are very jealous…that leaves Rosanne and Micki from New Jersey and the kiwi wanderer to hit the long and winding road in the morning….

Today started in Los Arcos for me at 7am…after taking the breakfast coffee and a croissant….i took the chicken sandwich with me for the walk… and yes it walked the 27kms with to end up in the hotel bin in Logroño!

Leaving Los Argos early meant the first couple of hours to the first village of Sansol was in very pleasant conditions…

Meandering through fields and undulating countryside…

About 6kms into the walk I took a foot rest and drank my electrolyte water…then headed to the next village of Torres Del Rio…

This was only actually a couple of kilometres on but the first big down…challenging the knee!!

Here I met up with a young woman ((Mel) from London…who walk with me the rest of the day….the next town (and lunch destination was Viana! A mere 10kms on!

There were a few highs…

A few pilgrim memorials…

Lots of grapevines…the wheat fields seem to have given way to wine making!

The odd bush walk which was a relief as day really warming up as promised!

And around 12.30pm we arrived at Viana…

Here’s the holy bit…

A beautiful church where we could get our Camino passport stamped!!!

Then a foot up lunch break in the square…at this point we could have taken a bus the next 10kms but…as Camino would have it, we met up with the three gals (Rosanne, Micki and Sue 2 or 1) and rallied each other up to make it to the finish line!!!

More vineyards…

A bit of street art in the park…

More wildflowers – and thistle flowers!

Long ascents…longer descents…the unbearable bit….feet starting to scream loudly…and sweat drenched attire! We certainly were an attractive bunch on the homeward slide!

There I am …knee length socks…dripping hair and the rest of a hot mess!

Feet up for a minute while one of the gals took a bush wee! Staring at the city of Logrono! Little did we know there was still a fair bit of pavement pounding before reaching our hotel…but it takes a village and we arrived!!!

Day 7 down, bath and now out for a Beer!

I am really getting the hang of this…up at 6am…dress, sit on suitcase to close, then dump it at reception for transfer to the next hotel…make sure I have all my emergency supplies in daypack…off to breakfast….then walk….today actually only added up to 18kms!

The sunrise in the morning from my window in Estella….today promised to warm up (considerably) … I ate, not much as it was less than desirable at breakfast…had my water bottles full…and started walking around 8am…yay it was an up!!! As I was leaving town, q Camino friend, who I had had dinner with a couple of nights ago was trying to work out the route for today…I was following another backpack and Jan’s joined me! He has actually been walking since March from Rotterdam…do I thought our buddy walking would be short lived (due to my downhill knee issues)

The first attraction at a little after 8am was the wine (or water) tap as we left the town!

Some imbibed at this hour but either a 6 hour walk ahead for a non wine drinker…this was merely a photo opportunity!

We carried on out of Estella past the monastery at the top of the climb, we then continued on bush pathways until a big downhill … at which point I took it slowly! and thought I would be walking solo! But my knee managed the zigzag and Jan’s and I climbed up into the village of Azqueta….

Uphill is still my friend…

Through the odd tunnel…to a fabulous cafe!

Run by Dutch people and overlooking the valleys! great coffee too (and a restroom – 4stars, Tona)

The view from our lounge chairs and it was still only 10am…with a 3rd of the walking for the day done!

The next bit was a bit of a climb…good for the knees…but sun bursting out to an exposed 25degrees! So as I de layered…we climbed higher towards the abandoned castle on the top of the hill…not tempted for the side climb though!

A pocket photo of my Shadow…that is now (in the sunshine) coming with me all the way!!!!

We plateaued out to a small village -Villamayor de Monjardin…at our highest point for the day

St James (bronze statue) holding fort in front of the church…

And the church…not open to pilgrims (a little rude) with double padlocked doors! The next 12kms to Los Arcos was a little more of the same…

Walking through wine country exposed to the hot sun…now down to T-shirt and shorts! having some one to chat to whiled away the miles…and in the middle of like nowhere…

A man and a guitar pounding out sounds and adding another sound to the click clack of piles and scrunching of boots on the stone pathways!

More and more stone pathways…until we reached a Foodteuck in the middle of nowhere, with a few trees around perfect for a potty stop (or bush wee) and a rest for the now burning feet… from her 6kms for me and 13kms for Jan who couldn’t get a room in this town of Lis Arcos! However it does mean he only had a 21km day tomorrow and I have 28!!!

Entering los Arcos- there was a menageries of goats and confused Roosters crowing their heads off at 1.40pm! Yep I made it in the proposed 5.5 hours… thanks probably to my walking buddy of the day!

Who carried on his final 7km while I sat down and had a cool beer to reward myself for the days walk… it’s now a little after 4 going to message some Camino buddies and see if they are up for an early dinner….or not happy to do this on my own…

This morning I left Puente La Reina in northern Spain for my next leg of the Camino Frances trail… around 7.30am….

The Puente stone bridge, where one is supposed to take off shoes and cross barefoot (I was told later)…kind of pleased I didn’t know this at the time as it was still chilly, even though I had donned my shorts in anticipation of the temperature rising during the day!

The overcast morning, with the view from the bridge….meant the water was green and murky!

Leaving town I noticed the locals had also been up early as the laundry was already hung out from the windows…

The path meandered through fields and wild poppies…which seem to grow prolifically in this Navarre area.

The sun was trying to peep through and warm up the day…

Breaking though to highlight the fields of yellow wildflowers! Halfway up the first climb, I can get up with my pilgrim friends Sue, and the Gals from New Jersey … we walked together for a while into the first village..

Of Maneru…an ancient village with another uphill climb entering through the gates…

Cobbled streets and sandstone brick buildings, very reminiscent of my Malta home! we came across a public toilet (yes one only) and all decided we should utilise this facility as the next one could be mikes away!

This convenience area also had the luxury of flying bats!!! Upon leaving this village (on the top of the hill there was a very long descent…

It was at this point that I suggested the girls carry on without me as my knee requires less pace and lots of zig zagging on these stones downhills… the undulation continued as I picked my way through the countryside…

Yes another slow downhill!

Through wheat fields, olive groves, and wild roses…

It was here I caught up with Bob and Betsy, my pilgrims in beer drinking crime from a few nights ago…or rather they caught up with me….

And here we are on Day five, with over a hundred kilometres under our belt! Minus 10 for me as I took a half day bus on day two after my treacherous mountain crossing…

We visited a beautiful Catholic Church… and carried on to Lorca – the coffee break, lunch stop village again high on a hill…I took a coffee and met up with my Dutch dinner companion from last night…whom I left the town with!

And for all you wine lovers….we are heading into vineyard country, with rows and rows of grapevines…in the infant stages of fruiting…

Still wheat fields and still wildflowers and poppies! In the next little village a local was picking cherries from his huge cherry tree and he offered me some….delicious! a young Croatian girl and I walked for the next little while…until another steep decline slowed me down again…do the last few kilometres I walked solo into the town of Estella…underneath these water bridges …

Spanning the countryside from hill to hill…

Another little bridge and alongside a river into town…

Spying this castle on the other side of the river…I cannot find any reference to its history, but it was rather impressive…

The locks that lead to the hydro power plant on the edge of town…

My booked hotel was on the other side of town…and being mid afternoon all was very quiet in the streets…as closed up for the afternoon siesta!

I walked past the chapel of San Andrés, patron saint of the city, which was built in baroque forms in 1706. As I had an extra kilometre to cover…the first bar I could find open(and only 600m from my destination) deserved my patronage! And medication for my knee…

My medication of choice is now san Miguel beer!

I arrived at my hotel after my little sojourn, and reflection upon my 22 km walking day, around 5pm…I love these hotels…they all have baths…perfect for soaking the sore bits and doing another round of washing!

Sometimes what seems like impossible is actually possible…last night with a very sore knee and a cold coming on – I had plan B ready to catch a bus for day four walk!

This morning I thought…not so bad …strap knee and get out there… the forecast for no rain!!

I left Pamplona around 8.15 am …. Found the starting point…,

Followed other backpacking people to clear the city and look for my yellow shell trail for the day…

Within a couple of miles…the countryside opened up with poppies and wildflowers…

I stopped and stripped off a couple of layers as the sun was shining and I was heading uphill!!!

Goodbye to the crazy busy party city of Pamplona and into the wide open spaces of rural northern Spain.

High clouds and skies clearing into the first little village of Cizur Menor…,about 5 kms from Pamplona

And what did I spy…the Maltese cross! A hospital….in the heart of this small village! It was “the sign” my heritage is with me….not long after this I ran into a lady from Michigan who was called Sue too! And was also nursing a bit of a knee injury from our first treacherous day…

The two Sues joined forces and headed south up the hill and away from the city…both intent on smelling the roses!! And taking care of our knees! As we had a 24km walk today…this was the beginning of a great day!!!

A comfortable gradual ascent…towards Alto del Perdon …. The highest point of the day…,

Up hill..,for the first couple of hours – good on the knees!

Looking back to Pamplona as we climbed up to the first village of Zariquiegui..,

Fields of wheat and wildflowers

A snack break, water refill, and a loo stop!!! As the church bells rang out for the 11.30am mass(being a Sunday) …

Another 2.5kms up….

Headed towards the ridge line wind mill farms…

And peaking at the top with the well documented (photographed) steel statues of the pilgrims…

In line with the wind farms windmills… and then what goes ups (Sue and Sue) must come down… a moment I was dreading….

Ahead of us was a 3.3km steep rocky descent…

Starting at the circle of stones…each representing a village in the area..

Carefully navigating this downhill stretch …zigzagging on the path to minimalise the from knee pressure an following the Camino signposts atop either rocks? Why I say are there various piles on rocks on these signs? There are several theories…1. To honour a person who has passed…2. To bring a stone from your home to place and leave your fears and mistakes behind…3. or simply to mark the touts for future pilgrims!

The next village of Uterga … starts with a St Maria (virgin) statue … and meanders through a small village!

Then the next village of Muruzabal … had a very busy garden bar becoming all pilgrims on their final leg for the day…unresistable!! A cold beer on what was now a very warm afternoon!

The other Sue, relaxing on the terrace!

One more village of Obanos…roses in bloom…another field trek..

Wildflowers and poppies… Bordering wheat fields into the homeward stretch with more country colour…

Planter boxes overlooking their homestead!and it was one more (zigzagging) down to the final destination of Puente la Reina…. My hotel first the Sue carried on another Km to hers! We said goodbye and both agreed we had had a great day…compatible in our walking and knee care and curiosity!

Ok so here I check in and the bag transfer had mislaid my bag…a very helpful receptionist track it down to another hotel and said it would be here in 30 mins… at this point I ran into a young chap (welsh) I had met a couple of days ago and joined him and an Englishman for a beer…until my bag arrived … a quick shower and back to join the team..with a Dutchman thrown in to even the odds!

Ready to sleep and face a new tomorrow!

Pamplona – A 15.2km walk…a little longer than anticipated as I got a bit lost getting to my hotel, and being a Saturday….the bars are bursting at the seams…

But let’s go back to the beginning of the day!

I woke to a misty morning – the view from my window…breakfast was at 8am as today was a “short” day of walking…

Had a great dinner at the hotel Akerreta last night with Camino friends Betsy and Bob from Florida! Maybe too many of these…

A 6.5% local beer, tasted great at the time….but I was certainly ready for my freshly squeezed orange juice and coffee at breakfast… I tootled off around 8.30am…and ran into a couple of young chaps I had met on my first day over the mountain….as they roared off into the distance, I picked my way carefully down the hills – trying to take care of my knees!!

Past Wild flowers in the paddocks…

Following the river on still very soggy tracks…but not much rain, just the slight drizzle here and there!

A few raging rapids and river still really high…it was really nice to walk with the sound of the water rushing down beside me.

About an hour in, I crossed to the other side and got a fellow walker to catch me in action! Yes I am actually here somewhere in Spain!

A cool cafe on the side of this bridge, but a little early for my 2nd cup of coffee (as toilets are few and far between)

A little roadside walking before heading back off grid through small villages…

Following the yellow arrows and blue and yellow scallop signs…

Bridges crisscrossing roads and rivers…

The first leg to Zabaldika complete, I then had a gentle descent back towards the river

And walked between the wheat fields and the river.. this was turning into a very pleasant day!

Then as I got nearer to Pamplona…the trail sent me up high….

I’m guessing to get my first glimpse of Pamplona…. I knew what this meant however…if you go up you must come down…and down is what my knees don’t like!

However before the final descent into the city, I spied this little ginger squirrel munching on a nut…a couple of loud French ladies appeared around the corner as I was trying to catch him in action, so I put my finger to my lips and pointed to the little guy…they stopped talking for long enough to take a photo then marched off and turned the volume up again!

I crossed the old stone bridge into the edge of town…

This was the beginning of city walking… having just come down from the hills and realised that final steep, long descent had got my right knee again..

However, I was still 3 kms from my destination and carried on straight through Pamplona new town…followed by what seemed to be a large area of construction sites and paddocks…at this point I met up with a chap from Texas (Dallas) called Ron and we both took a shortcut heading to our respective accommodations… thinking we were very clever and we weren’t, we ended up doubling back to the original route and the only bridge to cross another river into the old town…here we parted ways…as we do on this journey…me to the left, him to the right!

I climbed up another hill, uphill is good – never thought I would say that!!!

With the walls of the old city opening up to the bustling streets of Saturday young people all queueing for drinks and having fun…I found my hotel in the middle of all this madness and had an hour to kill before I could get into my room…I had to get off my feet and found a bakery

And a nice hot cappuccino- as it was now drizzling again and the temperature was barely double digits!

I had a quick look at the main square, devoid of people not wanting to get wet…

However the alleyways and covered terraces were heaving!

A bit much turmoil after my day in nature to be honest! So as soon as I could check in I retired to my room – took a hot bath and hand washed a few bits….the old rolling in a towel, then my new trick of drying with the hairdryer…all my hotels here seem to have hairdryers – which I don’t use on my hair but are great for clothes and wet shoes!!!

I will need to venture out soon as I am hungry! But would like to get a take out and come back to rest my knees in hope that I can do the 24km walk tomorrow!!

I started the day with a brainwave….as shoes were still soaking from night before…

Some previous guest had kindly left their hair dryer!

Just when I thought it couldn’t get any colder…I woke up this morning, with a sore knee…donned all my walking woolies, strapped the sore bits…fully anticipating a 27km walk through more mountains, looked out the windows and it was snowing….heavily!

So sub zero temperatures! Before breakfast I went for a walk outside to get the feel of chill and slipperyness and gauge whether my knee would handle it!

Yes it was cold and yes it was slippery, but

Kind of beautiful too…this is Roncevalles at its picturesque prettiness! Last night when I arrived it was kind of run down and just grey!

One more snow photo for the road…. Or not…I joined a table for breakfast with an American couple, who informed me a man died on the route I took yesterday and another had a nasty fall and smashed his face, to be rescued off the track by police and paramedics! These people took the low road yesterday (I didn’t know there was another one) and thought I had done very well to complete the mountains in those conditions!

My next decision was easy…I have hundreds of miles ahead of me and today’s route posed a very long slippery downhill before the town of Zubiri…and a bus came through at 9.30…to take me over the mountains….then a gentle 8km (undulating) walk from there to my next destination!

The difficult bit was finding out where the bus left from! Running around in the snow for about an hour I finally found an old Spanish woman who had a friend who could translate for me, that it left from the carpark! (around there!)

Off I trudged, to wait in the carpark…and get very wet and cold by the time 9.30 rolled around!

There was an American man, named John, whose destination was Zubiri, from where I was walking who also figured a bus ride this morning was a good option!

We arrived in Zubiri around 10.30 and went and grabbed a hot coffee…he headed off to his hostel around midday and I hit my Camino for the day (8kms) from here to Akerreta!

Leaving Zubiri to join the Camino trail (rather than follow the (busy) main road,

The sun was peeping out from time to time, however the waters were high …. As I hit the track….

I felt I was walking in a rain forest…as so much water has come down from the mountains…

The paths were rivers and at the lower points there was a bit of fording to do!

This was a little precarious and calf deep and fast running…so it was no haste all care…but saturated shoes again!

A few ups and downs…

And waterfalls on the side! …

An ancient 18th century abbey on my travels…looking rather empty and forlorn.

A bit of street art on the back of someone’s garage!

And roses and arrows showing me “The Way”, possibly not in the biblical sense just yet…it was more like get to my next hotel before the next rain shower swept through!

Too wet for snails…but this big fat slug escaped being trodden on by this kiwi pilgrim!…he was lucky as due to the wet nature of the path I did spend most of today’s walk looking down!

More beautiful Spanish country gardens on my final ascent to my abode for the night…arriving an hour before check in…I donned my Poncho and enjoyed a rest…

Waiting till I saw some life at my hotel, which once again is great (although I am on the 2nd floor and my transferred bag is heavy)

I’m in a very cute rustic room with lots of exposed beams that look like a hundred years old! And yay…I have a bath…albeit a shortish one, so had had a nice hot soak, going to take a beer and order my dinner…I may meet my breakfast companions from Florida, who I think they said they are heading here tonight! I can’t remember their names, oops, I wish every man was called John – that seems to stick on this trail!

Day 2 of the Camino Frances….actually day one of walking!

If I had written this story at 4pm when I arrived in Roncesvalles (Spain) from St Jean pied de Port (the start of my 800km trek), it may have been vastly different….now I have hot showered and filled my tummy (with the only thing that made sense on the menu) a hamburger…I am finally, warm, dry, breathing and not hungry! All I can say is you never get what you signed up for!! So my story begins…

Breakfast at my hotel did not start until 7.30am, and I was ready to go at 7am with an hour before the rain came in to get up the first hill at least, I forewent breakfast knowing I had a pastry, two apricots, nuts and a chocolate bar to snack on before the only eating place on this leg (8 kms away and all uphill)

This guy was watching the idiots clim out of his town, as he probably does every morning. I have to say there were a few of us getting an early start!

Then these guys settling in under a tree for the day, smart move in light of what rolled in around 9am!

The photos I have are from this morning only as after the rain came in …. My phone was buried deep inside the five layers of clothing I had put on this morning – in hope of keeping some warmth going on!

So we just kept going up and up and….

Up more as the sealed road ended and the real tramping deal kicked in….this was about the time the rain came in…and there was another two hours of Up before reaching the Orisson refuge…

The only building in this town…supplying hot drinks (first coffee of the day at 10.20am) soup, sandwiches and hearty food for cold drowned trampers! I took a loo stop here(the only one of the day weather I needed it or not)….they had one loo!

For a moment, while I was waiting for the loo…the rain stopped and it was clear enough to see where we were in the Pyrenees. When I arrived there I was engulfed in rain and cloud so had no idea where I was!

I was only 8kms in to the days 24.5kms…and as I left here…still going up….one foot after the other….this is where the predicted weather rolled in! The next three hours were going up, in howling 100knot winds (almost blowing my walking poles out of my hands!) the fingerless gloves, now wet in the driving hail (which was pricking my face skin) and rain, meant the ends of my fingers were numb with the cold! Luckily inside a thick black sack, in my now wet backpack, were Mums possum gloves! Which saved the day, or at least my fingers from getting frostbite!

I battled on to the sound of flapping ponchos, on other people…a waste if time today as they were almost launching the wearers into the clouds (and everything underneath was wet anyway!) I was just wet, without the threat of becoming Mary Poppins!

We peaked at 1450metres above sea level – at which point I saw the most exciting thing of the day…couldn’t retrieve my camera quickly enough…so I’ll have to paint a word picture….

Just as I was about to hit the 14km mark and nearing the peak of my climb…to my right a flock of Latxa black faced sheep, native to the Spanish Pyrenees, was wandering beside the track…down into a valley….then from above,on the left, a herd of wild Pyrenees horses came thundering down the last ascent, within 50 meters of where I was standing…circling and bucking around for a bit, then ran off down the side of the mountain! There were about 6-8 wonderful looking beasts, obviously trying to keep warm like the rest of us!

The last climb, or so I thought, stopping at the only other refreshment place on this day, a tatty old food truck, selling hot (sachet) drinks, cold boiled eggs and bananas….the food of athletes?? I grabbed a hot coffee…it was terrible but it was hot!!!

So a couple more 1km ups, then the terrain plateaued out for about 5kms followed by a steep 5km decent into Roncevalles…my destination for the day! I was starting to feel the knees by this stage!

Leaving this morning at 7am arriving at 4pm! A nine hour day…possibly due to my fitness level, but definitely weather restricted tentative walking…with at times zero visibility, lots of mud slides, and the super chill factor coupled with soggy clothing!

Nothing a very hot, long shower, full set of dry woolies, a cold beer and food…

The beef burger, which was delicious. I am now lying flat relaxing before another early start. Breakfast here at this hotel is 7am, so I will definitely grab a bite before I head off into another mountainous wet day! (Longer distance but less altitude!)

Besides the jail like cell last night I had a great sleep after the day of train travel! And escaped in search of a coffee around 7am…all very well to prove a coffee cup, sachet of instant coffee, but without any means of boiling water or milk it wasn’t going to give me my morning wake up call I needed!

The sky was overcast…the air was damp…the expected rain only moments away! and no cafes open as yet! So I scuttled back into my “room” to google where I might need to head and grab my raincoat! I ran into a man who was also on the hunt for some refreshments and we walked to a bar that the internet had suggested may be alive! He managed to get an omelette and I got my coffee…we then parted ways as he was off to set up his bike to ride over the mountains and I had a day to fill in!

I walked to tonight’s accommodation to see if I could transfer my bags and was very warmly met with a most helpful lady…

From the outside this looks like a much nicer hotel for tonight’s sojourn!

I transferred my bag and collected my Camino passport, registering myself for the journey starting tomorrow!

Scoping out my starting point and ….

Following the way of St James around the town. I found a supermarket and stocked up on snacks and water…and dived in and out of the tourist shops to avoid the incessant downpours!

Roosters are a thing here but no room to cart these in my small bag for the next five weeks!

The river looking very grey but as the clouds spread for a moment the mirror images reflected in the water….

Not being able to check in until 3.30pm by early afternoon and 10000 steps under my belt I stopped at a pub and ordered a beer so I could get out of the rain! This filled in an hour or so…and having explored the cobbled streets enough for one day I am ready to unload into my room and prepare all my wet weather gear ready for an early start over the mountains tomorrow

St Jean Pied de Port is a very pretty mountain village…full of tramping people filling in time until their walk begins, sticking up on ponchos and raincoats to brave the next few days!

I think I have got my head around a first wet walking day, but depending on what the morning brings (forecast is saying 100% chance of rain all day) I may start my journey with a €5 bus ride to my first destination!!!

The view from my balcony, a bed large enough to fit 10 of me and a bath! Luxury!! For tonight at least!

After three days in Paris I have, today, arrived in St Jean Pied de Port – the starting point of the Camino Frances!

Paris provided me with a Sunny Saturday – then two days of Rain (I thought I was leaving this behind) and freezing cold temperatures – down to 6 degrees and up to 13!

On Sunday before the inclement weather kicked in Sally and I walked from her place to the Place de Clichy… a small 5k walk but enough to earn a beer at the Irish pub!

Very shortly after our arrival the rain came in… so it was a bus ride home!

Monday morning it was still torrential rain and didn’t ease off until midday when we ventured out for a few errands and lunch…. A bag repack for me, a load of washing and the first shop of winter pyjamas …. Which I have already worn! Spring in Paris is preparing me for my walk! Which is predicted to be a couple of cold rainy days….this wonderful weather pattern seems to be following me south!

However my day of travel from Paris to the Pyrenees was a sunny(but chilly) one today.

Sally came with me (on the first train ride) to Montparnasse, where I caught the long haul to Bayonne in the south west of France…a three and a half hour ride….and as luck would have it I had a (single) facing backwards seat! Then it was a transfer to the regional train to my destination…full to the gunnels of (slightly smelly) trampers all psyching up for their big walk!

So it was goodbye to Clichy (Paris) and hello to……..

St Jean Pied de Port! I am still in France (just) My 15 year old bag is failing in the wheel area and a slight climb up the gravel path almost broke its back! However from here on in, she will be travelling by taxi while I travel on foot!

I had booked an extra night here so tomorrow I can prepare myself (mentally) for first day which is 27kms over the mountains…heading towards Spain!

I arrived at my hotel at 6.30pm…the exact time pre arranged and no one was here! Finally a man arrived (after a few what’s app messages) …. To give me a key to my cell unit – no windows, and no air! A small bathroom, which I am grateful for, and a bed!

I have to be out by 10.30am , no breakfast included and the wifi doesn’t connect as I am in a concrete cell! Hopefully my tour booking hotels provide a little more comfort!, and less isolation!!! Although this is a pilgrimage, one does not need to feel like they are in Jail!

So it’s Netflix on my phone! A chocolate bar for dinner and hopefully a good nights sleep to battle through the next week of (predicted) rain!