30 April 2009
Got up at 6:15am, but had been awake since 2:30am. Sleeping in shared accommodation will take a little getting used to. Especially when all our passports, wallets, camera gear are there with us.
Breakfast of breadsticks and jam, with tea/coffee/Quik served in bowls.
Within minutes of leaving St Jean Pied de Port we were in th emost fantastic scenery. Serious photography pornography. Seriously!! Sun not up yet. Fog sitting in patches all around. Rolling hills & valleys.
Slow steady uphill for first 4~5 hours, then crazy incline for remaining hours. (7.5hrs hiking in total) Started with t-shirts + thermals + heaviest rain jacket, then stripped down to t-shirt by mid morning.
Unable to tell how far through we were, as the route we took (Valcarlos route) didn´t have many landmarks that matched the maps we had. Several hours of winding dirt (& mud) roads & paths, getting muddier the higher into the hills we went. We were absolutely shattered, and kept on hoping the city would be around the next corner... but the trail went on and on and one... higher and higher and higher. On of the ladies we spoke to that morning said that this first day was supposed to "separate the wheat from the chaff". That´s an understatement.
Climbed a small hill to a monument 1.5kms from town, just as heavy rainclouds rolled over the closest hill. Had a race with it to see which one of us could make it to town first. Hannah & I won... just.
The abbey (monastery?) we´re staying at tonight is a sprawling complex, with bedding for 120 pilgrims. Another refuge in town was closed for renovations so there wouldn´t have been enough accommodation for everyone... so waited 90mins for the office to open so we´d be right at the front of the queue. Lucky... as there was a hoard of wet people huddled behind us by the time it opened. Not all would have got beds and would have had to walk to the next town. Turns out the coming weekend is a public holiday in Europe (Mayday), so there are many more people on the Camino than normal.
Listening to other people, not everyone is doing the full 800kms. Some do 200 or 400kms, but an Aussie guy we spoke to on the road has walked from Paris for the last month. That´s hardcore!!
We arrived in Roscenvalles with mud up to our knees, and in absolutely SHATTERED physical condition. Couldn´t wait to take a shower... but had to wait to take one.
The abbey can take 120 people for a night. Turns out it´s one huge room with 120 beds, 2 showers, 3 toilettes, 120 muddy stinky exhausted people talking in every possible language.
Gotta run as only 2 mins left before I get cut off, but I´ll upload photos ASAP. :)
Got up at 6:15am, but had been awake since 2:30am. Sleeping in shared accommodation will take a little getting used to. Especially when all our passports, wallets, camera gear are there with us.
Breakfast of breadsticks and jam, with tea/coffee/Quik served in bowls.
Within minutes of leaving St Jean Pied de Port we were in th emost fantastic scenery. Serious photography pornography. Seriously!! Sun not up yet. Fog sitting in patches all around. Rolling hills & valleys.
Slow steady uphill for first 4~5 hours, then crazy incline for remaining hours. (7.5hrs hiking in total) Started with t-shirts + thermals + heaviest rain jacket, then stripped down to t-shirt by mid morning.
Unable to tell how far through we were, as the route we took (Valcarlos route) didn´t have many landmarks that matched the maps we had. Several hours of winding dirt (& mud) roads & paths, getting muddier the higher into the hills we went. We were absolutely shattered, and kept on hoping the city would be around the next corner... but the trail went on and on and one... higher and higher and higher. On of the ladies we spoke to that morning said that this first day was supposed to "separate the wheat from the chaff". That´s an understatement.
Climbed a small hill to a monument 1.5kms from town, just as heavy rainclouds rolled over the closest hill. Had a race with it to see which one of us could make it to town first. Hannah & I won... just.
The abbey (monastery?) we´re staying at tonight is a sprawling complex, with bedding for 120 pilgrims. Another refuge in town was closed for renovations so there wouldn´t have been enough accommodation for everyone... so waited 90mins for the office to open so we´d be right at the front of the queue. Lucky... as there was a hoard of wet people huddled behind us by the time it opened. Not all would have got beds and would have had to walk to the next town. Turns out the coming weekend is a public holiday in Europe (Mayday), so there are many more people on the Camino than normal.
Listening to other people, not everyone is doing the full 800kms. Some do 200 or 400kms, but an Aussie guy we spoke to on the road has walked from Paris for the last month. That´s hardcore!!
We arrived in Roscenvalles with mud up to our knees, and in absolutely SHATTERED physical condition. Couldn´t wait to take a shower... but had to wait to take one.
The abbey can take 120 people for a night. Turns out it´s one huge room with 120 beds, 2 showers, 3 toilettes, 120 muddy stinky exhausted people talking in every possible language.
Gotta run as only 2 mins left before I get cut off, but I´ll upload photos ASAP. :)
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