Day 4 - April 7th - St Jean Pied-de-Port

My last post ended with 12 of the 14 pilgrims who stayed at our hostel heading out on their Camino hike journey. I stayed behind to get acclimated after the long travel, get my bearings, and prepare for my journey tomorrow morning.

My first task of the day was to go to the pilgrim's office, a short distance from my hostel. The Camino is an official Catholic pilgrimage, with the end point being the town of Santiago de Compostela which is where St James, one of Jesus' twelve apostles, is buried. If you hike a minimum distance of the Camino, you are awarded a Compostela, or certificate of completion. Thus, there are rules & procedures to follow, along with a lot of information to gather. The pilgrim's office is the place to do this. First, they give you a passport, which is your official document to carry with you along the hike. At each town you stay, you are given a stamp as 'proof' that you were there. When you get to Santiago, you present your passport, and assuming you meet the criteria, you are given the Compostela. After the passport, they provide you with many other pieces of information, including maps & a listing of hostels & contact information along the way. Next, they tell you about the hike, words of warning, and lots of encouragement! Finally, they give you a shell, which is the symbol of the Camino. All pilgrims tie this shell to their backpacks to signify that you are a 'peregrino', or pilgrim. The whole process was pretty powerful!

Next, at around 9am, I headed out on an incredible 6-mile hike into the foothills surrounding St Jean Pied-de-Port. It's such beautiful country, where I wandered over and around fast running streams, through neighborhoods, past churches and cemeteries, through pastureland, up into the vineyards, and back down into town. This is where I could see my first view of the Pyrenees mountains, which is the 'beast' that I'll try to conquer in the morning. More on that later.

Once back in town, I wandered up to the Citadel, or fortress, that sits atop the city, built in the 1600's as a strategic military base. More beautiful views of the city, and the Pyrenees. Lunch in town followed, then back to the hostel to prepare myself for the start of my hike, which included manually doing my laundry (first time I've done that!), and then some blogging time and a well-deserved rest. My last stop of the afternoon was to visit the transport company to arrange for them to take my second bag to the next town.

Next was another short hike, then a great dinner of pork chops, salad, fries & a beer overlooking the river. Have I said this is a beautiful town?

Finally, back to the hostel to settle in for the night. This is when everything REALLY started to sink in, as I realized that each day from this day forward, for the next ~49 days, I will be going through a repeating cycle of get up, hike 10-15 miles, stay at a pilgrim's hostel, manually do my laundry, arrange for transport of my 2nd bag to the next town, pack & arrange all my gear......and then do it all over again the next day. And the scariest thing about it all is that tomorrow will likely be the most grueling day of all, at least physically. Which brings me back to the Pyrenees.

My destination is a town called Roncesvalles, which is about 17 miles away. The 'daunting' part is that I'll be climbing constantly uphill through the Pyrenees to an elevation of ~4,600 feet for most of the way, then downhill to an elevation of ~3,200 feet. And I'm told much of the downhill elevation is 45 degrees!? I might have to get my sliding pants on! Most people who've done this walk swear that this is the toughest part of the Camino, at least physically. And I can honestly say that I've never even come close to doing a 17-mile hike. But I feel confident, I'm rested, and ready to go.

Now off to bed!

Pictures from today......

The view from my hostel, looking back into the foothills where I hiked.

Front view of my hostel.

Beautiful scenery along the hike,

Small church, with cemetery outside, along the hike,

My hiking companions.

View from the vineyards, looking back to into St Jean Pied de Port.

My Camino shell on my backpack.

My drying laundry has a nice view!

The living area in my hostel, which a cool 3-story winding staircase.

My passport, with my first stamp.

Day 1 from St Jean Pied-de-Port to Roncesvalles. BRUTAL!

Another beautiful view in town, this one from my dinner table.