Camino Pilgrim

The first day is the hardest day. I chose to take one of six alternative routes I will use during this journey. More to find out and explore. This alternative route had a 1114m elevation climb which almost all was in 3 kilometers!

In Saint-Jean-Pier-de-Port (SJPdP) I went on the Winter pilgrimage route (almost everyone walks the Napoleon route). It started off constantly uphill or downhill along small countryside roads without traffic.

After just 8 kilometers, I was sweating like crazy and had to sit down in front of a little village church. At that moment, I got a little fear in myself. What if my formerly injured knee is still not strong enough? What if I am unable to walk such a long way uphill? I tried putting those fears behind me and continued at a slow, relaxing pace.

In the morning, I purchased a wooden walking stick that really helped in taking pressure off the knee. A freshly baked baguette also helped to keep the mood up as mini snacks throughout the day.

A third of the day, I was walking on a highway between a river and a mountain. Not the ideal place to be. It was all fine when I was below the fog, but near the end of my hike today there were steep non-stop uphill climbs. It even rained a little, which was great to cool me down.

Last time on the Camino I stayed at the monastery in Roncesvalles. Once, I saw it from the distance for the first time, then rays of sunlight came down for ten seconds before they disappeared back into the fog. Felt like a dream to be back here.

Surprisingly, a longer stop at a cafe for a cola and swapping socks wet from rain for fresh ones gave such a boost to motivation. Walking to one village further felt like an easy task. Besides, I want to stay in new villages/towns/cities, so pushing made perfect sense. Maybe by tomorrow my legs will recover enough to do more miracles.

I have a magical moment where (in the image, in the middle of the biggest uphill climb, I almost ran out of water and tried rationing. Drinking less every time than you would like, you start to feel awful after a while. Out of nowhere in the middle of the fountain I found a spring water source and, a place to sit. I had seen neither all day.

The Camino provides.