Day 1: St. John Pied de Port to Roncevalles

John Brierley in the Camino "bible" advises people not to overdo in their first days of the walk. I'm sure this is especially true if one is starting from SJPP. He talks about the lung-busting uphills and the treacherous downhills. He didn't exaggerate. Here's the profile from my Garmin GPS.

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Of course, you can't see the terrain. Actually, although the uphills were very slow, the terrain for the most part was ok, and for both of us, we are better on uphills when hiking than downhills where both of us are unsure of our footing and take it very very slowly. I'm not exaggerating. Think something slower than a turtle. The downhill in the last three miles was scary also because since we were going a total of 15 miles, we were already tired. I'm slow and unsure of my footing even when fresh. This downhill was slippery and rocky. Add to that the "in and out of light" and there are possibilities of endless broken bones for a klutz like myself. The day ended well though. Dave is a very strong uphill walker - especially when it's steep. I'm decent especially on gradual uphills, so he walked ahead some of the time, and we often walked together. I'll talk more about other peregrinos in another post. All kinds of people: all ages, sizes, nationalities, etc. Since many of us started in SJPP, we passed and were passed many times and weren't alone very often. That changed on Day 2 and 3.

We got to Roncevalles after about 7+hours with 6:30 of moving time as you can see here.

And, here's Dave's more interesting account of the day. In future posts, I'll be briefer, and probably just post his account along with some pictures.

We knew this would a tough day: a 4,000 foot uphill slog across several miles, with some steep climbs, followed by 900 foot descent along forested trail heavy with rocks, roots and dappled light that made seeing the hazards a problem.

With that in mind – and the 80+ degree temps, we started @ 6:40, bought a couple of sandwiches (we’d already bought apples and water) and off we went passing – and being passed by – other pilgrims. Pilgrims might be a strong term; most of the folks we meet are “bucket listers” with no expressed religious fervor. Lots of European languages. A sprinkling of Asians, too. Most have packs like ours; others plan to camp so they’ve bigger loads to tote; still others have opted to have a service carry their packs to the next stop and hike carrying only water. We “packers” feel only contempt and loathing (I.e. envy) for the “no pack” people. Probably a good strategy on days like today.

Our strategy, since we’ve read that 90% of the hikers do no training whatsoever, is to start early, pass everyone and collect the big prize for arriving first at Roncevalles, which would be okay except there is no prize for getting there first. Instead, we chug along for a couple hours then start taking water breaks at ½ hour intervals, a full stop and sit break at one hour intervals.

At about four hours after the start, we planned to stop for lunch. Just then we saw a van in the distance where an enterprising guy was selling warm Cokes, bananas and goat cheese. No surprise, he sold a lot of it. By then, the climb was supplemented with a blustering wind, which never seemed to be behind us. At least it helped keep the temp down on a sunny day.

The grind on a long hike is that one’s feet get tired a long time before the hike is over. There’s nothing to do about it but keep walking. Rest breaks help some, but there’s no substitute for pushing on. There are - ahem – two schools of thought about this: stop and smell the roses because it’ll be a long day no matter what or hurry up and get it over with and smell stuff later.

We rolled into Roncevalles at about 2:30, covering about 16 miles in 8 hours (including time stopped for water breaks, lunch, etc), a good pace considering the climb. Top it off with a great shower at our hotel and we’re in good spirits, our (daily) laundry done, and nothing ahead but a “pilgrim” dinner at our hotel and plenty of sleep in a much cooler room.

Some of the up part

More views

One of many showing The Way

Yes, horses, cows, sheep, and more...

Dave taking a break

Scout in early a.m.

Catering van: Llast food in France!

Monastery in Roncevalles: our hotel was in part of it (several buildings)

Pilgrim laundry with gato

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