FINALLY ON MY WAY

After great dinner with Istavan and Barbara, it was off to bed by 8. I was beat. I was the only guest at the pension so I had a double room to myself. I tossed and turned for several hours thinking about my start in the morning. But the last thing I heard was the church bells ringing the 11 o'clock hour. The next time I heard anything was when the bells struck 7. So, get up, pack, down to breakfast and out the door by 7:45. Part of the service with Istavan and Barbara is a ride to the beginning of the Camino at St. Jean Pied du Port on the French side of the Pyrenees.

 

I bid farewell to my hosts and my first stop is the Pilgrims Office, to learn of the trail conditions. The Napoleon Route is now open I was told and there is only 1.5 kilometers of packed snow and with all the trail markers exposed. I picked up my scallop shell at the Pilgrims Office and tied it to my pack.(more about the shell later) The weather is great, with clear skies, so the Napoleon route it is.

 

I walked through the town gate as the clock in the tower stuck 9, and I was off, climbing up the hill out of town. After about half a mile up the hill I took my first drink of water out of the hydration bladder in my pack. Fitted with a tube so you can drink as needed, I got about one swallow of water, then, nothing. Maybe the tube came disconnected from the reservoir. So off with the pack to take a look. The bladder was empty even though I had filled it last night. I think when it was in the back of Istavan's car the drinking tube must have been under the pack and it drained all the water out. What to do, go back down the half a mile into town, or.......?

 

Not wanting of walk downhill when I was supposed to be going up, I walked up someone's driveway where it looked like no one was home and borrowed some water from a hose in the garden. Problem solved.

 

On this the first day I am only walking for 5 miles to the Refuge Orisson, where I have reserved a bed. I had read many descriptions about how steep this section of the walk was. People talk about the difficulty of this first 5 miles. Yes, it was steep, and yes my legs hurt, but in the big picture of things it wasn't all that bad. On the road most of the way, I arrived in 2 and a half hours or so.

 

Beautiful views around with green hillsides with sheep and cattle on the way up. Other pilgrims always say hello and ask where you're from. After few words, most past me by. I met Dan from Australia, a women who's name I forgot from Germany, Mimi with her sister Judy and brother John all from Colorado and Jen from Halifax. So far my roommates in our six man bunk room is Lee, from Singapore and a older German, Dutch or something a-rather who's name I did not catch as he speaks no English and I don't speak whatever it is he is speaking. I later learned that he was German and 77 years old. He also snores and kept me up most of the night, even with ear plugs. One of my reasons for doing the Camino was to meet people from around the world, and that I'm doing.

 

You get a token for a five minute shower and I had heard that sometime before everyone gets a shower the hot water gets all used up. Knowing this information before hand I figured I better get one of the first showers. Turns out I was the first so I was thinking I has scored. But as it turns out the hot water heater is a long way from the shower head, so the first half of my 5 minutes was in cold, and I mean very cold water. Such is the life of a pilgrim. Be thankful for what you get.

 

It is customary here at Refuge Orisson that everyone eats at a communal meal at one long table. A three course meal with all the wine you want. So, vegetable soup, pasta with short ribs and for desert Basque Cake. Great food and conversation. At the end of the meal, each person stands and introduces themselves, tells where they from and if the want to, say the reason for walking the camino. There were Germans, and nun from Germany walking in her habit, Spaniards, Koreans, Canadians, Australians, Italians, an Englishmen, one gal from Denmark, and me the lone American. Twenty four people in all. It was a great evening.

Tomorrow is up and over the Pyeernes to my next stop in the village of Burguete a distance of 12 miles. I got smart and booked a single room.

 

 

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