Camino de Santiago
Oh my goodness what a great day! I’ll get right to pictures of the day as we cross the Pyrenees!
Way high
It was raining raining raining all morning. And we had promises to keep and miles to go before we sleep (extra points if you get the reference). So we set off to the Pilgrims office to get our credential before breakfast. At each church, bar, hotel, cafe, etc, you get a “stamp” on your credential.
To get a certificate from the Catholic Church upon completion of the camino, you need to show the church that you collected 2 stamps per day in your credential for the last 100 kilometers. Us Catholics got lots of
Rules.
As we got our first stamp, in the office, we met Jesus. He was about 6”3” tall, barefoot, long flowing hair, and had maybe two pieces of shawls covering his whole body. And he smelled to high heaven… pun intended . We all agreed that yes, that’s what Jesus would smell like. No picture… he’s quite humble, but we feel like our trip was blessed right from the get go. As the volunteer stamped my credential, he asked how we traveling… by bike or maybe by foot? Are you taking donkeys ?Steve said no, we have our ass ( pointing at me). Ha ha.
Breakfast called us, and we tried some Basque Cake, which was tremendous. A sweet cake covered in sugar with custard or cherry filling. Bless you 7th grade French teacher Madame Merchant for helping me hold my own as we ordered cakes and coffee! (We are still in France today)
Here’s a cafe con leche look at how much milk you get with just a little coffee Heaven!
Now leaving St Jean the true start of our Camino
And then we hiked. It was supposed to be only a 4.8 mile hike… which it was. But it was in the rain, and the elevation gain was 2180 feet, which was straight up the whole time. So while we met Jesus in the morning, we used his name, and his Dad’s quite frequently on the trail. As an example, we turned a corner, only to see the trail climb even higher and we would yell “Jesus Christ!”. Then later in the day, when we reached our destination we would say “oh my God!” Because it was so beautiful.
We reached Orisson three hours later, and found that we were sharing our bunk room with two ladies… Ellen from south carolina and Laney from Ipswich England. OK.
Our roommates!
We had soup and beer for lunch which really hit the spot after 3 hours in the rain.
Tonight’s dinner is a group affair . All 50 plus guests at a group dinner. We all stand up and a share our name , hometown, and why were walking the Camino. What a great way to meet fellow pilgrims (peregrinos) who we will meet over and over again throughout the next 38 days!
Here
Blister
Calling home
And steve
Last one
Drew here. Challenging start, but well worth the view at the top. Chatted to some friendly livestock but they didn’t really engage. Probably need to work on my French. Slowly but surely made my way upward. Tomorrow is supposed to be less steep, but nearly three times the distance. Luckily we’ll have plenty of places to stop and refuel with pastries and cafe au lait. Been pretty dang jet lagged so far, so I’m calling it a night at 9:30pm. Bon soir.