I booked a flight to Biarritz and had two weeks to get everything I needed together - waterproof walking shoes, a comfortable lightweight backpack, a new waterproof, a guide, lightweight trousers, currency etc. I must have tried on 20 pairs of shoes in every outdoor and sports shop I could find, I bought and returned 3 backpacks before finally finding a suitable one. I was running out of time and thought I’d have to cancel the trip when I found everything I needed days before departure - critically my 32L Osprey backpack which was perfect and Salomon walking shoes and liner socks. I hadn’t time to order a guide book from Amazon and it was also rather expensive so I made my own guide with the essential information I needed, which was basic maps with indications of where all the places to stay were with costs and distances between towns, this all fitted on 3 pieces of paper and into the side pocket of my hiking trousers. It turned out I had created the most useful guide on the camino!
The camino spirit started before I’d even left Gatwick. I met two other pilgrims at the departure lounge, who ended up in the same Albergue as me on the first night. Claus asked how I was getting from Biarritz airport to St Jean Pied de Port, I had a transfer booked and said I could add him to my booking, which I did, this meant we arrived a few hours earlier than the train option and therefore had time to look around St Jean a little and have something to eat before heading up the hill to the Albergue. Claus had not booked anywhere for the first night and many Albergues in town were showing Completo, so at the Pilgrim office where we received our first Sello (stamp) in our credentials (pilgrim passport), they booked him into my Albergue which was 1km up the hill on the Napoleon Route, right on the camino. Accommodation sorted we enjoyed our first pilgrim meal which we were delighted with and then headed up the hill with such wonderful excitement to actually be on the camino, we were on the camino!!! And in after 500 miles of walking we would arrive in Santiago de Compostela.
The camino has many names, and there are many caminos, they all lead to Santiago de Compostela where it is believed the remains of the Apostle St James are interned, but for most the walking of the camino is not religious but spiritual, a need for time out, living simply and calming satisfaction going on a really long walk brings. The main route to which all other caminos join and the most popular route is the Camino Frances, aka The Way of St James which runs through northern Spain from St Jean Pied de Port in France, over the Pyrenees and westward to Santiago de Compostela in Galicia. The route is approx 500 miles, or around 750 kilometers, I say approx because I found signage varied somewhat, but by any reckoning it's a fairly long way and takes about 4-5 weeks to walk consecutively.
Upon arrival at La Napoleon we were offered a free welcome glass of wine, along with Cormac from Ireland who said he wanted to leave at midnight and planned to walk through the night to Roncesvalles, the first major stopping point and into Spain. The sun was setting over the foothills, the wine was delicious and the company was wonderful. And so to bed, tomorrow we’d all have to be up early for the first of many early rises, I soon got used to everyone getting up at 6am so the first days departure of 8am seemed leisurely by contrast. At breakfast I meet Robert from Canada, Cormac was still there and hadn’t left at midnight and Claus was spending an extra day in the Pyrenees. Cormac left at about 7.30 after breakfast and I left at 8am with Robert, who I would end up walking with all the way to Burgos.
To say we were excited was an understatement, so fresh and energized, so ready for the 27km day over a mountain range, so much to talk about! We passed everyone on the way (and on this first day there are hundreds, a non stop stream) whilst telling each other we really should slow down as this is how people hurt themselves and get blisters, but we were too darn excited about the whole thing. At Orisson, after considerable amount of uphill and the first stopping point, we met Cormac again. Cormac lamented about the weight of his pack and how he had too much stuff and was looking to jettison some of it. Further on we saw him again whist having lunch, he had now chucked away his hiking books and sleeping pad and was looking very unwell. It turned out he was completely unprepared for the camino and was not enjoying the experience at all, by this point we were fairly near the top of the Pyrenees where it would be downhill to Roncesvalles. Cormac was complaining of chest pains so Robert offered to carry Cormac’s pack, and we continued together with Robert carrying two backpacks and Cormac using Robert's sun hat and walking sticks. In this fashion we all made it to Roncesvalles where at 2.30pm there was about a half hour wait at the Municipal Albergue for beds. Cormac was white a sheet but managed to remain on his feet, we finally reached the check in desk and got ourselves into the same 4 dorm cubical, the dorms are arranged in clustered of 4 beds but within one big dorm per floor. Next to our cubicle was our Dutch-kiwi friend we had made on the way up, and became part of the Cormac watch team.
Once in our dorm, Cormac got straight into his sleeping bag to have a nap and myself and Robert went off to our respective showers. Returning to the dorm Cormac announced he would be flying home the next day! He was really not well and had phoned his brother who had booked him on a flight from Biarritz to Dublin at 1pm. This would mean he had to get back over the Pyrenees again to France tomorrow morning, Cormac also asked reception to see a doctor and they had organised for him to be checked over. The Cormac watch team were most relieved that he was seeing a doctor but it now became our responsibility to organise transport for him to the airport, with the only option being a taxi departing at 4.30am the next morning as there were no suitable bus times so only taxis, but all the taxis take children to school from Roncesvalles to St Jean so it would have to be before then so they could get all the way to the airport and back again in time for the school runs. This arranged and after a very nice communal dinner, we went to bed with alarms set for 4am to help Cormac to the taxi. The taxi was right on time and myself of Robert waved off a very thankful and very weary Cormac. Bless him. And so started my camino! To find the spirit of the camino of the very first day, they way everyone looks out for each other, it was the best of human nature. Whereas in normal everyday life events like this are rare, because of the common purpose on the camino they were common and why the camino is such a special experience to which people return again and again to be part of.
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| Myself and Robert near the top of the Pyrenees, day 1 |
