Camino Accounts II

Day 1. St. Jean-Pied-de-Port (FR) to Roncesvalles (ES).

A walk across the Pyrenees. Heck of a long trip (circa 27 kms over the mountains). I was going to publish a map & a terrain profile from my GPS, however at some point already approaching Roncesvalles, it said AVERAGE SPEED: 500 km/h, ALTITUDE: 8500 m… Well, I decided to turn it off by then. It worked ok later on though.

I forgot to pack my anti-sun shirt, left it in the hostel. So after about 20 minutes of steep climb up the hill… well, I had to return to the town. It felt like a symbol. Don’t you feel too much attached to your things? Well, at this time I prefered the attachement than being burned by the merciless August sun, to be honest. I feched the shirt; I left many, many things behind further on though.

First encounter with the fellow pilgrims. Car pilgrims too – see below. This is deadly, these mountains. Well, and what did you expect folks, like, a nice, flat highway?…

And I met these two fellas. Alex did not speak any Spanish. Alvaro did not speak any English. I was looking at them over my shoulder till noon, more or less. I still don’t know how were they communicating all that time. Then, buying chocolate at a small stand near the trail, I told Alvaro he wasn’t to get any beer there, as it was still France after all… That’s how we became friends.

Introducing: Alex (CAN), Alvaro (ES) and Virgin Mary of Biakorri (ES)