Spain | Jenny and Stephen's Travel Adventure

Camino – Lush Beginnings (Day 2)

Date: Wed 8th May

Awoke after a perfect sleep in a wonderfully comfortable bed, excited and ready to take our first steps on our Camino. After a delicious breakfast shared with the house guests of baguettes with a myriad of homemade jams, fresh apple juice, coffee, hazelnuts, local yoghurt and oranges, we were ready to set off.

After one last visit to the delightful village to purchase some apples and lunch we began our journey. With gentle rain falling we headed up out of the village of St Jean with high spirits. The scenery was of breathtaking lush green steep rolling hills.

Just as we found our rhythm 9km into our journey our accommodation for the evening appeared and we hadn’t even cracked a sweat!

At 3:00pm we checked in and chose our bunks. As is typical on the Camino (apparently) all the lower bunks were already taken. (Something to do with being too tired to climb a ladder!) People were having naps after the big climb. We looked at each other bewildered as we could have kept going all the way to the top! (Well maybe at least another 5 or so kms.) After organising our beds for the evening we ventured down for a coffee and found the place enveloped in verythick fog! The decision to only go a short way, a good one.

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Camino – Lush Beginings (Day 2)

Camino – Saint Jean Pied De Port (Day 1)

Camino – Our Camino Begins (Day 1)

Date: Tue 7th May

How fitting to Begin the Camino Frances from Paris! Following in the footsteps of fellow Pilgrims over many many centuries we symbolically visited the tower of St Jacques where many started out from.

At 4:30am, it was up and out! Final pack and down to the Metro to catch a couple of connecting trains before arrive at Gare Montparnasse for our train destined to Bayonne! (We were getting quite proficient at catching Paris Trains!)

Now this is the way to travel! Fast and Comfortable (No comments please Mark!) A stop at Bordeaux for another connection came with a small surprise of sharing a train compartment with a couple from Adelaide on their way to San Sebastian. Some hours later we arrived at a town called Bayonne for a 2Hr stop over before the slow train to St-Jean-Pied-De-Port (SJPDP).

2 Hrs gave us time to find lunch (more croissants! How can one resist when a Chocolate croissant stares you in the face with a price tag of €0.90 saying “eat me”!

Back on the train we finally reach SJPDP, our starting point for the Camino! A very small but picturesque town just like everything we had already seen and read about. No disappointments!

Picked up our official pilgrims passports and explored the township.

Enjoyed the hospitality of Marie Josée and shared both an evening meal and breakfast with 3 Frenchmen enjoying the countryside on motorcycles and a Californian who will also be walking the Camino.

It’s now time to pack the backpacks and take our first real steps on the Camino.

The Journey begins! (or continues?)

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