St. Jean Pied de Port to Roncesvalles

The First Day, A Very Hard Day

Walking Day #1

Today is my first day walking on the Camino Frances route of the Camino de Santiago. The Camino Frances starts in the little hillside town of Saint Jean Pied de Port in southwestern France, very near the border with Spain.

Here I am, about to start walking from the entrance to Saint Jean Pied de Port in France to Roncesvalles in Spain. Somewhere in the mountains, we will cross the border into Spain. It is unclear how well-marked that border is now.

It has been written often that the first day on this route is the most difficult, because the route climbs from 140 meters (450 feet) in elevation to over 1450 meters (4700 feet), then down to 3800 feet at Roncesvalles. I can assure you that this is indeed a difficult day. Challenging physically and emotionally as the long uphill stretches seem long and relentlessly never-ending.

 

At the same time, the views are nothing short of spectacular in all directions (except forward where the never-ending uphill taunts you). Shortly out of Saint Jean Pied de Port, I met a young man from Germany, Sebastian. He walked the Camino Portuguese from Portal, Portugal to Santiago de Compostela over the last 9 days, and is planning on walking from Sain Jean Pied de Port to Santiago.

Here are Sebastian and I about to walk upwards even more than we have been for the past two hours. We are still not even half way up the mountains for today, and while it is a truly beautiful day, the constant uphill grind is taxing on the mood at times.

I know, this look of mine is not exactly a fashion statement, and the hat...what a hat! (but it is water resistant and will keep the sun off my neck).

This large and beautiful statue of Mary and the baby Jesus is about half way along today's route to Roncesvalles, and about where the border between France and Spain is. Perched high on the rocks, we took a short break here to make photos.






And here we met a couple: Phillipe is from Taipei and Marie from Paris; they have been married over 40 years, now living and working in Paris. Today is Marie's birthday, as well as my father's, and we celebrated by continuing to walk uphill. Phillipe and Marie are walking the Camino from La Puy, France through Saint Jean Pied de Port to Santiago in 7-day stages, one stage per year. They completed the route from La Puy to Saint Jean in four years, one week per year, and today they started at Saint Jean Pied de Port, as did Sebastian and I.

Along higher up in the mountains, it became a bit colder, I put on my gloves, and there was snow in many places. We found this old sign, but by our estimation, we have more than 800 kilometeres to go on the modern route.

Snow along the trail high in the mountains.

And more snow across the view. There was even more than this, but I left my gloves on and did not take many pictures of the snow.

The route down the mountain was difficult, especially on the knees. My left knee is starting to hurt, and I am a little concerned. This is nothing at all like what I was doing in my preparations. We finally made it to Roncesvalles, and I was exhausted. This seems like one of the most difficult days of my life, and at the same time quite uplifting. The day was gorgeous. The scenery was constantly beautiful beyond my imagination. The climb up into the hills and then down was very difficult, and quite challenging. The new friends I walked with were fun, even though we did not talk that much as we were all focused on the long uphill walk.

I got a shower, changed into clean clothes, turned my dirty clothes over to be cleaned (at this hotel in which I am staying, they do the laundry for a modest 10 Euros). I sat down to have dinner (included with my room), and in walked Phillipe, Marie, and Sebastian to join me. We had a really good time, and agreed to met at the same place for breakfast at 8 AM.

Even though I am not yet adjusted to this time zone 9 hours earlier, I slept well. Tomorrow we walk mostly downhill from Roncesvalles to Zuribi where I have a hotel (the downhill walking is more of a challenge than the uphill). Marie, Phillipe, and Sebastian are going 5 KM further to Larrasoana. We may then meet at Pamplona.

Next: the long downhill from Roncesvalles to Zuribi.