Day 17 - From Sahagun to Bercianos del Real Camino

We sent our bags on to Alberge Santa Clara in Bercianos not knowing where we would be staying but glad to lighten our load and planning on a 12 km day. We left Sahagun like the walking wounded. 

Ada's foot made her gimp along and the sub-normal temperature made our hands FROZEN. With our hands hidden up our sleeves as we had shipped gloves and extra long sleeves, we were a sight to behold. Is this "Walking in a Relaxed Manner"?  

As it warmed up, we thought it had been a relatively easy walk to Bercianos del Real Camino. We sat blogging at a local bar, awaiting the delivery of our backpacks. We circled the town numerous times trying to find Alberge Santa Clara, only to be told that it was full and we could try the Parrochial Alberge, Casa Rectoral. We became pilgrim 21+ 22 when they filled all beds plus the two rooms of overflow. 

We thought we would attempt to go to the Mass with Pilgrims' Blessing, and Pat was clever enough to photograph the note from the Hostel door that we couldn't understand.  We found the newest church with no sign of life, but some seniors sitting close by. We showed one lady our note and she walked us 1/2 km to the church, Ermita de San Roque! Another act of Camino kindness.  Interestingly at 6:55pm, the whole town seemed to converge on this little church. Although we understood little more than "Jesus", "Hilo", and "amen" it was a beautiful service and being called to the front by the young priest was very emotional. 

Back at the Alberge we were served Spanish paella and wine by the Hospitalero brothers, Rafael and Jose Antonio in their "Zipi and Zapa" matching cartoon aprons.  

We all sang the "rap" blessing and then were instructed to "sing for our supper".  Everyone, all eighteen countries, performed in their home languages with the dish brush microphone as the group cheered on. 

Day 16 - From Fromista to Carrion de Los Condes. (And exhaustion)

After Ada spent the night comatose and Pat was stressed about a total inability to walk the next morning, the Hospitalalero turned on the lights at 6:20 am with a "Buenos Dias"  and reminder to exit by 7:30am. Somehow the cool of the morning brought renewed vigour to our steps.  

We stopped for breakfast in Poblacion de Campos. We thought we had ordered omelettes (solo) and got the "tortilla France's" in a half loaf of baguette each! At this point the pilgrims are discussing "too much bread"! It comes with everything! The bar owner was most obliging in seeing that his washrooms were supplied and even gave us tinfoil for the leftover baguette. 

We opted for the scenic path following the Rio Ucieza. At Villovieco we stopped at what looked like a kids summer sports camp for cold drinks/coffee and crossed over the bridge to continue the river path on the opposite shore. The shade was glorious! At the next bridge, we did our foot treatments (vasoline/Glide and air) on the ledge of the Ermita de la Virgen del Rio  (church). Ada found foot issues and knee stresses.

The last 5 kilometres to Carrion de Los Condes were absolutely brutal! We walked along the  roadway beside the pavement in the blazing sun, finding it harder and harder to lift our feet to complete the 20 km stage.  Knowing that the next day's suggested route was 26.8 km, with only one town break, and with no alberge booked in Carrion, we came upon a bus heading towards Leon. We bought the last two seats to Sahagun and booked ourselves into Domus Viatoris right beside the bull ring.  

The town is famous for it's three churches but because of the clay construction, many of the buildings are disintegrating. 

Alberge  - cyclist friendly

Bull ring 

Interestingly, this alberge was mainly a cyclists connection. We had the luxury of a half empty alberge (8 showers to ourselves).  We found a Farmacia for arnica cream and a tensor bandage.  The drugstores here thrive on pilgrims' blisters and sore muscles. 

We had an excellent Pilgrims' Menu and the owner's son helped us to book our bag delivery through Jacotrans to the next village, Bercianos del Real Camino.  Rest day here we come.

Day 15 - Castrojeriz to Fromista. (Hitting the Heat, Hitting the Wall)

Since our "Bible" guidebook warned us of a strenuous climb out of Castrojeriz to the Meseta, and a hot sunny day with no shade, following Stage 15, a 25 kilometre hike, we elected to ship our backpacks to a private alberge (Estrella) in Fromista. 

 Since this was our first time without all of our gear, we didn't have the proper sun shirts for the rising temperature. We dealt well with the climb in the cool of the early morning, but were ill prepared for an 8.5 km section in blazing sun at over 28 degrees.  

By the last 5 Kms,  although some shade was offered as we followed Canal de Castilla, 

and we had almost finished both of our water bottles, we could hardly lift our feet. A local horseman welcomed us to the town of Fromista. 

Of course our alberge was the last one at the far end of town in Fromista. The alberge turned out to be excellent and the best part was that our bags were waiting for us!  

We recuperated over cervesa in the yard and updated our blog even before the showers and laundry.  Pat was lucky to FaceTime/video chat with her husband in the Kawarthas until the iPad overheated.  Both he and we were blown away by being able to experience this. 

We ordered 6:00 pm pizza for supper with beer/wine and were in bed and asleep before 7:00pm. 

We had hit an emotional wall  looking at our choices for the next day was beyond our capabilities at that moment. We were by then too late to ship our bags and were in the middle of nowhere for buses or trains if our feet couldn't carry us. 

Day 14 - Hornillos del Camino to Castrojeriiz

Our luxury evening with another pair of strange men proved delightfully uneventful. We basically had a bathroom to ourselves for the 10 euros each.  Martin Sheen and Emilio signed "The Way" poster at this private alberge. Dinner up the street at the local bar with another German couple was excellent. 

We awoke this morning at about the same time and were able to pack with the lights on for a change. 

Heading out across the Meseta, the gale force winds kept us cool. The scenery was breathtaking, not at all what we had envisioned. The wind turbines in the distance were going full speed. 

Today's walk was broken up perfectly with a restaurant and WC every 5 kilometres.  At San Bol, the Hospitalera made us cafe con leche in an immaculately kept facility.  At Hontanas we stopped at El Puntido, a busy bar that advertised on benches along the route. 

At San Anton, in the ruins of the ancient convent we took advantage of the bush WC and aired our feet in the Refugio with the friendly Hospitalero, Rene Archibald from San Francisco. This alberge has no electricity, no water, can welcome only 12 Pilgrims, with the Hospitalero sleeping in a shipping container.  Still the XIV th C ruins are spectacular.

The last two kilometres were along the pavement into Castrojeriz.  This is a very long town with three major churches. Several new Alberges have opened, and we chose Ultriea with a sunny terrace and. medieval cellar and wine tasting event. 

We enjoyed a "community meal" a huge multilingual group of pilgrims. 

We enjoyed a demonstration of the wine press which was above the dinner table with a turn screw at the end of the room. Ada helped with the demonstration! 

We were invited for a wine tasting in the Medieval cellar.  We had to duck through a tiny archway. 

This was not a tour for claustrophobics. We luckily had a pilgrim who could translate (perfectly for us from Spanish to English) the enthusiastic dialogue of our host who described the reconstruction which he personally excavated, archialogically analyzed and re-built.  

Pat got the upper bunk tonight.   We were in bed as usual by 9:00pm.  Lights were out by 10:00 and the snoring began! 

Day 13 - Burgos to Hornillos. Del Camino

Today began with an obvious wake- up at 4:10 am. Someone was rustling to leave early. Then at 5 am someone fell out of the upper bunk. Rescues ensued until a further hour of rustling followed. By 7:00 am we were on our way. The park on the west side of Burgos was filled with what looks like poplar trees and appeared to have a dusting of snow-like fluff. It was everywhere! 

It was cool and cloudy which is perfect Meseta trekking weather. We were forced around a major highway bridge construction site. Interesting that rather than re-directing us through the village, we were sent on the construction gravel roads with the dump trucks! 

Our first town Tardajos, did not appear until we had walked almost ten kilometres! The lineup at the Maria Ruiz bar was over 15 minutes, but we enjoyed a great ham and cheese croissant and tea and coffee.  Then came the lineup for the "Chicas" bathroom which had a seat, but no toilet paper. Amazing how you can come to value the little things without complaint.

We headed west for what was to be another 8+ kilometres. The gravel road changed texture regularly from large crushed stone, to small, to rounded rocks. The scenery though was spectacular, rolling hills of various grain fields with distance hills and turbines in the far distance. 

 

We were very lucky to get a bed at a Casa Rural in Hornillos del Camino, almost the last ones there. Several people after us were told that there were almost no beds left in this town. That means at least another 5 kilometre walk. 

Dinner here at the only Bar in town was spectacular. We joined a German couple and luckily arrived for the first seating.  We are booked into a luxury suite with four beds sharing one bathroom. Ada lucked into the top bunk again. 

We took our photos at our Casa Rural De Sol A Sol beside Martin Sheen's signed poster of "the Way" signed by both Martin and Emilio in 2011.  The other pilgrims are cooking in the kitchen as we head for bed. 

Day 12 - Supporting a colleague to Burgos

Our Italian friend, with tendinitis had to move to Burgos by bus, we opted to join him and take a rest day. Our Nebraska friends from Day 1 were dealing with infected toes and a much changed itinerary. You really do have to listen to your body.

The Cathedral in Burgos, the second largest in the country, was unbelievably beautiful. We spent two hours in awe!  Massive and Indescribeable!  We spent the day touring the city, the parks, the river walk with all of the statues, especially El Cid.  The Municipal Alberge Casa del Cubo has beds for 150 in a modern facility hidden behind the cathedral. We have our own cubicles for our backpacks small rooms for four. 

We have met Victor, the perpetual pilgrim who seems to travel the Camino accepting handouts.  He has the advantage of no backpack! 

Today we have been travelling with an Australian, a Brazilian, and an Injured Italian. We met up again with Derrek, a Scotsman from Day 3 who booked into a hotel to soak  in a tub, watch TV , and snore in private.  

Through the last four days we have been following plops on the pathways and we're delighted to finally meet the donkey.

After having read Tim Moore's book we wondered if anyone actually took a donkey on the Camino. 

Day 11 - Santo Domingo de Calzada to Belorado

We loaded our backpacks in the "boot room" where the light was on.  This room had a floor built like the Roman roads - stones upended that paralyzed your feet!  We set off in the rain so ponchos over us and our packs were a must. We stopped at the first bar for cafe con leche and then headed out of town.  The drizzle continued for some time but we were fortunate that there was no downpour.  Granon, was totally closed as it was Sunday, so we went on to Redecilla del Camino where we had Tortilla patate (Pat's breakfast of Champions) at a Beautiful Hotel Rural. 

We stopped into a Medieval church and the sight took our breath away. Here in a very plain building was the most magnificent altarpiece! 

We ate lunch on a bench in Vilamayor del Rio and stopped into Restaurant Leon for tea. This was an absolutely fabulously decorated restaurant, probably five star gourmet with local wines, jams, marmalades, artisanal chocolates and cheeses.  We do hope to go back there for dinner one day! 

We arrived in Belorado and found a warm welcome at Alberge Cuatro Cantonese a family run business.  The pool was too cool but we warmed ourselves by the fire in the kitchen. We had arrived too late for warm showers!  The pilgrim's meal was excellent and our new German friends - father and son were delightful table companions. The evening ended in loud  cheering chants by a dozen Pilgrims of varying nationalities.  A send off for fellow bikers in our group. Another fun night on the Camino. 

Day 10 Najera to Santo Domingo - Golf with Ghosts

Saturday morning in Najera, at 6:45 there were few up and a Municipal maintenance worker directed us to the only Bar that was open.  It is interesting here, that there are no coffee shops, just "Bars" that serve coffee, and beer/cerveza and wine for breakfast.  We know that you can' t drink and drive AND you can't drink and WALK.  ( We are not trying it!) 

Leaving Najera, the sun was shining on a red hill, reminiscent of the Grand Canyon and the Arizona area with caves dug into the hill.

We climbed a hill through fields of grapes and wheat, beautiful patchwork fields with the hills in the distance. 

Between Azofra and Ciruena we were greeted by an enthusiastic young man who. Pointed out 60 % youth unemployment in Spain. As he did not want to leave Spain, he set up a little roadside stand serving crafts, fruit and drinks to the Pilgrims as they approached Ciruena.

We entered Ciruena, seeing our first golf course with people actually playing. Surprisingly, the Golf Clubhouse offered Pilgrim's special meals.  We didn't walk far until we realized why.  There was not a soul in the town!  There was block after block of condo buildings, many with "for sale" signs, a filled swimming pool as well as a soccer field.  And NOT A single person!  We walked 2 km further looking for coffee when we should have just gone into the golf club.

We booked into the very first alberge in Santo Domingo de la Calzada - Abadia Cistercienses with the Cistercian Nuns. Feeling thankful for the welcome (and the 5 Euro bed) we went to the Vespers Service in the adjoining church.  The Vespers were sung in Spanish by the 18 nuns and we did recognize the word "hallelujah" and the recitation of the "creed".  It really was beautiful. 

We had our supper (grocery store curried chicken/couscous and greens salad plus wine) with a Dutch couple that we have been meeting on and off for the past few days. 

Day 9 Logrono to Najera - The Moving Target

Logrono, the capital of La Rioja is a wonderful city. The Cathedral de Santa Maria de la Redonda XIVth C is magnificent with it's twin towers. Exiting any city is a challenge but many locals pointed the way in Spanish to ensure that we could not get lost. The route out of town took us through Parque de la Granjera, around the lake past the fishermen where we were greeted by Marcelino Lobato Castrillo, the veteran pilgrim of Spain.

He offered us blessings and fortification for the journey for donativo. Dressed in pilgrim attire, his trusty Mercedes van was parked closelby. He was a very welcome sight. 

We spent hours today walking through vineyards, past many Bodegas (wineries), watching the workers pruning the grapevines. Navarette would have been a good stop but we decided to plod on. We were warned  that the red clay of La Roija beautiful in the sunshine became a nightmare in the wet as it clings to footwear like a leech!

We were on our last legs as we arrived into Najera and the alberges were at the far side of town.  Luckily we got two beds (luxury) in Puerte Najera in a four bed room. We haven't yet met the guys we are sleeping with! When you are this exhausted, it doesn't matter. 

Day 8 Los Arcos to Logrono - Pole dancing

We were on our way by 7:15 thinking about not walking bent over as our Hospitalero demonstrated "walking like chickens". We stopped in Sansol at a cafe and alberge which featured a large fountain foot pool for soaking tired feet. Alas we were too early to hang up our poles and soak our feet. We continued on walking through hill and dale over many rocks enjoying magnificent scenery and many stone shelters. Today gave us lots of time to practice our pole techniques.  The trick seems to be to put the ball of your hands in the straps and press down to maintain forward motion. Our backpacks have moved our centre of gravity from our butts to our backs, so the pressing down helps us stay upright and maintain forward momentum.  

For downhill to prevent falling on your face, and to ease yourself down preventing knee damage, we've found that double poles ease the weight of you and your backpack as you lower the pounds on to fragile feet! 

Our poles have become our best friends and we recommend two poles. The alberges insist on leaving your boots and poles at the front door. We wouldn't leave home without them!

Day 7 Estella to Los Arcos

We bought cafe con leche in the morning in order to have plastic cups.  The yellow arrows took us to a new alberge up the hill away from the Camino markers. We realized that we were on the wrong side of the Bodega Irache Winery! We cut through the vineyards to join the other pilgrims at the Fuente de Vino! Wow, a fountain that serves wine! And our favourite Cabernet-Sauvignon. Today offered us two routes. We chose the low road even though it was longer. The thought of the peaks was too much. The wind picked up and the temperature dropped. We layered up and were delighted to see the Flèche Amarillo - (Yellow Arrow) food truck. Interestingly it had food, tables and shelter for us but No Bathroom!  The hospitalero in Los Arcos welcomed us. We showered and did laundry using an antique wringer and our laundry was dry before bedtime! We relaxed with our Osaka friends, met Christine from Denmark, introduced her to Janus from Copenhagen and had a few laughs with our South African friend over one euro beers from the vending machine. Our Dutch hospitalero told us to walk tall, "not like a chicken".  

The wine fountain was fantastic. Bodega Irache donates 100 litres per day for the pilgrims. Great marketing eh? 

Day 6 The Healing of the Pilgrim Head

We had a good night's rest in Puente la Reina (queen's Bridge - a Roman bridge) Santiago Apostol Alberge which was more than half empty. A neat touch was breakfast served on individual trays. We headed on down the gravel road to rejoin the pilgrims heading out of town. The lumps on my head are gradually shrinking as I learn to slouch on the bottom bunks!  Ada hasn't had that problem since she has been relegated to upper bunks for several nights. Our day was clocked by Brierley as 21.9 km but the Fitbit recorded 28 km that day. We are walking through fields of wheat and surprise crops. We were initially very hot but then were hit with cold gusts of north wind. The road to Maneru was an original Roman road with the rocks sticking up and tricky to manoeuvre.  Ankles could very easily be strained or broken here! We try to stop and treat our feet once or twice a day. 

We arrived in Estella to the Municipal Alberge Hospital Perigrino at 3:10pm, did laundry and went into town for groceries. Ada wanted to find an optician to buy a screwdriver. Here is another example of the "kindness of strangers". The optician tightened her glasses and then GAVE her a screwdriver for FREE!  The local Church of San Pedro was high on a hill with many steps.  

About a block along was the new ascensor (lift)! 

We ate our supper in front of the vending machine (that dispenses cans of beer). Lights out again at 10:00 pm but we were already out! 

Day 5 Cizur Menor to Puente la Reine and the ROLLING BOULDERS

Our hospitalero at the SOM Malta Alberge made us a special breakfast of watermelon, bread and jam and cafe con leche and sent us off at 7:30 am with a weather report of possible showers that evening. We headed straight uphill to Alto de Perdon, the steel sculptures of medieval pilgrims at the summit of the mountain.  

The most treacherous part of our walk to date was the downhill trek here through rolling boulders on a steep decent to Uterga.  At over 25 degrees C we dragged ourselves into a brand new Alberge/Restaurant, "Camino del Perdon" in Uterga.  We spent the next four kilometres looking for a bench in the shade. Finally we unpacked our "survival emergency blanket" and spread our lunch out in the shade of the Medieval church wall in Obanos.  We dragged our butts another 4 kilometres in the heat, through Puente La Reina. We were shocked to see the hill straight up which led to our Alberge,  Santiago Apostol. We ordered cerveza/beer before we caught our breath to register. Damn, the pool was closed! Here was a beautiful facility for pilgrims, campers and possibly RVers.  The Alberge holds over 100 people but there were only about 35 people there including one camper and an RV.  We were invited to church again with a family of four from Texas but couldn't face the thought of the 2 km walk back down and up that gravel hill! (And we had already passed the Hill of Forgiveness!) 

Day 4 Larrasoana to Pamplona/Cizur Menor. No BULLS HERE!

We started the day with entertainment from the character at the Supermarcado. No wine but fresh croissants and coffee.  The path followed a meandering river with lots of cool shade, opening up at a small rapids where local men were fishing. Most beautiful walk so far! We entered the walled city of Pamplona on a Sunday so nothing was open except a garden shop and a few bars. No sign of any BULLS here right now.

 The pilgrim markings through the city are very impressive, metal scallop shells every 10 meters to the city border. Unfortunately we were too late to enter the cathedral so we pushed on to Cizur Menor. We arrived at the Soberana Orden de Malta , Sanjuanista Alberge run by the Knights of St. John of Malta. Our hospitalero, Artero, from Bilboa was out running errands. He welcomed U.S. and did a fine job.

We met up with two young university grads who took us to church. This was the first Catholic Mass in Latin we've been to in many years. James, our new friend did the reading in English as part of the service. The only restaurant in town Tremendo, gave us four choices for each course in the Pilgrim's menu. 

Day 3 Getting Our Camino Legs

We left Espinal in the rain heading to Viskarret.  We stopped for cafe con leche and cafe solo and our first taste of tortilla patate. At noon we met up with the crowd from Espinal at Zubiri and had a fabulous lunch with our first vegetables! ...and good beer.  It had stopped raining by then. On our path we were met by a man promoting a brand new alberge  San Nicholas in Larrasoana across from the Supermarket.  We headed for the new alberge.  It has been open only one month. The facilities were phenomenal. We opted for the grocery store but we hear that the Pilgrims' dinner was superb. 

Day 2 Rest and Recoup

We awoke late in the Alberge in Roncesvalles and had a mad dash packing and being thrown out at 8:00am to the pouring rain. We joined several others, putting on our ponchos for the first time!  We assessed our physical limitations and decided that this would be a "rest day". We looked at the altitude maps and decided that we couldn't make it on our feet and the picture of crawling wasn't pretty,  we decided that 8 km was more than enough. We chose Espinal as our goal. We arrived at 10:00am and hung out, updating our blog in the Keller Cafe, having lunch and watching many walkers pass through. We literally hung out until we could check in at the alberge Irugoienea.  Spanish T.V. Is fun but showers to ourselves was a luxury. We met Three Italians, two Lithunians, one Hong Kong female and  a Dutchman. Peter had walked from Holland the past 7 weeks and told lots of stories of sleeping in barns and having coffee with local residents who answered his request for a hot cup of coffee. He got rooms,laundry and food and blessings all along the way. Ada surprised him with her "Dutch" but now we are adept in at least 8 languages using hand signals! The Hong Kong gal had arrived that day from St Jean PDP and run from there past Roncesvalles to Espinal even missing the virgin. She had not stopped for water or food and had no guidebook. She was just following people. She had no idea which direction she should be going in the rain! The last Pilgrims arrived in the pouring rain and we were  happily in bed!

Day 1 Our Camino

Left St J P de P by 7:00 am and followed the pilgrims who had already left.  We stopped at Ithurburua for water, juice and WC.  Then on to Orisson climbing all the way where we stopped for a cafe con leche ( we needed that).  Continued on to virgin statue where we had lunch and aired our feet.  Several kilometres along we were delighted to find the food truck, where Ada managed to warm her hands with a coffee.  After the border we did our final water fill up at the Fountain of Roland then on to Roncesvalles via the unfortunate forest path which was brutal.  Finally we arrived at the Albergue at 5:00pm.  According to Ada's Fitbit we did 45,367 steps, almost 31 km.  The best part was burning triple the calories that we consumed! We enjoyed the pilgrims menu at the luxury hotel next door with 3 Italians, 3 Koreans, and 1 French man.  Although we were in overflow the monastery facilities were luxurious.  The best part was the Hospitalero did our laundry while we ate dinner!  Ada collapsed into bed and Pat went to Mass with an Italian Friend (graduate Mechanical engineer) who translated parts of the service. Two pilgrims participated in the service, reading in Spanish and in English. After the Mass, the priest listed all of the countries of the visiting Pilgrims and gave us each a Blessing prayer in our own language - even Korean! 

Getting to St Jean Port

We walked to Montparnasse Station in 20 minutes and bought our tickets for the second (local) train from Bayonne to St Jean Pied de Port. The TGV train was fast and comfortable. We had snacks but were able to buy refreshments at the bar car.  Good beer!  We arrived at Bayonne with a Two hour layover so we walked to the cathedral and Ada bought another towel as hers is drying in the shower at home!  

Surprise! There were no local trains running as the tracks were under repair. We lucked into the overflow bus which was direct. However we didn't arrive until 7:30 at night after travelling all day. (Next time I would take the TGV to Bayonne and sleep there. That would mean a short ride to St JPDP and the possibility of an 8 km walk to Orisson.). 

The Pilgrims' Office was chaos as all of the Pilgrims arrived en mass. They were very kind and worked quickly. Pat replaced her lost passport for two Euros.  The hospitalero sent us to a friendly private alberge just down the street where we shared bunks with eight others. We enjoyed our first pilgrim meal and dropped into bed. 

First Camino Pilgrim

We sat at Pearson playing with the iPads and watching for backpackers on our flight. We saw one gal with a red backpack carrying her trekking poles on the plane. (We checked our poles!). 

Small world, we soon met Carol a pilgrim from Elora, Ontario, formerly of the Beaches and Birchcliff area. She asked if we had attended the Camino meeting in March at Beach United Church. She really appreciated the packing demos, but suggested that she would have liked advice about best ways to get from Charles De Gaulle Airport to St Jean Pied de Port.  

Interesting, there must have been 10 loaded backpacks on our carousel.  Are all these people heading to the Camino Frances?

We took the airport shuttle from Terminal 3 to Terminal 1 and then the express bus to Montparnasse train station. We had a lovely lunch at Au Vin des Rues  and then walked to our hostel "Arty", not far from the Tgv station.  It's 2:30pm Paris time and we finally have our shoes off. Hallelujah!

Ready to go

We are packed and ready to go (heavy pack) of course.  My bag weighs in at 12 lbs. It's a 24 litre Osprey.  Pat's is a hefty 18 lbs in her 36 litre bag.  We haven't got room for anything extra!

With our purple backpacks we will be readily identifiable.  We head out tonight!

Last Minute Preparations for Camino 2015

After walking with the Toronto Camino Walking Group for the past year through the various Toronto ravines, Ada Caldwell and I are ready to embark on our real "CAMINO" in Spain.  Monday, we booked our flight with Air Transat to Paris for Monday, May 11th, returning June 22, 2015 from Barcelona.  The plan is to take the train (TGV) from Paris to Bayonne and then the local train into St. Jean Pied de Port, France. I know that the first day of walking is the most challenging as we will be climbing through the Pyrenees. We hope to deal with the jet lag by sleeping in Paris and then St. Jean before heading out. Hopefully allowing for 6 weeks away will allow us to handle any challenges, mishaps which might occur along the way. It might even give us a few days to tour Barcelona. (I think it may have changed since my first visit in 1966!)

My backpack is packed and weighs in at 20 lbs. That doesn't include my fanny pack, full pockets and of course room for water and snacks. Darlene (our "trainer" and mentor) guarantees we will toss things along the way to save on weight. I will start by reviewing the opening pre-trip pages of my Camino de Santiago guidebook and tearing them out.  I am still testing this blog and learning how to post photos so please bear with me.