Day 1 to 3 - St-Jean-Pied-de-Port (France) to Pamplona (Spain)

Hola everyone!  I am writing you from Pamplona, completely worn out and blistered to the bone but smiling hugely (seriously... big smile). My first days on the Camino have been amazing. The Way has lived up to its name (and more!) in the 3 days since I've started out. 

After two days in Madrid, I made my way through Spain and up to the tiny, charming village of St-Jean-Pied-de-Port (in France). The driver was handing out barf bags before we stepped on the bus : bad sign! Quite a few people were sick from the hairpin turns; the ride was made even more challenging by the lack of air conditioning in the 35-degree heat. One woman was so violently ill that she had to lay down on the road and have her face splashed with water. Poor girl, that's a crappy way to start the Camino...

My start, however, was much luckier. In the pilgrim's arrival office, I met 3 awesome guys: Michael from San Fransisco, Leïf from France and Yaïr from Israël. One supper and many glasses of wine/beer later, we decide to begin the Camino together the next morning. I LOVE those rare moments when unexpected friendships begin...

Day 1 --  SJPDP TO RONCESVALLES: 27 kms and a 1300-meter climb in elevation.

Leïf, myself, Micheal, Yaïr (sitting) and a new friend, Marie.

Beautiful morning sunrise going up a steep mountain pass, 
then got caught in rain for the rest of the day.

Les magnifiques Pyrénées françaises

 Yaïr s'était fait une nouvelle amie mais là, il n'a plus l'air certain.... 

No photoshopping here, I swear!  This forest along the road on Day 1 was hauntingly beautiful....

After 18 kms of walking in the rain, the border of Spain-France appears. 9 more kms to go!

Yaïr et Leïf on the last stretch of Day 1. We arrived in Roncesvalles with very sore feet and went straight for the cold beer. We had walked for 10 hours and climbed from 150 meters to 1400 meters, with 12-kg bags on our backs. A successful first day!

DAY 2 : RONCESVALLES TO ZUBIRI (22 kms)

My 3 amigos. We are leaving the amazing awesome beautiful hostel in Roncesvalles.

Woohoo, just a short jaunt until I land in Compostella!   I love Yaïr and Leïf's photo bomb.

** Whistling the theme from Clint Eastwood's ''The Good, The Bad and the Ugly'' **

Day 3 : ZUBIRI to PAMPLONA (25 kms)
Une fontaine d'eau typique et très appréciée!

On Day 3, we meet an awesome guy named Roland from Hungary (behind, with shaved head) and he lets me try on his aviator sungoggles. I am very pleased with the overall ''fly'' look.

My Solomon trail runners, which served me so well in Canmore, are complete rubbish on this walk; they are destroying my feet. Yaïr disinfects my two blisters on my Achilles' tendons (about the size of a twonie) and patches me back up. I enjoy being the only girl in this gang!  This was just before Leïf discovered my Miracle Boots.

So here's the story of my Miracle Boots. For 2 days now, the boys have been imploring me to buy new shoes/boots. As we're walking, we come upon a garbage bin with a perfectly new pair of Asolo hiking boots sitting on them. Who would throw those away? Yaïr asks what size I wear, and the boots are indeed my size. A heck of a coincidence. Looking inside the boots, I notice that the previous owner has fashioned two U-shaped pads and glued them to the back of each boot to ensure that blisters don't rub up against anything (so that blisters are placed within the middle space of each U). This is a foot-saver!  The guys are like, ''Try them on, try them on!!!''  So I take off my shoes and try them on -- instant relief!  What the hell???  I start prancing around, the guys laugh and clap, Leïf jumps around doing a happy dance with his hands raised in the air and christens them 'My Miracle Boots'. I wore those boots every day for the next two weeks. They did eventually create problems for my little left toe, but those U-pads allowed my Achilles' blisters to close up and heal completely, no infection whatsoever. Amazing. The Camino brought me exactly what I needed, just when I needed it.

This is what Miracle Boots look like.

Leïf

Approaching Pamplona...

How could any girl NOT feel safe with this fierce band of monster pilgrims walking alongside her?

Always follow The Way

I am very sad to say goodbye to Leïf and Yaïr in Pamplona. The boys must leave this incredible journey to follow their own paths. Au revoir, les gars!  Je vous ai adorés; quel privilège de pouvoir débuter mon Camino en votre compagnie.  Bisous xx

Info on The Camino

Long before Christianity was born, pagans were walking across northern Spain in order to purge their soul and honor Nature's cycles. This pilgrimage was considered a sacred right of passage and ended at Fisterra (''End Of The World''/''Fin de la Terre''). Pilgrims watched the sun fall into the sea in a symbolic born-again ritual. It was here at Fisterre that the pagans began the fine tradition of burning their walking clothes, a practice which is still fervently adhered to, and one in which I hope to participate!

Then, in the year 42, along came St. James (Iago in Spanish) of Jerusalem!  Despite his best efforts, he managed to convert only 9 pagans, but happened to be skilled at killing Moors (Muslims from Morocco). Given that Spain was in constant battle with the Moors at this time, St. James became the patriot saint of Spain, nicknamed 'Iago the Moorslayer'. When King Herod beheaded James, his body was smuggled from Jerusalem, thanks to a series of dubious miracles. Rumor has it that his body was brought to rest beneath the Cathedral of the city of Compostella, which was at that point renamed Santiago de Compostella in his honor. Like many things that the Church borrowed from paganism, this route (now called Camino Francés) was repackaged and revamped; the Knights' Templar was posted all along the dangerous route and churches, monasteries and hospitals were feverishly built to aid the wayward soul (and enrich the Church's coffers, no doubt). 

This brought a disproportionate amount of fame to the already-well-known pagan route. To top it off, the Roman Catholic Church vowed to absolve any surviving pilgrim of his/her sins and to fast-track their souls into Heaven. Prisoners were often sentenced to walk it as punishment, and one could even go as a 'surrogate pilgrims' to walk off their employers' sins!  In 2010, over 250,000 people walked the Camino Francés. 

The Camino Francés, from St-Jean-Pied-de-Port in France to Finisterre, is roughly 900 kms. To Santiago de Compostella, it's about 800k. You need between 4 and 5 weeks (with a few days off), and you're walking an average of 25 kms a day. I hope to walk most of those 800 kms in 30 days, which is all the time I have!