This series of posts are going to be a very casual account of my Camino de Santiago pilgrimage, thanks for reading!
Day 1: My mom and I took a train from Paris to Bayonne, France. We transferred to a train to take us to Saint Jean Pied de Port.
My mom and my backpacks on the train. My backpack is red, hers is black.
We arrived at the station!
We arrived at our accommodation. It was a very nice and comfortable place to stay. It was incredibly spacious.
We went to get lunch/dinner, a quatro formaggi pizza that had bleu cheese, yum!
We explored the town, got our shells which is the symbol of the Camino. Many pilgrims take scallop shells with them, a practice done for many centuries. Scallop shells are a clear indicator that someone is a pilgrim. I will elaborate more in a separate post dedicated to the significance of scallop shells.
We also went to a shop and bought a bunch of new gear! We bought trekking poles and new clothes, I bought this purple dri-fit shirt with a scallop shell on it. My mom bought a more expensive merino wool shirt that we thought would be an investment purchase, but it tore a few weeks in. Stick with the cheap shirts!
After a good night's rest, we headed out on our pilgrimage!
We made arrangements for our bags to be sent ahead to Refuge Orisson, where we would be staying the night. This is not a common practice for us since we like carrying our bags and don't usually plan where we will be staying beforehand.
We made reservations in Refuge Orisson, the only accommodation between Saint Jean and Roncesvalles. I recommend staying here especially if you're new to hiking. You need to make reservations due to limited space. Definitely make sure to make reservations if there is bad weather. There was a couple I met later on the Camino who didn't make reservations at Refuge Orisson and a storm came in. There was no room for them and they had to keep walking.
Note: There is almost nothing but mountain between Saint Jean and Roncesvalles, a 24km (14 mile) trek that's almost completely mountain terrain. It is a roughly 1,200 meter (1312 yard) incline and 900 meter (984 yard) descent.
Luckily they found a emergency shelter (three walls and a roof) and they said they may have died if it wasn't for that emergency shelter.
Here are some photos from our walk to Orisson:
Peaceful cow.
It was a very nice walk. Everyone greeted each other with the greeting "buen camino" meaning good way.
It was only 8km until we saw a building emerge, Refuge Orisson.
Thank you for reading. Please visit the next post to hear the tales of Refuge Orisson.
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