My twice thwarted Camino, or travelling small towns of Spain that are on the Camino Frances - the day before the day before.

 In 2020, Covid derailed my intention to complete the French Camino.  It took 3 years to get back on track, and 2023 was going to be the year that I walked from St Jean to Santiago and then onto Fisterre.

Everything was on track, with 3 weeks to go before my flights.  I was training regularly on the weekends getting the kilometres into my feet, trialling shoes, socks, strapping and blister control measures.  One Friday I decided to park at the local shopping centre, bus it to work and then walk home, so I would have 3 days of walking in a row over the weekend.  I’d walked 3 days the previous weekend, so it was just consolidating with some multi-day feet conditioning.

The walk back to my car was only 8km, along footpaths from work to Carindale.  I began to feel some pain in my right foot at the 6km mark, and experienced debilitating cramps in both calves at the 7km mark.  I didn’t think much of it, as I knew that the walking on concrete wasn’t the best option given that I was wearing my hiking shoes, and figured that a night’s rest would see improvement.  By 9pm that night, I couldn’t weight-bear on that foot, and was using crutches to mobilise around the house.

First thing next morning I took myself to an acupuncturist - which was the only thing that had managed my plantar issues after my first schoolies trip with Jordan.  I spent the next three weeks having acupuncture 3 times a week, with nothing really taking the edge off, until my final session, when my therapist tried a different technique and I felt the tension in my foot ease.  Suddenly there was hope that this was all going to work out.

As described in a previous blog, the first four nights were spent in London, then three nights in Paris, before we began the trek to St Jean Pied de Port.  Ok, it’s not really a trek - it’s a fast train ride to Bayonne and a second train ride to St Jean, except when it’s not!  

At Gare Montparnasse in Paris, Rach and I realised that I had booked a first class ticket, while she was in economy.  Our train rides were very different - hers involved rude travellers pushing her over while mine involved the luxury of a single seat, plenty of leg room and a cute puppy travelling with her owner.

We arrived in Bayonne and used our limited French to understand that we would be catching a coach to St Jean instead of a train.  The journey wound up and around gorgeous mountains, and would have been relatively peaceful if not for the mandatory warnings that sent every traveller’s phone into a cacophony of sound as we were alerted to a significant storm warning in the region.

On arrival to St Jean train station, we walked about ten minutes to our accommodation, Chemins d’Elika.  The hotel was a beautiful old house set on the high point of the Rue de la Citadelle, only a short walk to the start of the Camino.  The only drawback - I had to carry my suitcase up 3 levels to get to my room!  But what a view I had from the top - the most beautiful gardens, looking up to the Citadelle, with large French doors opening up onto a deck.  While laying in bed, I could see the gardens, the mountains and the sky beyond - such a wonderful way to start this adventure.

Our first night’s dinner was at Comme A La Maison - a pilgrim’s meal of three courses with a glass of wine.  I know I had the carbonara pasta and a nice dessert, but I can’t for the life of me remember what my main meal was!  I do however remember that the wine was good!

In bed that night, I lay listening to the storm breaking outside.  My room was not air conditioned, and it had been a 30+ degree day, so I had the French doors (are they still called French doors when they are in France, or are they just doors?) wide open, but with the shutters closed to prevent any rain blowing into the room.

Spoiler alert - tomorrow I’ll be exploring St Jean!

MTTC - the day before

 St Jean Pied de Port is such a beautiful village, set in the hills on the French side of the Pyrenees mountains on the banks of the River Nive.  It is one of the cities where many pilgrims commence the the French Camino.

We spent the morning exploring the Citadelle (which has been converted to a school) and its surrounds, a short walk along the river and out to the road where our camino would begin the next day.  We visited the pilgrim office to get our passports stamped (as you progress on the Way, cafes, hotels and visitor information centres, along with other businesses, have stamps that they use to mark the passport to show your passage).  We registered our intention to walk to Santiago, checked the weather forecast and visited the grocery store to get some supplies for the next day’s walking.

Lunch was a simple fare of local cheese and baguette, as we had decided to splurge a little on dinner at a small, family-run restaurant just down from our accommodation.  Le chat perche was everything we could have hoped for, delicious food, local wine and a rude customer who was shown the door for her behaviour.

After lunch we explored along the river and walked to the Y in the road where the Camino separates onto the two routes to Ronscevalles.  The upper route, that takes you to through Orisson and over the Pyrenees - approximately 18k of uphill walking followed by 7km of downhill into our first night’s stop.  The lower route (Valcarlos), while longer, is less hilly, not as picturesque and the option taken during winter months when snow and weather on the mountains close the upper pass, rending it impassable.  We are here only 4 weeks prior to the closure period, and the weather, while hot and sunny can turn bad quickly.  We have already had many alerts about storms and warnings about the hot weather.  The next day’s forecast is for rain so the wet weather gear is packed at the top of our bags ready to be taken out as soon as it is needed.

With another hearty dinner under our belts, we returned to our rooms and began the preparation for the beginning of our long journey. Tomorrow will be the day!