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!