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!
No comments:
Post a Comment