Month: July 2023

We are so glad we factored in a day off this early in Camino 2023. We were both dragging when we walked in yesterday. But, a good night’s rest and some extra recovery time has significantly reduced the muscle soreness and fatigue we had after our first two physically difficult days. We now have a more positive outlook for moving forward tomorrow morning.

During the day we enjoyed gentle walks around this small village ( Pop. 21) for light exercise and to take a few photos.

We tried additional Basque dishes at dinner, typical of our hotel’s restaurant offerings.

We also for the second night, had a signature Garnacha wine bottled exclusively for the Casa de Beneficiados.

Today was a nice, relaxing day and we’re looking forward to getting an early start tomorrow morning.

Walked today: 7.5 mi Camino 2023: 14.6mi

We left our backpacks in the lobby (for pickup and transport at 7:00 as our driver arrived to return us to our stopping point for yesterday. We had a nice conversation with Pelo, a native of SJPdP, during the 30 minute ride back up into the Pyrenees. He provides reasonably priced transportation for pilgrims, locally, as well as several trips per day from the Biarritz Gare when pilgrims are stranded due to frequent French rail strikes. He has a wife and two small children and was very hospitable to us. We strongly recommend him if you are in need of his services.

Today’s walk was dominated by fog and working out the muscle soreness. In summary, Linda seemed to thrive in the cooler environment and Jim struggled a bit.

Unlike yesterday’s all uphill, today started that way, but at the midpoint, it was almost totally downhill from there on. We also chose an alternate route to temper the downhill in exchange for some extra walking distance.

The scenery in this area is spectacular but was not evident today due to the ever present fog.

We arrived at Roncesvalles at noon, after 5 hours of walking. Like yesterday, we were tired but apparently getting stronger and some of the soreness had dissipated by dinnertime.

The food at Casa de Beneficiarios has always been excellent for our five previous visits and number six did not disappoint.

We attended the 8;00 mass with our friend, Kris and chatted a few minutes after the service, then bid him farewell.

Our Camino 2023 plan calls for us to take a break here, by spending two nights, to recoup from jetlag and the difficult first two days, which at this point was a brilliant idea.

“What doesn’t kill you will make you stronger!”

Walked today: 7.05 mi, Camino 2023: 7.05 mi

Our Camino 2023 began this morning at 7:00 a.m. as we passed through the Porte d’Espagne and walked up the very steep road heading toward the Pyrenees Mts.

Today’s walk is considered the most difficult part of the entire Camino Frances. We climbed 2730 feet over a span of 7 miles of steep paved farm roads and equally steep, rough paths and washes through mountain pastures.

Today’s walk was especially difficult, compared to our previous 4 experiences because we had done very little to prepare ourselves for the physical part of the challenge. All of our training of the several months prior to today, consisted of infrequent 2 mile neighborhood walks on mostly flat surfaces.

Today, our bodies were challenged immediately, as we exited SJPdP and there was no relief for the first 4.5 miles, until we stopped at the Orrison Refugio for a break and refreshment. After a rest of nearly an hour, we continued on upward for another hour and a half before stopping for the day at the Vierge de Baikorri.

Some 15 minutes later a pre-arranged shuttle took us back to SJPdP for the night and a much needed rest.

Fortunately, we survived our first day back on the Camino and avoided injury. We’re obviously tired but know that our aching muscles will recover quickly as we continue tomorrow morning, picking up where we finished this afternoon.

We said good-by to Biarritz and the Hotel St James this morning at 10:15 and took a taxi back to the Bayonne Gare in order to catch the local train to SJPDP.

While waiting for our train, we chatted with Bobby from Indiana. It was his first Camino and with only 2 weeks off from work (Fed Ex) he planned to walk a far as he could before returning home. Chris, from Arizona and a retired nurse was also on his first Camino and had allocated a similar time period, but he planned walk from SJPDP but skipping the middle part of the Camino to get to Sarria and complete the final 100km to Santiago to earn his compostela. When both men found out this was not our first Camino, they had many questions and we were delighted to try and answer them and share some of our experiences.

Our two hour wait for the train to arrive and the one hour plus trip to SJPDP passed remarkably fast.

We had an easy 8 minute walk from the train station to our hotel and were given immediate access to our room. It was 2:15 pm so we dropped our packs in the room and walked to a restaurant next door that was miraculously still serving from their full menu. We ordered our meal for the day and relaxed for some delicious local offerings.

After lunch, we walked to the Pilgrim office to get our credentials completed and stamped, verifying SJPDP as our start point and tomorrow as our official starting date.

The rest of the afternoon was spent getting showers, washing travel clothes and making logistical arrangements for the next two days, using SJPDP as our base.

Tomorrow morning we finally begin our 5th walk across Spain.

Jim got his first good night sleep, a sign of adjustment to local time. Linda is still in transition.

After a petite déjeuner, we set out to explore this lovely seaside town. It’s a popular, luxurious vacation spot, with countless boutiques, small restaurants and picturesque casinos and a beautiful beach , one of the best in Europe for surfing.

A leisurely promenade took us into the Sunday morning market, only a few steps from our hotel. Our appetites were tempted as we contemplated lunch.

We ambled down the gently sloping streets until we were awestruck by the panoramic view of the beach.

It was nearly noon and our hotel was less than a ten minute walk from the Atlantic. So we returned to our room, grabbed a half-bottle of French wine, and returned to the market to select a sampling of local quiches, tartlets and fresh strawberries.

We then returned to the beach to search for a suitable, shady spot for an impromptu picnic lunch.

It’s hard to describe the good feelings we had from consuming delicious local food and absorbing such extraordinary views in such a tranquil setting. It was just what we needed after three taxing days of travel.

We’ve one final leg tomorrow to complete our trip to SJPDP and the beginning of Camino 2023.

Yesterday, after check-in and several hours of recuperating downtime in our pricy (262 €} but adequate room, we ventured out on a reconnaissance walk. To avoid any miscues for todays TGV ride, we visited the Montparnasse Gare (train station) located just across the street from our hotel. Our objective was to verify our online, pre purchased tickets, get familiar with the area for boarding the train and becoming familiar with the protocol for boarding.

After a brief bit of wandering about, we happened upon three young, motivated and multilingual Parisians with blue vests labeled “accueil” (welcoming). They cheerfully and effectively guided us thru the process and answered all our questions.

On our way back to the hotel we bought quiches for an in-room dinner and selected some enticing items for dessert/snacks. The breakfast and sandwich offerings also looked appealing for purchasing this morning on our short walk to the gare.

All trains at Montparnasse were booked today! So if you didn’t book online in advance, as we did in April, you are out of luck. The heavy crowd was apparent as we boarded at 9:40 for our 10:08 train.

In operation since 1981, the TGV (Train à Grande Vitesse) is the French version of a high speed train.

Soon after leaving the outskirts of Paris, the sleek looking train picked up speed and hovered around 303 km/hr (188 mph) for most of the next 4 hours.

In almost three decades of high-speed operation, the TGV has not recorded a single passenger fatality due to accidents while running at high speed on normal passenger service. There have been several accidents, including four derailments at or above 270 km/h (168 mph), but in only one of these—a test run on a new line—did carriages overturn. This is credited in part to the stiffness that the articulated design lends to the train.

Bayonne is 480 miles from Paris by automobile taking at least 7 1/2 hours to drive. The cost for the TGV ticket for the 4 hour ride today was 186€ or $200 at the current exchange rate. The ride was relaxing and comfortable, similar to first class seating on commercial jets. A typical flight (economy), one way from Paris to Bayonne (Biarritz) is around $500 for the 1 1/2 hour flight… plus the requirement to check-in at the airport 2 hours prior to boarding, plus transport time and cost from the airport to downtown Bayonne.

We arrived at the Bayonne gare on schedule, and called a Uber driver (using the same app we use at home) to take us the final 7 miles to our hotel in Biarritz… home until Monday morning. Our driver also agreed to take us back to the Bayonne gare on Monday. We planned this extra day on the front end of Camino 2023 to help overcome our jet lag before beginning to walk over the Pyrenees.

We self-checked ourselves into our reserved room per the hotel manager’s instructions, emailed to us several days ago. We spent the afternoon cleaning our selves and travel clothes and resting, to allow our travel weary bodies to heal while continuing the transition to the European time zone.