Jimandi

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.

Our traditional route to start the Camino has been: jet to Madrid (MAD)- train to Pamplona – bus to St Jean Pied de Port (SJPDP).

Our Camino 2023 route is: jet to Paris (CDG) – TGV to Bayonne/Barritz – local train to SJPDP.

We have several reasons for making this change. First, before we decided to do another Camino, our original destination was Provence France, requiring the leasing of a Eurodrive auto in Paris for use to, from and getting around in Provence. Second, we dislike the 90 minute, motion-sickness-inducing bus ride from Pamplona to SJPDP. Third, we love to travel on European trains, especially the TGV.

So… our planning is complete, backpacks are packed and in a few minutes, our friend, Caren, will give us a ride to the airport to begin Camino 2023.

The 7hr 45 min flight to Paris was uneventful. However, the plane was fully packed, which eliminated any chance for being comfortable enough to sleep. Customs clearance at CDG was smooth, punctual and automated. We breathed a sigh of relief when we found our backpacks waiting for us in baggage claim, as soon as we cleared customs.

Without leaving CDG Terminal 2, we followed the signage to the adjacent RER terminal. After less than a 10 minute walk, we easily bought two tickets (17€ ea) without having to wait in line and boarded the next train which had just arrived. It left for Paris central 7 minutes later. After a 22 minute ride we exited at Denfert Rochereau, connected with the metro, then two exits later, disembarked at Gare Montparnasse.

Our only glitch for yesterday/todays’s very long and potentially glitchful journey came at the very end. While still in the Metro for Gare Montparnesse, Jim entered our hotel, Hotel de Paris Montparnesse, into his Google Maps App expecting to have a nice footpath plotted from our location to our hotel. Well, our T-Mobile signal was so weak that all we got was a silly little spinning wheel. Jim, frustrated, asked a nearby fruit stand owner for help, who, in turn, struggled using his phone to get directions, finally settling for directions to a Montparnesse Tour ( “Tower” in French).

So, we walked to the “Tour” but hit a dead end when the pleasantly helpful concierge said there was no hotel in the Tour and had never heard of our hotel. We finally went into our “battle mode”, Linda agreeing to station herself at a strategic location on a wall adjacent to the Tour to establish a a base, while carefully guarding our two large backpacks and two smaller carry-ons. Jim, now unburdened by various packs, set out to find our hotel.

Just when it appeared that no French person or any other person inhabiting the Montparnesse area had the slightest idea where our hotel was, Jim spotted a bus driver puffing on some kind of combustible during his break, his bus all locked up to interested riders. Using his best, remaining command of the local language, Jim asked the critical question. The driver, rubbing his chin said he wasn’t sure, but… and Jim inserted, “and it’s a trois étoiles” (3 stars) … which gave the driver the confidence to point in a specific direction from where we were standing, he thought!

Jim thanked him, again in immaculate French politesse and headed in that direction. Miraculously, a half block from where Linda was perched, we located our hotel. Totally wiped out at this point, we checked in to our hotel and crashed for a bit.

Last November, while soaking up the Caribbean sun, we decided we’d like to do another Camino. Yes, we had just finished Camino 2022 in October, our 8th, since 2012 … but the operative question was when. We looked at each other, realizing that as seasoned septuagenarians, we needed to decide sooner rather than later.

We had already made reservations to spend September 2023 in Provence France (Vaison la Romaine) during the wine harvest. So, we began our planning around that trip and in tandem to avoid the cost of two European flights.

We also had booked trips to our favorite island for May/June and Oct/Nov, so that left July and August for the Camino. July and August are the peak months for Camino traffic, so we began making reservations for places to stay and transportation in January and completed the final bookings the last day of April.

Being seasoned “pilgrims”, we know what we need to take and since it will have to fit in our backpacks, we have already gathered most of our stuff and set it aside. For simplicity, this will also include a few additional items for our month in France after the Camino.

We’re leaving for our beach trip next week and will wait until we return in late June to finalize loading our backpacks and beginning Camino 2023 in early July.