Jimandi

Walked today : 7.8 miles

Walked Camino 2019 : 29.2 miles

We left Roncesvalles in a light drizzle at 7:30…

and stopped 2 miles later in Burguete (pop. 290) for breakfast.

After cappuccino and toast (cafe con leche) we continued walking thru the village and for about 5 minutes, we were confronted by thunder, lightning, a light drizzle, hail, but thankfully, no swarming locusts. About 3 miles later, in the booming metropolis of Epinal (pop.249) we stopped again at a small bar for more cafe con leche and to avoid another passing (we hoped) storm.

We continued on, like a rollercoaster, up and down various paths until arriving at Bizkarreta (pop. 25), our destination for the day. By now, the sun was out with no signs of future precipitation.

We stopped for lunch at a Bar/Alberge/Mercado on the edge of the village and then walked another couple hundred yards to…

… Amatxi Elsa, a casa rural (B&B) and our home for tonight. We stayed here in 2017 and learned that it’s owned and hosted by a congenial couple (Jorge and Elsa) from Argentina. Our only means of communication is hand and facial gestures and translation apps.

We washed sweaty clothes, hung them out to dry in the bright sun/dry air. The rest of the afternoon was devoted to naps, blog and chillin’.

Dinner (12€/) was exceptional and homemade this afternoon by Elsa. Spinach in puff pastry, marinated chicken breasts w/ fresh, crisp garden salad,

fresh apple filled crepes garnished with caramel for dessert

complimented with a smooth, Navarra wine.(8€)

Walked today: 6.2 miles

Walked Camino 2019: 21.4 miles

It was 51 degrees and heavy fog when our driver picked us up at 7:30, but as we retraced yesterday’s steps via car, he explained in French that before we reached the Virge d’ Baikorri, the fog and clouds would be replaced by a beautiful, clear sky.

We’ll let you decide if he was correct:

The Virge d’Baikorri is at an elevation of around 3600 ft. That means we climbed over 3000 ft yesterday (Linda’s Fitbit rated it equal to 265 floors!)

Some scenes along the way to the top this morning:

This emergency shelter served us well in Sep 2012 in midst of cold, driving rain storm.

When we reached Col de Lepoeder this morning, the highest point on the Camino Frances at 4700 ft, we had climbed another 1100 ft! And immedately, we began the descent to Roncesvalles at 3100 ft. This was a drop of 1600 ft over a distance of 3km (1.8 miles)… about as steep downhill as the climb yesterday.

Switching from uphill to downhill in such a dramatic fashion tested our bodies and left us totally spent, when we arrived at Roncesvalles( pop. 30) shortly after noon.

We survived today’s walk which should make us stronger, if old sayings are true.

Today was a little strange for us. Our walking pace is about half of most pilgrims, consequently, there are normally hoards of pilgrims that pass us during our daily walk. But because today our starting point was in between normal starting points, we only saw 2 pilgrims during the entire 4 hour walk.

We’re staying in Hotel Roncesvalles(68€), also known as “Casa de Beneficiados”, a beautifully upgraded Children’s Hospital. This will be our 6th stay since 2012, since we’ve started or finished here because of its location.

Our room is very upscale and comfortable. We had our clothes washed and dried for 10€, a delicious local cuisine dinnerware, including Navarre wine for 10€ each and a relaxing afternoon and evening.

Walked today: 7.9 miles

Walked Camino 2019: 15.2 miles

When we left SJPDP at 7:20 this morning it was cloudy and a cool 60 degrees.

We began the Camino Frances by passing through the Porte d’Espagne followed by an immediate test up a very steep road through a residential area even before we left the village!

The small, paved road became a more gradual ascent for the next mile or so as picturesque farmland surrounded us and we began a steep climb up into the Pyrennes Mountains.

We’ll chronicle our walk mostly with photos in an attempt to demonstrate what we experienced this morning.

We arrived at the Virge de Baikorri at 1:00 and soon after our taxi arrived and took us back to SJPDP to recoup and spend the night.

An incredible “hike” part-way up the Pyrennes.

It was 50 degrees when we checked out of our hotel at 8:00. On our walk to the bus station we stopped for a leasurely breakfast at a nice cafe,

then continued to the bus station a little after 9:00 and departed the Pamplona “Estacion Bus” at 10:05.

As our bus driver navigated through the maze of clean, tree-lined streets and high-rise neighborhoods and corporate office and commercial areas of the city, we were left with a very positive impression of Pamplona. Our previous Camino stays in 2013, 2014, 2017 revealed a vibrant city, where, like other communities along the Camino, young and young at heart citizens are enjoying a quality & affordable life together. Pamplona’s undergirding of a historical tradition of local governance and self-sufficiency and an aversion to excessive state intervention for nearly 2 millennia have served it well. Our previous observations of economic stability have been reinforced by even stronger signs of economic growth and freedom as we concluded our 2019 visit. Pamplona is one of our favorite places on the planet and probably a very nice place to live, work and enjoy good quality of life.

A two lane winding state highway carried us from the city limits for about 30 minutes, covering the first 20 miles of our 45 mile journey.

Then without warning, we began our ascent up, then over, then steeply down the Pyrennes mountain range, taking 1 hr 15 minutes to cover the remaining 25 miles. The road consisted solely of switchbacks, some a full 180 degrees.

Even averaging less than 20 mph, the drive was a magnificent test for one’s ability to avoid motion sickness. We just barely passed the test.

It was 82 degrees when we exited the bus in St Jean Pied de Port at 11:45. A welcomed 10 minute walk, on solid ground, took us to our Hotel Itzalpea (86€/nt) and a nice comfortable room immediately ready for occupancy!

After dropping our packs in the room and a brief break, we moseyed around SJPDP making arrangements for a rendezvous with a taxi at the Virge de Baikorri tomorrow afternoon to bring us back to our hotel in SJPDP (there currently is only one taxi service based in this small medieval village).

A visit to the pilgrim (pélerin in French, peregrino in Spanish) office to get our credentials stamped, verifying our official start tomorrow of the Camino de Santiago de Compostela ( Frances) was delayed when a note on the closed door announced the re-opening of the office after a lunch break at 1:30, so when in SJPDP do as the SJPDPians do, so we paused for salads at a nearby restaurant, which were simply, delicious.

We crashed until venturing out once again, this time to a creperie (obviously, French) and had another simply delicious meal.

Alarm is set for 6:30 a.m. tomorrow (first light at 7:00) to finally get Camino 2019 underway.

Walked today: 7.3 miles Camino2019: 7.3 miles

It was a cool 54F with a light drizzle, when we left our hotel in Pamplona at 7:20 this morning.

We’re starting Camino 2019 unconventionally, by walking this segment out of the normal sequence. We haven’t been walking for several days now and are a bit “rusty”. Normally we’d begin in St Jean Pied de Port, France (SJPDP) and walk up the Pyrennes Mountains the first day. Many consider that the most difficult part of the Camino Frances, and we tend to agree. When we decided to stay an extra day in Pamplona to get over jet lag, we also decided it would be good to use part of the time to give our bodies a moderate test as preparation for the ultimate test up the Pyrennes. In about a week from now, having walked west from SJPDP, we’ll spend the night in a northeast suburb of Pamplona and the next morning will take a taxi skipping the section we walked today and rejoining the Camino from where we finished today.

We walked through Pamplona, the old city, then the modern city then through the edge of Universidad de Navarre and the suburb of Cizur Menor before leaving paved sidewalks.

The Camino entered into the countryside over a variety of walking surfaces ascending upward to the village of Zariguegui (pop. 179). It was, indeed, a good workout to retune our bodies and prepare for the walk up the Pyrennes ( Linda’s fitbit today indicated we walked up 69 floors… the first 4 miles of the Pyrennes from SJPDP registered 229 floors in 2017!)

We walked the 7.3 miles in just over 3 hours and stopped for a late breakfast at an albergue bar/restaurant and afterward, briefly, stepped inside the 12th century Romanesque Iglesia de San Andrés just before the 11:00 service.

We then returned to our hotel in Pamplona via taxi.

Leaving our packs in the room, we walked another mile or so to the bus station to buy tickets for the 10:00 a.m. bus to SJPDP tomorrow morning (44€).

On the return walk we stopped for a light lunch of tortillas, similar to what we call frittatas at home.

Our work completed for the day, we spent a leisurely afternoon reading, blogging and preparing for the 74km (45 mile), 1hr45min bus ride to SJPDP tomorrow.

Two common questions we are asked about the Camino are: 1- What is the walking surface, path, like? and 2- How do you find your way or avoid getting lost?

We collected some photos of the various walking surfaces and types of trail we walked during the 7 mile stretch this morning. It’s representative of the paths we will see on the Camino.

We also observed a variety of Camino markers which were plentiful and well placed at intersections and at frequent intervals along the path to reassure pilgrims that they are not lost.

We opted for a “normal” dinner tonight and stopped at a nearby restaurant next to one of the streets along the famous path of the San Fermin festival that occurs every July in Pamplona, more commonly known outside of Spain as the “running of the bulls”. We had a very nice dinner (32€). First course was mellon and ham for Linda and gespacho for Jim. We both had the salmon and roasted vegetables. For us, the Camino has always and continues to be a “culinary” experience as well!

By Friday morning Linda was already adjusting to the time change, evidenced by her sleep quality measured by her Fitbit. Jim however is still on Greenville time.

We had breakfast at a nearby restaurant (4.40€ total) taking a pass on the 25€ each for the Hilton buffet breakfast).

Around 10:30 we took a taxi (€8.75) to a nearby shopping mall (“Plenilunio”) to get snacks for the train/walking, prepaid sim cards for our cell phones, and Euros from a bank ATM to cover cash expenses for the next several weeks.

We used our Uber app and in 3 minutes were on the way back to the hotel (6.61€)and had lunch(15.50€) at this morning’s breakfast restaurant.

Our leisurely afternoon and evening was spent in the comfortable AC of our room and included a short nap (Jim), reading, repacking and a snack supper.

We checked out of the Madrid Airport Hilton (104€/nt) at 7:00 a.m on Sat., July 27, took a taxi (25€) for the 15 minute ride to Atocha train station in downtown Madrid, and cleared security for the train boarding area with a smile, wink and ‘buen camino” from several security guards (big backpacks and no luggage are a dead giveaway).

We had breakfast (8.80€), cafe con leche and tostadas, at a cafe near our boarding gate.

Atocha is well organized with logical flow from street entrance to security to food court/loading platforms and individual gates for each boarding each train. Airport style departure display boards are located throughout. Trains will typically arrive and depart within 10-15 minute intervals.

We missed our train! … our first Camino 2019 “glitch”, but probably not our last .

After breakfast, Linda secured great seats adjacent to gate 4 and we waited patiently for 2 hours for our train to depart. During the wait, we got several different assurances from different train station attendants that our train left from gate 4.

At 5 minutes before departure, still no one had lined up to board at gate 4… we thought. It turns out that our train boarded from gate 4 Baja (bottom floor or basement) and we were strategically waiting at gate 4 Primera (first floor). Unfortunately we realized this at 9:41 as our train left the station.

So we are now waiting, not for our original noon train, but the 3:05 train, the next and last available train to Pamplona today with available seats and with an extra 37€ cost because the last seats available are in first class. (“preferente“)

Changing our original tickets, when we arrived at MAD on Thursday, to get us to Pamplona at noon instead of 3pm , while sounding like a good idea at the time, may have been an even better idea now. If we had kept our original tickets and made the same boarding error, we wouldn’t get to Pamplona until tomorrow, which would really have messed up our plans. Now, we’ll just need to be creative to decide the best way to spend the next 5 hours. And so much for getting to Pamplona earlier. We think the Camino is testing us.

More good news! Our new First Class tickets give us access to the Renfe Lounge up to two hours before our train departs. It’s like an airline lounge with free snacks, drinks, comfortable seating and better AC.

We boarded the train to Pamplona( 59.50€ x 2 + 37€) at 2:50 and settled in for the 3hr 12 min ride. The train didn’t leave at 3:05, but 3:12 instead! We missed our 9:40 train as it was just clearing the platform at 9:41. If only it had been 12 minutes late…. but we did nearly double our Spanish vocabulary by learning the meaning for Baja and Primera, which we’re not likely to forget!😉

Arriving at Pamplona at precisely 6:26, we took a taxi (8€) to Hotel Maisonnave (98.10€/nt) and checked in without incident.

We got showers, organized our stuff, had a snack supper in our room and got to bed early, as we plan to walk to Zariguegui at 7:00 tomorrow morning.

A common question we’re asked is what does it cost to do the Camino. Jim tracked our costs in 2017 and found the combined cost for the two of us averaged close to $100 per day. That breaks down to $50/night for lodging and $40/da for food and snacks and another $10/da for transport and other non-routine incidentals (taxi, train, occasional backpack transport, pharmacy items, etc).

We”ll initially note our expenses for Camino 2019 to give you an idea of the range of costs we experience for various items and then only by exceptional outliers. For simplicity, all costs will be in €, with the typical exchange rate being $1.15=1.00€.

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