Over the Pyrenees

This was day 1 of our almost one month long Camino de Santiago adventure. Click on the Camino de Santiago label to see all related posts.

As I have already mentioned in my opening post on Camino de Santiago, we chose to walk along the Camino Francés branch of the way. We flew in to the nearby Biarritz airport and arrived to Saint Jean Pied de Port on a sunny Sunday afternoon of May 18th, 2014.

We started our Camino in France mainly because we wanted to experience the Pyrenees. Another reason was that we had thought we could just squeeze those 800 kilometres into 26 days we had for walking.

The first thing we did upon arrival was stamp our pilgrim credentials. First impressions of SJPdP were not all that great. Prices in the town were quite a bit higher than we had expected. We had one of the worst pizzas ever and it was not cheap either.
We were just hoping this had something to do with the fact we were in France.
Apart from that we liked the look of the little town. It is tucked amongst small hills with Pyrenees already visible to the west.

Pilgrim menus were on offer for 12 Euro. A bed in an albergue dorm room costed the same.

Since the weather can get really nasty in the Pyrenees, we had been hoping for good weather on our initial day. We have heard quite a few stories of recently injured pilgrims on this part of the way. A few people also die on this part of the Camino almost every year.

Luckily at 6 in the morning we woke up into a beautiful morning, had some fruit for breakfast and just before 7 we headed for the hills. Views were getting better and better as we were climbing higher. The steep path got us huffing and puffing at some points but we were able to keep quite a good pace. It seemed like we were well prepared.

We started our day at 180 metres above sea level and reached Col Lepoeder mountain pass at 1.430 metres (the highest point of Camino Francés) before descending again. Roncesvalles, our destination for the first day, lies at 900 metres and is already in Spain.
The total walking distance planned for the day was 26 kilometres.

Roughly after 8 kilometres of walking and a half of the total vertical gain in elevation planned for the day we stopped at Refuge Orisson. Many pilgrims choose to spend a night there and continue in the morning. We were still quite fresh and after a sandwich, Basque cake and a glass of orange juice, we were on our way again. It was quite a break - one and a half hour long.

Apart from a few clouds the sky was mostly clear. The wind however was picking up and at some points it was very strong (gusts of over 90 km/h as we learned later).

Somewhere near the top I had to take care of my first blister. It was a really small one and the smallest of Compeed plasters took care of it. We both took the opportunity to dry our feet and change into fresh socks.

On the way down we kept thinking about a dangerous stretch of the path we were told to avoid. There was a bit steeper section which we think was the "dangerous stretch" but it did not seem like anything special to us. Maybe in bad weather it is a different thing.

At 14:30 we already reached the imposing monastery at Roncesvalles (Orreaga in Basque). Check-in procedure was followed by a thorough stretching session. We were feeling good.

The monastery albergue is really huge (183 beds), well kept and very well organised. A hot shower that felt really good was followed by a relaxing afternoon and a good supper at a nearby La Posada restaurant. We enjoyed supper with other pilgrims and shared a few laughs. Spirits were high.

After supper we got back to monastery just in time to see the end of evening mass. From there we went straight to our room. We were already pleasantly tired and lights out policy at 22:00 made perfect sense. We set our alarm for 5:30, put in our earplugs and drifted away...

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El Camino de Santiago

Every journey begins with a single step. So did ours...

As some of you already know, about a month ago I went on a trip across Spain. We did this together with M. - my companion in travel and in life. This time we decided to do a bit more walking than usually. Actually... roughly 800 kilometres of it.

We chose a well known route across Spain known as El Camino de Santiago, Way of Saint James or simply The Way. It is a millennium old pilgrimage route which starts in various places around Europe and leads to Santiago de Compostela in Spain. That is the place where remains of Saint James are buried.

Since 11th century there have been pilgrims coming to Santiago from all over the world. Due to heavy publicity the Camino has become quite popular in the last years - the Hollywood movie The Way (starring Emilio Estevez and Martin Sheen) is just one such example.
More and more people decide to walk at least a part of the way every year and religion is not the only reason any more. Many also do it for cultural reasons or make a sports challenge out of it. Walking, biking and also horseback riding are the means of transport on the way.

We decided to begin our walk in Saint Jean Pied de Port on the French side of the Pyrenees. Since this route begins in France it is called Camino Francés or The French way. We chose it because it has the best infrastructure. In addition to everything else this also means there are many affordable albergues on the way. Albergues provide hostel like, budget-oriented accommodation for pilgrims.
The fact this route is the most popular among all and therefore at some points also pretty crowded did not discourage us. We were however not too excited about the fact.

Since we only had 26 days reserved for walking, we knew this trip was going to be a little bit of a challenge. People usually have at least a week more to walk this kind of a distance.
According to our plans we were supposed to walk approximately 30 kilometres per day. It might not seem like a lot if you look at a single day, but our plan meant we would have to do it every single day, no matter the weather or our daily physical condition. A shorter distance on one day would mean a longer one on the next day.

After reading a few Camino related books, some on-line research and a couple of training walks we felt we were ready.

... and so we went.

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Things to Do in Paris with Your Family

Paris is well known as a city of romance, where many couples choose to visit for long walks along the Seine, candlelit meals and musing the wonders of the many works of art in the numerous galleries. But did you know that there are also a lot of things to do in Paris even when you have children in tow?

As a capital city it is only to be expected that Paris will be busy and bustling, filled with people and interlaced with traffic. You will therefore need to keep a tight hold of your children’s hands if they are small - don’t try that if you have teenagers, they won’t like it. But thankfully there are many open spaces in the city if you know where to look and a few decent attractions that are specifically aimed at children of all ages. So find some suitable accommodation (the further away from the centre, the cheaper the hotels, and the Metro system will get you to where you need to be quickly enough) and book some coach tickets to head off to Paris for a family holiday!

Why coach tickets, you ask? Well because it is probably the cheapest way of travelling from London to Paris; there are rest stops and if you travel with iDBUS, you will have lots of leg room and elbow room, free on board Wi-Fi and plug sockets (don’t forget your plug adaptor!) – making the journey comfortable and even fun.

So, here are a few ideas of things to do in Paris that are suitable for the whole family:

1. The Batobus: this is a waterbus that runs along the Seine all the way along the city, allowing you to hop on and off at the various attractions or just to sit and take in the view. It is a great way to get from A to B in a way that does not involve busy roads or maps and most children are happy to be on board.
2. Jardins: there are several major ‘jardins’ in Paris. Jardin de Tuileries is very close to the Louvre; the Jardin de Luxembourg is in central Paris, Saint-Germain-des-Prés and the Latin Quarter and is a great place to run around and sail toy boats.
3. Disneyland Paris: a bus or train ride away from Charles de Gaulle airport (to which your iDBUS could take you) this is the ultimate in children’s entertainment. Staying in a themed Disney hotel is fun but expensive, so to save on cost stay on the northern outskirts of Paris and take the train or bus to the park.
4. The Musée Rodin includes a large outdoor area displaying some of the most famous sculptures created by the eponymous artist, enabling you to combine fresh air and culture with a bit of space for a quick game of tig.
5. The catacombs beneath Paris are spooky, eerie and full of skulls: if that sounds like something your child would love then make sure you don’t miss this offbeat attraction. You should keep in mind that this attraction might not be suitable for everyone.

Always plan ahead for dry weather and wet weather alike and always have a few different options up your sleeve for in case there are long queues or unexpected problems. I am sure you will have a much more relaxed trip in the end, if you plan ahead. Well worth it, if you ask me!

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