We woke up,early since the others in the room were already making a noise packing with flashlights etc. so at 6:45 we turned on the lights, got dressed and packed our backpacks. Breakfast included local bread (French crusty), cheese, preserves, coffee, tea and a small glass of orange juice. Good and typical European.
After breakfast I made a quick trip to the pilgrims office across the street from the Albergue " (ours was called " L'Esprit du Chemin") to get a shell to hang on my backpack. They asked for a donation which I was happy to give.
We set off on the first leg of our journey at about 8:00 am. I needed to stop at an ATM to get some Euros which we found without much trouble. Then we started our journey - spiritual, mental and physical. We expected this to be the hardest leg of all. 27 km (17 miles) and elevation of over 4,000 ft climb followed by a 1,500 ft descent. The weather was sunny and clear but cool in the morning, but warmed up during the day.
We left the town through an arch, the gateway to the Pyrenees. Then across the river and up a road heading south. The road started to climb steadily and there were good signs to the "Camino". The sign is a yellow scallop shell on a blue background. There was already a steady stream of pilgrims on the road and we each set our own pace as we continued along the path we would all travel today.
Occasionally there were cars on the road but the more we climbed the fewer we met. I think they were children from the farms being brought into the town for school. The sun was still low and the shadows long. The path continued to get steeper and then we turned onto a stony track. By now the sun had got high enough and on our backs to warm us and people started to shed jackets, sweaters etc. also the steeper it got the more people spread out, some stopping to rest, others just going slower. The views kept getting better and mountains with snow appeared. Werner and I paused from time to time but it was already apparent that he was fitter for this than I was. I did fine on the more gentle or shorter hills but he had more stamina for the steeper and longer stretches.
We passed an Albergue at the 8km mark where several people had stopped for a coffee but kept going. We knew it would be a long hike and did not want to stop too early.
The trail got steeper and steeper and the altimeter on my iPhone showed that we still had a lot of climbing to do. Each time we came over a ridge they was another steep path ahead of us. Then the wind came, a strong wind, I estimate 40-50 miles an hour that at times made me lose my balance. I was ok thanks to hiking poles to keep me steady. We were making zig zags up the mountains so at times it was head on making walking more strenuous and then from the side where it blew on us and on our back packs to keep us unsteady on our feet. After a while it colder as we got higher and higher in a steady climb and we stopped to put back on sweaters or jackets.
We passed quite a lot of sheep with wooly fleeces hanging almost to the ground and some cattle and horses. Then we were above the tree line and of course fully exposed to the wind which made walking much more strenuous. The views were wonderful but I needed to take fairly frequent short rests to let my legs recover. I had put almost 3 liters of water (6 lbs) in my backpack camelback water supply but wished I had been more stingy since the backpack got heavier and heavier as my legs got more tired. The altitude also made the air thinner.
At about 12:30 we found a sheltered spot in the sun a eat our lunch. I had got mine from the Albergue in the morning, French bread with an omelette filling. It was not what I needed and I ate less than half of it. Werner had his lunch from yesterday and a bottle of beer. I still had water.
Soon after we started again after about a 30 minute break, the trail got flatter but still climbing. We passed a water station (a tap on a pipe) but I am not sure where the water was coming from. I did not need to use it. Then the trail got steeper for a while. I was struggling to keep up but we had left many of the other pilgrims way behind us. After flattening out again we entered a forest of beech trees. The trail was shin deep in leaves, probably from the prevailing wind, but we were finally sheltered from the wind. It was not easy to walk through the leaves because sometimes there were hidden rocks waiting to twist an ankle and sometimes there were soggy patches to grab your shoes. It was however very pretty and was a relief to be free of the wind.
Soon there started to be snow along the side of the trail. It had snowed over the weekend but somehow we did not expect to find any. Mostly we were able to avoid it but from time to time we had to walk in it. After the end of the forest we again had a steep climb and much more snow to contend with. Finally, at about 2:00pm after 6 hours of steep climbing we reached the top of the pass. We had climbed more than 4,000 ft in 6 hours with heavy packs.
We were too tired to spend much time to celebrate and the snow and the wet ground made sitting uninviting. We started the very steep descent back through the beech forest. It was incredibly steep going down and my leg muscles stated to spasm with cramps so it was difficult to control myself. I slipped and fell once but with the weight of my pack I couldn't get up. Werner was further down the mountain but another pilgrim arrived and helped me up. People say don't worry if you have a problem, the Camino will provide. It has already proved to be the case.
After little over an hour we were finally down and were soon at the Albergue. Check- in was fast and well organized and we were told our beds were 218/219 on the 2nd floor. Cost is €10 per night. The beds were in groups of four as bunk beds. Very nice with 9 "cabins" in a row so 36 beds all open to the corridor but semi- private. In our cabin were Werner and I with a girl from DC and a man from Denmark. All albergues are coed. I took an Ibuprofen and soon my muscles felt better and I could actually walk again. I think there were 150 beds total on three floors. The Albergue is part of an old monastery. Everything was very clean. They said they had wifi but I could not make it work for me.
After we had got ourselves organized we went to a nearby restaurant for a beer or two and booked a place for the pilgrims dinner at 7:00 pm. Cost is €9.00 for a three course meal including wine. The dinner was at 7:00 and started with an excellent potato soup followed by grilled trout with French fries. Not my thing but I was hungry and did my best but after I had eaten, it looked as if I had only played with the fish and eaten the fries. Dessert was a choice of various plastic cup desserts. I had flan which was good.
I then went to the pilgrims. Mass at the church at 8:00 which was all in Spanish. There seemed to be a few more than 100 people there. At the end the priest called all the pilgrims forward and said a blessing in several languages one of which was English. the whole service took exactly 30 mins and there were 3 priests. It was nice. A good way to end our first day on the Camino
Then back to Albergue and I took advantage of the time to catch up on my blog. No Internet so I can't get pictures from iPhone to iPad but at least I can remember the day's events. A wonderful first day even if it hurt a lot. A pilgrimage is supposed to bring you to your knees and it wasted no time doing that to me today. During the walk I had to think of the suffering of Jesus and the disciples and helped me think about one of the reasons for doing this.
Lights out in the rooms from 10;00 pm to 6:00 am just like it was at boarding school, so I went back to the room and went to bed just before 10:00 and immediately fell into a deep sleep until the lights came on the next morning. I don't know if anyone snored!
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