It’s time to go exploring again. We are walking the Camino Frances from the popular starting point of Saint Jean Pied de Port in France, to Santiago de Compostela in the northwest of Spain. Roughly 500 miles (800 km).
Many hearty souls complete this in about 32 days, some even faster. The “standardized” stages are shown in the map. Most walk under 40 days. We We have planned 51 walking days, with 7 rest days, so it will take us about 2 months to complete. Shorter days means a more enjoyable walk for us, averaging about 10 miles per day.
Most pilgrims stay in dormitory-style hostels on bunk beds, eating communal dinners, leaving hostels well before 8 am to walk long distances. Which is probably fun if you are 20 and single, traveling on a tight budget and good sleep is optional.
We love to walk and eat with the other pilgrims. We share stories of travels, other Caminos and of life. But we prefer to shower and sleep in a more private arrangement. We are a few decades beyond enjoying dormitories. So we opt for private rooms, often with a private bath. We like our quiet evening routines, good sleep and relatively relaxed mornings.
There is no one way or right way to walk the Camino. Some pilgrims travel the whole way with just what they carry in their backpacks. Other pilgrims have their things transported every day to their next stay so their packs are small and light. We have a hybrid approach where we are reunited with our suitcase about once a week, in a city where we take a rest day. On those rest days we try to stay in nice place, often with a washing machine. As I write this we are in our quiet 2 bedroom apartment in Estella as the washing machine hums in the background. We are not trying to reconstruct the experience of pilgrims of old. I am sure they would very much like to have traveled this way if they had the chance.
Every day we walk, see the sights, experience the weather, the spring cycle of life with new animals, singing birds, new leaves on the trees and new crops in the fields. There is food and snacks to find along the way in the towns, many of which were originally founded hundreds of years ago to provide services for pilgrims on the Camino. There are plenty of resources to learn about the Camino. Just Google it, or go here for starters.
With that intro, here we go.
Getting there
The long leg of our flight was from Dallas/Fort Worth to Madrid. Fortunately the flight was not very full and Susie and I both grabbed middle rows, allowing us to get some fitful but horizontal sleep.
After an afternoon and night in Madrid, we took a train to Pamplona and shared a taxi with two other pilgrims to get to Saint Jean Pied de Port. After two nights in Saint Jean, we headed out for our first day.
Day 0 in Saint Jean Pied de Port
This is a beautiful medieval town with a fortification. Several French Camino paths converge at this town, which has become a traditional starting point for many pilgrims. We enjoyed exploring the city and eating in a nice cafe for breakfasts.
Day 1 SJPdP to Borda
We broke the first standard stage of 15 miles into two shorter ones, stopping at Albergue Borda which is about half way to the top of the climb over the Pyrenees mountains. It was cold, windy and rained at times. We arrived at the Albergue in early afternoon.
By afternoon the rain was continuous with thunder and lightning through the night. We stayed in the one available private room, the other 12 or so pilgrims were in the dormitories.
At dinner met the other pilgrims, who we saw on and off through the next week of walking. Dorothy, and 83 year old from Atlanta on her second Camino; the three Brazilian friends of 50 years, a couple from Connecticut, a loud girl from Copenhagen, and a German who had already walked several hundred kilometers. Two women work colleagues from New Zealand (one was German), and a gregarious woman from New Zealand that had just retired the previous Friday. Another 83 year old American who was drawn back to do the Camino. A younger guy from New Zealand who later had a crummy tummy in Roncesvalles.
Day 2 Borda to Roncesvalles
There was a great deal of wind and some rain but it could have been worse (in fact 2 weeks later, it snowed 4 inches). We ate a jam and cheese sandwich for lunch (surprisingly good) prepared by our Borda host. We enjoyed really nice views but then we walked in a cloud for awhile. On the way down into Roncesvalles, we walked with José from Mexico.
The Roncesvalles Hostel is large and well designed. Volunteers from Netherlands run it. They only provide a disposable mattress cover and pillow cover, so bought blankets to supplement our silk sleep sacks. We shared a pod of 4 bunk beds with two women that were also from our Borda group. Despite the circumstances, we both slept pretty well.
Coincidentally, some friends we knew from Boise happened to be hiking at the same time, so we met up with Brent and Kate Fawson, and also joined them at the evening Mass for the Blessing of the Pilgrims in Roncesvalles.
Day 3 Roncesvalles to Lintzoain
In the morning we ate with some Frenchmen that were somehow amused that we started in SJPdP rather than deeper in France. They also wanted to talk about and understand American politics. More rain along the way. We talked with BYU study abroad group that we might see again towards the end of our walk. We didn’t plan well and arrived in Lintzoain without having eaten lunch, and there was no place to get food until the 7 pm dinner at our Albergue, which was a converted farm house. There was a washing machine for our use (yay). Others from our Borda group were there as well: Three Brazilian friends and Dorthy. In the morning we all headed to Larrasoaña.
Day 4 Lintzoain to Larrasoaña
More rain on and off during the day, so the trail was muddy. We did see some more baby horses, which was a treat. We had lunch at Zubiri in a small bar/restaurant. While waiting out the rain, we talked with a girl at the next table who was painting with a tiny watercolor kit, based on photos she had taken that day. She had already walked 800 km from inside France. We walked a while with Dorthy who had decided head home from Pamplona. At 83 years of age, she had relived enough of her former Camino walk (12 years earlier). We saw our Brazilian friends on the trail.
We stayed at Casa Tau. The door code didn’t work but a host let us in. We think it was a substitute host, maybe the son of the owner as he wasn’t very invested in hospitality.
Day 5 Larrasoaña to Pamplona
We left Casa Tau, then realized our trekking poles were still inside. The door code still didn’t open the door, nobody was in the house, nobody answered the phone on either number. So we had to leave. I later got a call from the owner. My Spanish was just good enough to make a mistake. I thought she was going to forward the poles to our next locationi but she was telling me to contact Jacotrans to arrange myself. The timing wouldn’t have worked out so we bought new poles in Pamplona.
The weather was nice day most of the day. We had a beautiful walk through the Arga river valley, then into outskirts of Pamplona then another hour or so to get to our apartment in downtown Pamplona adjacent to the Cathedral.
Day 6 Pamplona to Òbanos
This was another nice cool day, with a few clouds in the morning then overcast after Alto de Pardón. We stopped to eat breakfast in Cizur Menor, then the walk up to Alto de Pardón. This was the first time we started to sweat a little.. We saw our friend T there, gave her some food and talked with her a bit on the way down. She will meet her husband and kids in Santiago. It was one of our longest days (15 miles) so feet and bodies were tired by the time we arrived.
Day 7 Obanos to Cirauqui
This was a short day with good weather. Cirauqui (a Basque name Thee-rauw-kwee) is a small town perched on a hill. We had one of the private rooms at Albergue Cirauqui Casa Maralotx with a little balcony with a nice view of the valley. More rain in the afternoon, which we watched from our window.
Day 8 Cirauqui to Estella
This was another nice walk. As we left Cirauqui we walked down the remants of a Roman road and then over a Roman Bridge. There were some threatening clouds through the day but the rain stayed away. The cool weather and breezes made for good walking weather.
We are just getting started. We are feeling good, though walking shorter days than most pilgrims. We expect 7 more installments about our walk. Next up, 6 more days of walking from Estella to Santo Domingo de la Calzada!
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