new list member, leaving to walk the Camino this month

[Nick Hayes]

Randy,   may the force be with you,  literally and figuratively.

I took 3 teenagers from SJPP tp Santiago last year and I hope you are in shape
because my lot were walking machines. They set a sufficient pace that we made
Rancevalles in 7 1/2 hours...

SJPP has quite a lot of low to moderate cost accomodation.  I stayed in  a
"gite d'etape",  a very basic
shelter.  bunks, rudimentary kitchen,  shower.  I would suggest that you go up
market a bit.
A good nights sleep before you start day 1 of the Camino is imporrtant for
strength and enjoyment.
and a modest hotel would give you that.

35 days for the trip will do it,  ( see previous reference to walking
machines)   We usually started at about 6 45 AM and had done our 15 to 20 miles
by 2 PM.  This was not a crazy as it sounds.   My teens wanted bunks not floors
to sl;eep on and being at the refugios by 2 Pm was what it took at that time.

"Dr. R. Michael Olson" wrote:

> Just a note to say hello and to introduce myself, since I have just recently
> joined the talk line.  My name is Randy, and I am leaving next week to walk
> the Camino for the first time.  I will be travelling with a group of five
> college students from St. Michael's College in Vermont, where I teach, and
> also with a Spanish friend from Pamplona, Vicente Gainz, who is a member of
> Los Amigos del Camino in Navarra.  My wife and I lived in Pamplona for a
> year (1998-99), and during this time, I became fairly familiar with that
> stretch of the Camino running through Navarra, though I only walked one
> stage of it.  Our little group will begin walking on the 18th of May.  I am
> still debating, however, on whether to start in St. Jean or in Roncesvalles.
> My main concern is that I have not been able to find out much about pilgrim
> accomodations in St. Jean, and what I have heard has not been encouraging;
> for example, the refugio there only has room for six and that other
> accomodations tend to be expensive.  Thus, I am a bit nervous dropping in
> there with a few students on the first night of the pilgrimage, but
> nonetheless I would like very much to walk the stage through the Pyrennes.
> If anyone has any more information on this to help persuade me one way or
> the other, I would be very grateful to hear it.  We will be spending the
> night before we begin in San Sebastian.  From there it will be easy enough
> to catch the bus to Pamplona and then to Roncesvalles, should we decide to
> begin there.  If, however, we decide to start in St. Jean, I would also
> appreciate any information on the best connections between the two places.
> I know there is a bus that goes from San Sebastian to Bayone, and from there
> a train to St. Jean.  Is there something more direct such as a bus or a
> train directly from Hendaye?  Finally, if we decide to start in St. Jean, do
> you think that 35 days (with a day layover scheduled in Burgos and Leon)
> will be sufficient time to complete the Camino? Thanks for hearing my
> questions.
>
> Best,  Randy Olson
>
> P.S. To Dale from Seattle.  Perhaps we'll cross paths along the way.