oops, the Pyrenees

[lin galea]

Dear All,
SJPP to Roncesvalles was my first day out and alone for the first third.
Although not jet lagged, I was 53, unfit and overweigh, and  my pack was
full of some ridiculously unessential items - some carried for sentimental
reasons and some for lack of experience.  Anyway, I lived to tell about it.
It took me 9 hours.  Uphill was particularly gruelling - I thought it would
never end.  I tried walking backwards, etc., and it just kept going up and
up.  There's no switch back to ease the steep, and at that time there was no
hostel midway.  Fortunately, just as I was begining to feel discouraged and
a bit frightened, I met Javier, a solid young Spanish man walking to
Roncesvalles to work there as a volunteer.  Apparently he had done this
several times and knew the way well. It felt like I had been sent a guardian
angel to help me along the way.  He knew how to pace the walk, where to find
water, when to eat, when to rest - without him I might have just rolled back
down to SJPP.  I'll always be grateful for his kind, quiet intervention.
It's rather strange, recently I met another pilgrim who, in another year,
had difficulty crossing the Pyrenees and he too met Javier - and had the
same guardian angel experience.
Are there any others?

lin galea
san francisco


>From: pieter pannevis <p.pannevisaCHELLO.NL>
>Reply-To: Road to Santiago Pilgrimage <GOCAMINOaPETE.URI.EDU>
>To: GOCAMINOaPETE.URI.EDU
>Subject: oops, the Pyrenees
>Date: Fri, 5 Apr 2002 20:21:46 +0200
>
>Dear Robert, dear all,
>I do wish for every pilgrim to have her/his go  at the Pyrenees !!
>I quit agree that I had a three month daily training on the subject of
>walking I hate!
>
>I did confess that I was scared too, however I do think that the “problem”
>of the Pyrenees doesn’t lie in the crossing itself, but in the aftermath.
>Anyone with a reasonable condition can do the “route Napoleon” I’d like to
>restate>
>However….
>First, most pilgrims who do cross, jumped out of plane and taxied or bussed
>to St jean and went ahead. Not a perfect form to be in!
>Secondly which is a stronger point IMHO it’s not the Pyrenees that”kills”
>you. It’s the repetition of stages of the Camino that follows which will be
>harassing you.
>
>You could easily settle after this “walk’ and be quit comfortable, only you
>and St James, demand that you go to Fisterra (to the end). Then there is no
>time for recuperation and as most pilgrims also harassed by a very narrow
>event calendar, they over stress them selves and…the body reacts in a quit
>natural manner!
>
>So my advice will still be. Take your time. Just have a nice walk in the
>hills there (France is worse) and slow down till say Pamplona (treat
>yourself for a few days there) and then go one, just listening to the signs
>of your body and – as Robert, my learned friend, who meet soon again-
>points
>out quit rightly, build up your stamina. Do not
>Overdo it, or try to do it like other pilgrims!
>Please remember: it’s your Camino! Your very own.
>And…you’ll be proud to have started your Camino in St.Jean
>
>With all respect for future pilgrims
>
>as always
>Ultreaya and Good Health to you !
>Pieter and Trigo from Holland
>mailto:p.pannevisachello.nl <mailto:p.pannevisachello.nl>


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