[Gocamino] Where to begin

[Donald Schell]

Jim,

When I walked with my daughter in 1998 we walked the same route 300 
mile route with the same break in the middle.  (Maria had just 
graduated from college and because of her junior year abroad in Cordoba 
and all she'd heard about the Camino, announced she walking it Camino.  
I asked if I could walk with her.  She said she'd wanted to ask me but 
was afraid I'd have to say  no.)  She got to Spain before me for a 
Spanish friend's wedding.  Because she'd also spent time in Barcelona 
and wanted me to see it, we met there and I had two nights in Barcelona 
and a whole day of sightseeing to get over jet lag.

Climbing all the stairs in Sagrada Familia was our last bit of training 
before the Camino.  We took a sleeper train from Barcelona to Bayonne.  
It was early July, so the train was packed with college students headed 
for Pamplona for the running of the bulls.  By the time we'd taken the 
local train to Saint Jean Pied de Port and got ourselves some some 
bread, fruit and nuts to carry, we didn't set out until 1:30.  And then 
we managed to get lost and then at the summit where the path and the 
road came together, didn't look at our map and took the longer way 
down.  So we didn't get in to Roncesvalles until 8 p.m.  We missed the 
pilgrim's mass but there was room for us in the Refugio.

We agreed that if either of us ever returned to begin at SJPP, we'd 
plan to get in the day before and spend the night there.  The medieval 
French town is pretty.  I'm with you a hundred percent though - an 
early morning beginning from SJPP, would be a better beginning than we 
made, but your brief uphill climb, a night's rest, and completing the 
climb fresh the next day sounds great.

love,
donald


On Mar 12, 2005, at 4:36 AM, jim allen wrote:

> Hola All;
> Agree wholeheartedly with Donald that, if possible, begin on the 
> French side of the Pyrennes.  We began in SJPP and walked to Huntto 
> the first day.  This meant we had some time in SJPP and could leave 
> later in the day for the less than two hour walk to Huntto.  On 
> hindsight, we felt it was the best decision we made on the trip.  We 
> got our introduction to walking steeply up hill but it was only for a 
> few miles.  The next day we finished up and over to Roncevalles(We did 
> it! Walked the Pyrennes!!).
> Due to our time constraints we selected 300 miles of the trek, SJPP to 
> Logrono, bus to Leon, walk to Santiago.
>
> Jim Allen, Seminole, FlNo virus found in this outgoing message.
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