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<p>Jennifer Schwartz wrote:
<blockquote TYPE=CITE>Hello all,
<p>I am a new subscriber, my name is Jennifer Schwartz. I am from Hawaii
but am
<br>now living in Bordeaux, France. I walked most of the Camino in the
beginning
<br>of May 2002 with a friend from Texas. We started on May 1st in
<br>St-jean-pied-de-port and went to Pamplona.( I highly advise against
this as
<br>May 1st was the starting date of about 300 other pilgrims, we couldn't
find
<br>refugio space for the first few days) Then, due to time constraints,
bussed
<br>it and trained it to Astorga where we continued to the end, finishing
at
<br>Santiago on May 14th.
<p>I would love to share any of my "expertise" from my personal experiences
<br>with anyone planning on starting the trip.
<p>Also, I am looking to get back in contact with a few people I met,
<br>particularly Pepe (and his little dog) from So. Cali, and the couple
from
<br>India.</blockquote>
Funny, I walked from St John Pied de Porte on the first of May, I <u>never</u>
had a problem finding "room at the inn". In Roncesvalles as well as the
refugio there is a youth hostel and two small hotels.
<br>If you don't try to make the journey over the pass in one day but rather
break it up with a stop at one of the gîtes located around Untto
it would be possible to go on past Roncesvalles and stay at Burguete. The
place where accomodation in the refugios was "tightest" was Pamplona and
there is no trouble with hostals there in May.
<br>Camping gear is an unnecessary weight imho.
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