Day four

Today was very interesting. By very interesting I mean it was amazing, it was terrible, it was magical and it sucked. Literally all those things happened in the course of the last twelve hours.

We got up at 6 ish and started organizing our backpacks. Our host, Jean Francais, wanted us to arrive at breakfast at 7:15, which we felt was late considering we would have left at that time if we could. Regardless, we came to love him in our time there, so we accommodated his needs and figured we had a short but hard hike. 

We got to breakfast at 7:15 and we pushed to stand up and prepare to leave by 8:00. At that moment, while Jean Francais was out checking the pool, another American couple from Virginia walked in. Deb and I greeted them as we were putting on our shoes and getting our packs on. Well, long story short, we ended up sitting back down with a third cup of coffee and talking with the couple. They were delightful and we had no regrets about leaving at 9:30 because they shared so much great wisdom about their travels with us. 

Writing this in retrospect I just need to say how much every single person you encounter on on this journey is a freaking God given intervention, and it is important to just surrender to the universe.

After leaving at 9:30, we hoofed it through town and up the MOUNTAIN. The only thing I can say about this is that those beautiful pictures we posted from St. Jean Pied de Port of the mountain? Well, today we climbed that effing mountain!  The whole thing. (See pics.)

So, the weather forecast was for thunderstorms so I wore a short sleeved dry fit and took a long sleeved top and a rain jacket. When we left it was hot, humid and sunny and that continued LITERALLY until we got pretty far up the mountain. When we got up to about 1600’ the clouds were rolling in. 

I was hot, and it was sunny and hot and I was STRUGGLING. (Are you seeing the theme here: HOT. ) So much! I was feeling dizzy and woozy and like I might need to SIT DOWN! So, I did. I sat down and I slowed down and I did what I needed to do. I sent Deb ahead and figured I would power through at my own pace.

Thankfully, the air cooled down and I found the uphill trudge to be more tolerable. Without Deb waiting for me, it eased my urgency to hurry and I really began to enjoy the walk, challenging though it was. 

What frustrated me was that there were contradictory signs all over the place. We came across one that said “1 km to Orisson” which was welcome news. Then after quite a while there was another sign that said “2 km to Orisson!” I though I was going to lose my shit. This was constant uphill, so it was not EASY! The trail kept going and going and going, and at one point I thought I must have passed Orison. I figured there was nothing else to do but keep walking so that is what I did. There were others behind me and in front of me so I figured if I was lost, then we all were lost. 

Each time I scaled a peak I thought my destination was likely to be around the bend, and I would turn and see yet another long stretch to another peak. Here’s the deal though: it was SO BEAUTIFUL. One thing I’ve always said is that no matter how hard a hike is, if there is an amazing view I can power through because I want to see what comes next! 

I did reach Orisson at around lunch time. Deb was sitting at a table with an English mother and daughter so I joined them after a much needed trip to the bathroom. Then we got assigned our beds in a room with six bunks. We bunked with two German women, a lady from South Korea and a man who was either Canadian or American. 

After a shower, I headed down in search of food. I purchased a delicious piece of Baske quiche and a glass of dry white wine. Believe me when I tell you that it was like heaven. Deb came and we planned our next day as the clouds rolled in. We met a couple who were hiking with their almost 18 year old son. Their son, Sebastián, will be 18 when we are all in Pamplona. 

When the thunder storm came, we moved to an inside table and began our writing for the day. A while later, a woman and her daughter came along and joined us. They are from California. Their names are Kira and Debbie. Kira just turned 18 and Debbie is 45. We connected with them instantly and have barely left each other since, except there was no room for them in the albergue we slept in, so they had to hike BACK a mile to the last albergue to sleep. They stayed with us for dinner, though. 

Dinner: nothing short of awesome. Not the food. That was fine, but there were 48 people representing 15 countries! We all stood up and introduced ourselves. At dinner we sat with our new friends: the Canadian family of Kristie, Sergio and Sebastian, and the Californians Kira and Debbie. It was so much fun sharing dinner and conversation, especially after a long hard day of hiking. We all experienced the same day of heat and hills and hoofing it up into the sky. It was so great to bring our aching bodies together and break bread (quite literally, since we are still in France and there is plentiful bread everywhere, all the time!)

Here are some pics from today!

Morning coffee in a bowl at the beginning of day 5. 

Buen Camino!