A lifetime experience
Camino Day One
First day of hiking ended at the Orisson Refuge (hostile) 2,500 feet above St. Jean Pied de Port. Very steep incline for the entire 8 km – with few flat spots to catch your breath. The scenery, however, was as advertised -“absolutely stunning”. Relative short first leg,but a great way to start this journey.
CAMINO EVE! We are about an hour from St Jean Pied de Port and the start of our 500 mile pilgrimage. Biarritz is a beautiful city on the coast of France. The five of us have had two full days in France ahead of our walk. I think we are all more than ready! BUEN CAMINO.
Well friends, if you are reading this post you undoubtably know about our latest quest to fight old age – a 500 mile walk across northern Spain.
Besides Jim and I, the other fellow ‘pilgrims’ in our group are our good friends Steve and Vickie Mitchener, my incredible sister-in-law, Kathie Smith, and our lovely daughter, Alecia – who will be joining us in Leon, Spain for the last third of the Camino.
Our walk should take us approximately 36 days, and over the course of 500 miles we climb collectively over 45,000 feet in elevation. We take all clothes and equipment in our backpacks and will be sleeping in both public and private alburgues (hostels), as well as a few inns and small hotels.
We have all done a good bit of training – with and without backpacks – and at this point I think we are ready as we will ever be!
We will send you our next update on Good Friday, from St. Jean Pied de Port, France – as we start our first day hike – across the Pyrenees Mountains.
Buen Camino, amigos!