Camino de Santiago - Day One: St. Jean Pied de Port to Roncesvalles

Well today was a long, and tiring, and wet, and absolutely beautiful day! After arriving in St. Jean Pied de Port yesterday afternoon, I spent a relaxing evening strolling the city and talking to some of the fellow pilgrims. I would have to say the highlight of yesterday was walking into the pilgrim office, being handed my pilgrim passport, and receiving that first stamp! Wow! Unbelievable! The adrenaline rush was crazy and I was tempted to start walking that evening, but, I stayed put. In the hostel I met some wonderful people from all across the world. I am happy to say that Susan and her son Chris (from Alaska), and Elizabeth (from California) are my walking buddies :D We hit it off instantly and we all have so much in common. Elizabeth, dropped of university to take a break and travel the world; she started walking the camino in France! I have to say that it is nice to talk with some English speaking people and hold a conversation...I forgot how much I missed that. And we all decided that we would walk to Roncesvalles together he next day...and we did! But before the walk, I must talk about St. Jean. The city is absolutely beautiful and it is the epitome of a small French town. Even sitting around the communal table in my hostel, there are people from ALL over the world. Unlike in San Sebastian where my fellow roommates were just "backpackers", I already feel at home on the camino. The people are just so friendly, and even though we don't all speak the same language, it is fun trying to communicate wig everyone. And since we are all walking the camino (maybe for different reasons), we all have "the walk" in common. Now, on to the big day! Me, Susan, Chris, Elizabeth, and Gary (from Australia), and Tenneth (from Cape town) were all up for 5am. After a quick (which turned out to be a lot of talk afterwards) breakfast, we were on the road by 6:45. It was sprinkling when we started, but it wasn't too bad, so we continued our walk. The first part of the walk (just leaving St. Jean) was straight up hill. I thought I was going to die! But the worse was still to come. It got steeper, and steeper, and steeper; and then the paved road turned to muddy gravel, and soon enough, we were walking on the grassy floors of the Basque hills! The view was spectacual! Even though you couldn't see for miles (due to the fog and wha was now torrential downpour), I had an amazing view of the city and surrounding valleys and hills. So lush, so green; and even with the rain, this was probably the freshest spelling atmosphere I have been in in a long time. Throughout the day our group kind of broke off, but I stuck with Susan for the entire walk and we talked almost the entire time. What I find really neat about the camino is that you get to meet so many people from all over the world, even if it just for a few brief moments. And no matter what language we all speak, we can all share a "buen camino" with one another. As the day progressed,it became even more wet...and by the time I reached Roncesvalles, I was soaked to the bone! In total I walked 30km in 10 hours!!! AND IT WAS ALMOST ALL UPHILL!!! My body isn't that sore tonight, but I will definitely feel it tomorrow! Roncesvalles is a small city, not a lot to see, but it is pretty. And the sun finally came out around 6pm so it was a little bit warmer! Today's post will be a shorter one. I have yet another busy day tomorrow so I want to hit the hay. Thankfully tomorrow is only 20km (maybe more if I'm feeling up to it...probably not) and it is all downhill and flat, so that will be nice! 1 day down, 53 more to go! The hardest part is over, now let's just see if I can push myself through it all. I will start by forcing myself out of bed tomorrow morning ;) My next post should be in the next 3-4 days when I reach Pamplona (maybe sooner if I have internet. Bye for now! And I hope you are all enjoying your June!