Day 1 -St Jean to Roncevalles

We got started at 7am , as the first part of the walk was thru the city of St Jean. The first stop for the day would be Orisson which is about 5 miles. While you are going up the mountain at the end of the first 3 miles I said to myself, this isn’t so bad , I can do this….. Well the next 2 miles is what people must be talking about:…Straight up for the next 2 miles , asphalt for the most part with a little of gravel path toward the end. It was a bit tough but in a good way. It’s your first day so the adrenaline certainly helps! At the 5 mile mark is a great hostel that has a restaurant that serves food and drink to all…Very timely! Many stay there for their day 1 end point but we were headed to Roncevalles a mere 10 more miles. At Orisson we were at 2700 feet so half the elevation was complete. With 10 miles for the second half, so must be less strenuous …. Wrong:) It’s all about when the elevation is on those next 10! All kidding aside the walk was challenging but not a killer. You will see many overlook pics primarily because I kept saying we must be at the top take a picture…well we weren’t at the top…. It just kept going! Then we did finally hit the top and started coming down. That’s when I confirmed that I really like going up better!
Many gorgeous views along the way. The Pyrenees have a great mix of field and forest. Forest is mostly beech trees that are very cool to look at. Many goats, sheep , cattle and horses grazing the fields on the mountain. The horses had cow bells on their necks… first time I have seen a horse bell .
About 5 or 6 miles into this section was another timely placed food truck that sure came in handy.
We arrived at our end point in about 7.5 hours. Little over 16 miles traveled and according to my Fitbit 41,000 steps. Our hotel is right next to the towns church and had just started their daily pilgrim mass. Beautiful church packed with pilgrims!
Tomorrow will be another 17 mile day but we came out of day 1 pretty good with no major pains just some minor aches. All in all great day. Lots of great thoughts and conversations along the way. Met folks from UK, Australia, France , Spain and South Korea . Only 1 from the US. She lives in Oregon.Read more