I did it 🙌🩷

Today was tough and a bit relentless at times - not tough like childbirth. A huge mental and physical challenge for me nonetheless
6am start, another shit nights sleep and I couldn’t find my glasses so I started the day a bit frazzled.
We walked out together, the sunrise was magical and clear blue skies, considering it was snowing 10 days ago we were lucky, some days there is zero visibility and you miss all of the scenery.
I saw a Donkey early in the show, how can you not smile at an Ass?
The walk from St Jean to Orisson was really hard and around 8km straight up
At this point I questioned whether I could do almost 30km. We stopped there for an OJ and one of my walking friends Anna shared a slice of Basque Cake with me. We chatted with Jerry from Edinburgh, he was walking his third Camino. His wife loved the concept of the Camino but held no desire to walk it.
The views were beyond spectacular and we aced a beautiful clear day, we did have to deal with wind, it almost blew me over a couple of times and I’m not exaggerating, it dried the sweat though and on a pretty hot day it probably did us a favour really.
A little roadside stop sold boiled eggs and electrolyte drinks, I think I paid 4 euro for an egg and a drink, he has a sign that said 1 more Km uphill, 5km flat and then a 5km descent - he lied, there were lots more uphills
I also got my first Camino stamp here,
as part of the Camino you get a Pilgrims Passport and a Scallop shell to hang from your backpack - the shell has been blessed. Each day you are required to get two stamps to prove you have walked the distance and not just rocked up at the end for the glory
As we walked on there were some challenging times but I felt like once I got back on the flat I recovered quite well.
The highlight of my day was the horses along the way, beautiful horses and foals with cow bells around their necks, the sound was pretty enchanting high up in the Pyrenees.
We crossed into Spain not long after lunch and it’s very unremarkable considering you are entering a new country, basically a cattle grid.
I asked a fellow walker if it was the border and he wasn’t happy for some reason and Maurie (another one of my walking buddies) got a fair serve in French, we just nodded and smiled and this made him angrier! I thought people walking the Camino were meant to be happy!
The descent into Roncesvalles was pretty relentless, felt like forever but I have arrived, I’m exhausted but also really proud that I conquered the Pyrenees, it’s been on my mind for months and I did it.
Up to my room and opened my suitcase and my protein water powder has burst through my luggage, it’s a sticky powder so I will now in utter exhaustion deal with that shit before I head to dinner and then the Pilgrams Mass which sounds pretty special even to me as a non church goer
Buen Camino xxxRead more