Saint-Jean-Pied-de-Port

We arrived here yesterday afternoon and got settled in our Airbnb "Plan B" right on the main drag near the hiking store and the pilgrim's office.

We shopped for food supplies for our trek over the Pyrenees, while we washed our laundry in a machine located in the parking lot of the grocery store. We met up with our small group of fellow pilgrims that we will be walking with for the next 4 days, and then enjoyed tapas and sangria and dinner and a sunset walk up to the citadel, then back down to the river to have wine for a nightcap.

Saturday has been a day of preparation for our pilgrimage, starting at 10 am with trekking pole practice session with Nancy our guide until Pamplona. We had lunch at a creperie, and a last minute stop at the hiking store for a few supplies. Now it's time to pack it up, make a picnic for the road, get a hot shower, and a good night's rest before we hit the trail tomorrow. There will be a church service at the cathedral in the Basque language tomorrow for anyone who is so inclined, then we will meet up for pastries and cafe and start our journey up the mountain. I think the weather is supposed to be pretty warm tomorrow hopefully the rain will hold out for later.

St Jean is a quaint mountain village with steep cobblestone streets, wonderful pastries, cheeses, and tons of pilgrims walking everywhere from all over the world. This is the launch pad of the Camino Frances, although some people have been walking through France or other places to get to this point. The Pilgrims office had a line at it when we got here in the afternoon, but we waited until later and walked right in to get our credential which is our Pilgrim passport that we will get stamped each day along our journey.

All of the albuques, or Pilgrim hostels are full, and the restaurants and bars were also full. After dinner it was strangely quiet as Trina, Cheryl and I walked around town. We had all the streets to ourself. I guess the rest of the people were in bed early maybe because they were leaving this morning. That was not the case for us.

The sunset over the mountains was beautiful, it doesn't even get dark until after 9:30 here which is really nice to have the long days. The stars were amazing last night as well, I think the northern lights may be visible.

Ok time to switch our mindsets from vacation mode into Pilgrim mode and hoping for a Buen Camino. ↗️👣🤞Read more