Day 1-St Jean Pied de Port to Orisson 8k

I am in Orisson now and what a day it was! It was tough!

We had to leave our albergue by 8am. It was raining last night and a little this morning. The forecast was for rain, but I decided to not put on my raincoat as it was warm enough and better to get a little wet then sweat inside the rain jacket. After taking pictures at the starting bridge, I was off.

The scenery did not disappoint. It was absolutely breathtaking even though it was cloudy and misty sometimes. It just made everything all the more green. I took over 125 pictures and videos, and it will be really hard to narrow them down to a 2 minute video and 20 photos but I will try.

It was a really tough climb. It was 8 km and a 700m increase in elevation. It was quite steep. I kept saying over and over to myself, how did I do 25km in one day last time. I am barely going to make the 8km. This is how: 1) I was 14 years younger, 2) I weighed 20 pounds less and was much more regularly active and 3) I was trying to impress this amazing man with me which I was in love with!

Tomorrow’s climb is another 700m rise but that is over 12km so not as steep. But, it has the added challenge of going down for 5km before I get to my bed.

I was taking the walk very slow today. I started to have thoughts about Jörg at times. Some were wonderful memories but at the same time I had the one thought that plagues my mind consistently and that is that he should be here. But today the thoughts went further. I thought, “He could be here DAMN IT.”

This may be hard to hear for some about the details of Jörg’s cancer diagnosis so skip this paragraph if you don’t want to read it. Jörg and I never talked about his cancer diagnosis very often (his choice) but we both understood that he left it too long to get tested. He told me a couple times to make sure I get myself checked regularly for breast cancer with a specific sadness in his tone. As you know, Jörg was a very fit athletic man whose resting heart rate was in the 40s. He started to have problems urinating but kept buying over the counter herbal stuff to help. It would help for a bit but then stop working. I finally convinced him to go to the doctor but he was only going as he had a mole he wanted removed and would tell the doctor this problem as well. He hadn’t been to the doctor in at least 6 years before that. Joerg’s PSA was over 100 when he was tested and was diagnosed with stage 4 prostate cancer, already spread to his bones all over his body. Prostate cancer is one of these cancers that usually men can live with if caught early, in fact, many are cured. Jörg’s father and grandfather both had it and lived to 80. To test for it is a simple PSA blood test. The reason I am telling these details is so that if you are a man, or if there is a man in your life you love with all your heart, please please please make sure he gets tested regularly! We may never know if Jörg could have lived to 80 like he hoped as his cancer was a very aggressive form, but I believe getting tested earlier would have given us a fighting chance. I must clarify something very important though, I in no way blame Jörg for this outcome. He sincerely believed that he didn’t need to worry about his prostate until later and did not have any concerns. No one is to blame.

Once I checked in, I showered and had lunch. I then read my guide about today and tomorrow’s walk.

We had a community dinner again where we had to stand up and introduce ourselves and this time I kept it brief said I was doing the Camino in the memory of my husband. A lot more strangers in the room so didn’t want to share. I feel like I can’t tell a different reason as I would be lying but I also don’t want to draw attention to myself for this reason.

Well, off to bed early again. 8:30pm and in bed.

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