El Camino de Santiago

From SJPP to Roncesvalle 08/02/2023
The day started with 5 hours of sleep. We had breakfast at the Belaire, then pickup our Compostela passport, and received our first stamp. We then proceed down hill to the El Peregrine Shop were I bought my hiking poles. We wished we could have spent another day at SJPP however, we have a tight schedule and we could use a couple of days for recovery if needed later on.

It was a beautiful sunny morning. We headed down the street through the port of of Notre Dame crossing the pinterest Nive river through la puerta de España. We the missed the first turn and walk about a kilometer before realizing no one was following us. We ask for directions using smoke signals and got a response back in French. Returned back to town and met the horrific hill the we have just laughed about. It was an attitude adjustment. And the fun began. I cannot even explain the views. We climb, climb and more climbing to the top of something the it is hard to explain however my 360 cámara captured some of those experiences and I will soon be publishing those videos.

The climb was hard, and long (6 hours) and steady. From time to times we had a flat to make us believed that were at the top, but to our disappointment, there was another mountain to climb. We finally reached the cross ( you will now when you get there if you ever try this). I had some beautiful 360 videos with the herd of sheep, the horses and cows and the vultures flying over us, where I told the bird that I was not dead yet.

The descend to Roncesvalles was good and manageabled until we reach the converging of Valcarlos route and the Napoleon’s route which we took. The Valcarlos route was the less challenging route but we didn’t come here for that but to conquer the Pyrenees. :0. At this point I had enough energy to role down the hill. We were in the middle of the clouds and the fog was very dense. We reach sharp left turn where the 2 caminos merged but by accident we took the turn they explicitly said not to take. It was the suicidal down hill 35-40 degrees 8 kilometers rocky down hill descend route where a few people has perished. Not even a kilometer down hill into it, my legs were shaking so hard I couldn’t stand any longer with my 18 pounds plus water weight on my back. We sat on a rock for 5 minutes to rest. I suggested to hide the bag and to come the next day for it. It was getting dark then my son Nick loaded my backpack on his back and his backpack in the front and carried them all the way down to Roncesvalles. I was done. He said we are 7 kilometers away, let’s finish this dad. We then passed the rocky section and continue through the dark forest. It was cold and it had began to rain. We drop packs and lay down to rest. Here comes the Hungarian and his 66 year old father and sat with us to rest. There wasn’t a wining medals at the end but a nice shower and a bed. We kept walking down hill for a few more kilometers until we reached Roncesvalles. I believed we were the last exhausted peregrinos for the night. In summary, this section of El Camino de Santiago is for the young and the young at heart that has trained and prepared for the brutal journey.Read more