Early lessons

Arriving in SJPP we had notions of sailing into the municipal albergue (like my first time) and then tomorrow walking to Roncesvalles via the Napoleon route (unlike my first time, when it was closed due to snow).

We were the second from our train to get our credentials from the pilgrim office, and approaching the albergue at 3:45pm added our backpacks to the line waiting for 4pm check in - we were numbers 18 and 19.

As Branna as foreshadowed, nup. On Sundays the albergue randomly sleeps 15 rather than 34. Go bloody figure. There was dissention in the ranks when the very grumpy clerk started calling out names of people they seemed to be expecting, and plucking (french speaking, possibly coincidentally) people from the back to the front. A french speaking Korean bloke that was #13 and not getting a bed really went in to bat but she wasn't having a bar of it.

We ended up sorted (see next post) but it was a bit of a preview - in the two and a half year gap between caminos, the albergues seem to have started taking reservations. Fek! Looking ahead to Roncesvalles I was floored to discover that not only was the 183 bed municipal booked out, so were the other two places in town.

Getting to Roncesvalles is already a big day, especially in 29 degrees, so the idea of overshooting wasn't getting much love, and everything in between on the Napoleon route was booked too.

Another pivot then - we'll go via Valcarlos, and split one 30km day into a 12 and 18. We invested a bit of time in booking the next three nights (Valcarlos, Roncesvalles, Zubiri) and went for a wander. It'll settle.

- LexRead more