From Lisbon to St.-Jean-Pied-de-Port

The early bird gets the worm, or, in this case, the early pilgrim gets the cheapest flights! And as any Portuguese would say, cheaper is always better (we're in a crisis, after all!). So here's how we'll get there:

- First we fly by Easyjet from Lisbon to Bordeaux. These tickets are really cheap, specially when bought in advance: we paid €16,84 for each ticket and an extra €15 for luggage, as we'll check-in our walking poles; they wouldn't fit in our packs and we don't want any trouble with security at the airport.

- We arrive in Bordeaux at 14:20. Then we'll take the train leaving Bordeaux after 18:00, switch trains in Bayonne and then a quick trip until St.-Jean! With youth card discounts, these tickets will cost us a little over 50€ for the both of us.

One concern we had is that we'll arrive in St. Jean after 22:00 and we were not sure if it would be possible to get a credencial (the pilgrim passport) and a place at an albergue (without a credencial) at this late our. But we contacted Accueil Pelerin, the municipal albergue that gives out the credenciales and we were told that they always wait on the last train to make sure every pilgrim gets a place to spend their first night.

So, our plane tickets are already bought, but we'll have to wait and buy the train tickets at the train station, as we don't own any credit card required to buy these tickets in advance through voyages-sncf.com. But in low season we don't expect it to be a problem!

First big purchase: new boots!

I confess that I'm a bit obsessed when it comes to buying new things: whatever technical equipment I intend to buy, whether we're talking about cameras, laptops or a birds guidebook (!), I spend days searching the web for the most efficient and high quality affordable item (this always seems to annoy Luís). Quality-price ratio is something I value very much, and that applies to everything, including hiking boots. And when you're planning on walking 800km in little over 30 days, you better get good footwear!

The thing is that when you want to buy a laptop, things are pretty simple: I look for the best specifications I can get within my price range and buy it wherever it's sold cheaper. If I need to order it from another country, that's fine (as long as it comes from within the European Union, as to avoid paying some unfortunate tax). The problem with boots: you have to fit them. You cannot buy boots without trying them, just because a lot of people share a good review. As they say, the best boot is the one that fits your foot, so it is very important to test them first.

So, here's my problem: in Portugal we don't have many specialized stores that sell hiking boots. We have Decathlon, that's a big sports store, with a great price range for many articles: you can buy boots from 20€ to 200€. But unfortunately, as this store covers so many sports (over 60) it doesn't offer many variety within each price (and quality) range. And other existing places selling outdoors equipment are very small, offering a very short variety of products (usually all high quality), and usually at very big prices! Either way, we didn't have many boots to try on.

We finally tried on the Lowa Renegade's. These boots felt very comfortable, both on my feet and on Luís'. We read some reviews about these boots saying that they lasted over a decade, and also some folks saying that they walked El Camino Francés in them without a single blister! So we were sold. And we bought them (first a pair for me, then we'll buy a pair for Luís)!

Next step: breaking them in.

From St Jean-Pied-de-Port to Roncesvalles in February?

When we realized that there was a possibility to walk El camino in February/March 2014 we first got very excited! But when the first rush of emotion wore off, I started thinking in a more practical way: would it be bearable (or even possible!) to walk the route between St. Jean-Pied-de-Port and Roncesvalles in this time of the year?

As this would be the big deciding factor, I immediately started searching for some answers on this matter. Every website stated that the best time of the year to do the pilgrimage would be on late spring or autumn, some of them referred March or April as the earlier advisable months to start. Nothing said about February!

Next I sent an e-mail to the Albergue in Roncesvalles asking if it was possible to cross the mountains on this time of the year. They told me that probably we wouldn't be able to cross through the peaks due to snow, but that there is a detour through Valcarlos that may be used is such case.

Lastly I turned to the forums and got convinced. This forum was one of the most helpful, and every time I browse around I found a little bit of useful information. Here I found lots of statements of people who walked El camino in winter time (January, February and March) and also some helpful tips on the matter.

So that's it then, it's possible to do it in any time of the year. But of course, winter carries a handful of difficulties inherent to the season. The cold doesn't really scare us, but we have to bear in mind the possibility of storms and snow, doing a lot of walking in the rain and having to carry some extra weight to face all of these.

 But doubts put aside, let's start planning!

Introduction

Hi there!

So this is where everything begins! Most say El Camino starts at your doorstep, but I think the journey begins with the planning. Buying equipment, arranging travels, preparing your body and mind. Every one of these steps gets you closer to your goals and, in this case, to Santiago de Compostela.

So from now on will start sharing our journey with whoever feels like reading this blog. If you want to know a little something about ourselves, read the section entitled "About this blog".

Buen camino!