Day 1: St.-Jean-Pied-de-Port - Roncesvalles

In the morning we were woken by a French old woman at 6:59. We had breakfast waiting for us: homemade hot chocolate, sliced bread, butter and jelly. At the table we met the pilgrim who we shared the albergue with that night: his name is Bernhard, he's an Albanian living in Germany. He has left his home two and a half months ago and has been walking towards Santiago since then. If that wasn't already honorable, he's doing it without any money, cellphone or watch. But he isn't doing it alone; he walks alongside God and Jesus Christ (his words), trusting that They'll provide all his needs. I must say, sharing breakfast with this man was a very humbling experience. There we were, wearing all this high tech equipment, talking to a guy who wore jeans and a collared shirt, walking the Camino believing on the good faith of others, sharing the same destination.


We parted when we started walking, as he walked fairly slower than us. But we met now and then on the way to Roncesvalles, since we frequently stopped to eat something, take photos or just enjoy the view.

Oh God, the view.. It rained all the way almost until Roscenvalles, but we still enjoyed the green fields, the snowy white hilltops and the energy that we could feel all around us.


But then it happened. On the final ascent to our destination it began to snow. As we went up, the ground became covered, then it started to accumulate. It was something we had never experienced before, both walking on snow and seeing so much of it falling from the sky. Soon all the trees were covered in it, the most beautiful view I've ever seen. We ate some, we draw on it, we felt like little children do on Christmas morning. I could never have imagined a better way to start our journey.



We arrived at Roncesvalles at 14:20 and had to wait until 15:30 for someone to open the Pilgrim's Office that supposedly opened at 16:00. With wet clothes on and losing heat fast, that waiting was turning into hypothermia! But then a hot shower came for our rescue and we were safe and warm again! By night time the priest offered all the pilgrims (we and Bernhard plus 4 Spaniards) a tour through the insides of Roncesvalles. We saw the museum and the church from inside and out. It was a great tour! I could keep on talking about it, but I said enough already. Awesome day.. and an experience we won't ever forget.

Saint-Jean-Pied-de-Port

After a very long day, we have finally arrived at Saint-Jean-Pied-de-Port! We arrived at Bordeaux's airport just in time to get the 4 o'clock jetbus that took us right to Gare Saint Jean. That have us plenty of time to look for the ticket office, buy the train tickets and get some food for a snack/dinner. But just when everything seemed to be going perfectly, here comes a curve ball: our train tickets were supposed to cost us ~40€ total, but for some reason ( we didn't get why, got missed in translation) we didn't get the youth card discount. That means we paid 80 plus euros for the tickets.. double the price of our flight! Oh well.. At least we got to ride a TGV. Not that we could enjoy the ride all that much, being already dark outside.


On our arrival at Accueil Pèlerin we were greeted by a couple of lovely women that readily took the packs of our shoulders and offered us a cup of coffee/tea. The albergue was great, very clean and organized, with a pillow and a soft blanket on each bed. There was only one pilgrim staying there with us, but he was already sleeping when we arrived. The heating was so high that we ditched the sleeping bag and went only with the blanket. We each paid 2€ for the credencial + 8€ for a bed, breakfast included. It was a bit stressful and very tiresome day trying to get here, now it's time to start enjoying the moment :)

Departure

At this moment we're waiting for the opening of our boarding gate at Lisbon's airport. This is it, no turning back now!

Almost there!

Only one week to go! We leave to Bordeaux on January 26th and we're highly excited about it. We have already bought every piece of equipment we need for our journey and packed our backpacks, both so that we won't forget anything and to make sure that they stay within the limits of Easyjet's cabin baggage measurements.

On our last practice walks we also carried our packs to get used to the weight. We also did some walks in the rain, to test the waterproofness of our equipment, which passed the test with flying colors by the way! A couple of days ago we also experienced walking in some mud (a lot of it, actually); it wasn't really that funny, but it's something we'll have to deal with on the way, so better get used to that yucky feeling sooner than later. Here's some proof:

Practicing, practicing, practicing

As days go by faster than we could have imagined, the practicing goes on! Yesterday we joined a group that organizes nice hikes on a weekly basis. Before even starting, we were warned that they had a very good pace and that this was not the right group for anyone who likes to stop frequently to take pictures or smell the flowers.. "It's OK if you wanna take a picture or a bathroom break, but you'll have to catch up"! Actually, this felt very right for us. And it was!

We walked 30km in something less than 7 hours, including one small break for snacks and a bit longer one for lunch. It was a first for us, walking with a crowd - there was about 30 people walking. No time to take of our socks and letting our feet breath, but actually things were just fine! I stuck to the finger taping and vaseline routine, and no blisters or hot-spots. And my little toes are fine!

I think another think that has done the trick regarding my feet is the new pair of socks that was wearing: Techwool by Quechua, with 60% merino wool. They felt extremely comfortable on my feet and cushioned my little toe very well all day long, so that didn't bother me at all. The boots have also done very well. We were walking on wet grass for most of the hike, as well as crossing some river streams, and our feet never got wet.

Let's hope things keep going well!

Following yellow arrows!

Last weekend we wanted to go on longer walk, and ended up doing part of first stage of the Camino Português that starts in Lisbon. It's a trail that we already knew well, with no elevations and barely no tarmac, mostly dirt roads. That means we we're actually following yellow arrows! So that was kind of a mental preparation for the real deal!

We're already walking towards Santiago! 

Detail of the above picture.

We walked about 25km. It was a good practice walk, I used walking poles and I prepared my feet as I'll do on the Camino: proper socks, taped toes and lots of vaseline. We made one stop halfway through to have a rest and I aired my feet, rubbed them and dried them out. Would have smeared vaseline again, if I had it with me at the time, but I forgot it at home. On the other hand, Luís prefers to do it as we have always done our walking: no breaks (not even to eat), not to much worries about his feet or anything else, really. But The Way won't be a ordinary walk, so he better get used to the pace!

Conclusions: I hated the socks we bought. Although I have bought the same size I usually buy, and the same brand, they are far too big on my feet and feel too stretchy. I felt that if I had walked an extra 5km I would have got blisters for sure. Therefore, note to myself: to buy new and different socks next time.

Overall we felt very tired at the end of the day, but the truth is that we walked at a very fast pace (we did it in about 4h30min, mean speed of 5.5km/h), but no major issues on the next day, although my feet felt kind of tender; I would like to try and walk slower next time, but I know this is the pace we're used to walk and I don't think we'll slow down until we have full packs on our backs. Next time maybe we'll tackle some nearby elevations to get our leg muscles into the equation.

One last thing: on our way back, we stopped at a little café we know. I left the walking poles outside, and after entering and ordering a bottle of cold water, the owners looked at our day packs and asked if we were walking to Santiago! We really feel like pilgrims now. :)

Oh no, feet problems!

As part of our training (well, we actually did this even before deciding to go and walk the camino) we've been doing regular walks of 8-11km during the week (about 2-3 per week), and some a bit longer on weekends (around 15km), and everything's been fine regarding my feet and the newly acquired boots.

The problem arrived a couple of weeks ago, when we decided to walk about 25km from Paço de Arcos (where we live) to Cascais and back. We weren't carrying any packs, but we walked mostly on hard surfaces (paved walkways). I started feeling some pressure on my little toe midway, but didn't pay much attention to it. I'm used to get calluses and even blisters on both my little toes, as they stuck out a little bit and almost every piece of footwear I wore so far have a pressure point at this particular spot.

But after having walked the 25km my pinkies really hurt! I got a bit scared at this point, but I thought that maybe it would be a matter of breaking in the boots and the problem would be resolved.

Well, the next day we started another 11km weakly walk and I couldn't manage to walk past 8km. My little toes were hurting like hell. It even hurt when slipping my feet under the bed covers. So it was time to look for a solution to this haunting problem.

Browsing through the forums I found that some people with sensitive little toes used medical tape (Mefix, Medipore) to tape the little toe to the one next to it, and it seemed like a good idea. Also I decided to use leather conditioner on my boots to get them a little softer, and then applied some pressure on the spot that hurt me from the inside of the boot with an bottle of sun blocker (it was in this case the handiest thing to fit the purpose) and left it there for a couple of hours on each boot, while drying after conditioning/waxing.

For the time being, it seems to have worked! Last week we made a couple of 15km walks and everything went fine. By the way, Luís also bought his pair of Lowa's last weekend! So let's see how things go when we increase the distance.