Stage 0 : getting to St Jean Pied de Port

Day started off with lots and lots of rain.  We drove over some beautiful mountain areas.  I always find tunnels cool and we went thru some real long ones.  Our destination was San Sabastian airport which is steps from the French border.  One note, I wouldn't do it this way again,  just a big pain it was. 

From the airport we walked about 2 km to the train station from there we took a local train to Hendaye.  Then in Hendaye we had to wait 3 hours for the next train.  I forgot that weekend times are different than during the week, so choices are limited.  When we got to Bayonne in France we had a 30 minute wait to catch the bus.  Aparently here is a train too but it doesn't always run.  Seems strange but so be it.  When the bus arrived it was a mad dash to find a spot for your luggage.  We lucked out got ours in and got seats.  Great bus ride up to Saint Jean, green mountain is with houses scattered along the way.  When we arrived at St Jean it started to por so out with all the rain gear to try and not be smoking wet after our first day.  Good news is everything seemed to have worked as advertised.  

We checked into our hotel.  Joe booked it cause he doesn't really want to stay in hostels.  Whats funny is, the apartment is nice but all the bed sheets came in a plastic bag and you had to make your own bed.  That's a first for me, this is going to be interesting.

After check-in we wandered around the town walls and got our pilgims passports.  We will have to get it stamped each day as we go.  Tomorrow a short walk 8km but its all uphill with a gain of 700m.  I'm not going to do the math but it should be a nice slow start.

Here are a few pictures from around St. Jean.

Day 4 - Grañón

So we made it to Granon.  This is were I had a great time as a kid and where my mom is from.  This is a view from the highest point in town.  Some day I will retire here at least for the summers.  Forget the winter, spring is even too cold for this desert dweller.  Here's a picture I one of it's few streets and the main camino entrance.

Granon has a pilgrims alberque.  This is where the walkers can stay.  The person that runs it is called a hospilero.  They have two here one of them is from Michigan.  Nice guy but sounds like long days.  Said they work 18 hour days.  He walked all the way to Rome.  It sounds amazing how easy it is to walk across Europe.  Guess maybe that's a motivation to stay in shape so when I retire I can walk around Europe.  Image that, walking for months with only a few outfits.  It really just doesn't seem possible but you really don't have to have so many cloths, as long as you do laundry everyday. Yah that just sounds crazy, but I guess ill see soon.

We saw this thing today in the square.  It gives a new name to mobile banking.  It has a teller and two ATMs inside.  They closed the local branch so now they provide mobile services.

We talked to a few pilgrims.  Guess they ran into some thunderstorms that involved a lot of hail.  Doesn't sound like things went very easy for them.  We also saw a bunch in mass.  They put on a half hour,  wish they would change Sunday to be so efficient,  mass each day.  The ones we saw looked very wary, some even hobbling.  But others looked fine, should take bets on what state we'll be I. When we get here.  One guy took 11 days others 9.

So how bout those sheep.  Never know what you run into walking around here.  Better watch where you step, it's fresh!

Day 1 - Argandoña

So walking doesn't start until next Sunday.  Until that point we can get over the jet lag and get situated.  Today we took the drive from Madrid to Vitoria.  Nice easy drive with a few bulls along the way.  Always an impressive site and wonder if there is a marketing case study.  I think at this time the brand is lost but my dad I know sure loves the brandy.

Not much else interesting today, went for a walk.  Get my practice in.  Not sure if other places in the US have as many hiking, biking, walking trails but here they have turned a lot of old train areas into trails. You can literally go just about anywhere on foot without much worry of cars.  This old train station was real neat looking and the walk was great. Of course we are freezing our arses off, it was in the low 50s today.  But luckily no rain and it isn't suppose to last.

One last picture for no reason other than it was cute.  Check out this kids area with homemade mushroom and snail.  Tomorrow off to find some local sims for our phones and hit a grocery store.

Day 0 - Spain 2014

So our 2014 adventure starts tomorrow.  I wanted to catalog the stuff i have gathered for this walk.  As much as for me to remember in the future as for others that may find it useful.  We fortunately have family to visit so can take normal cloths and a suitcase as well.  So we are kinda packing for two trips, this is just the walking stuff.  Here is also a map of the walk.  The second dot after Logrono is near where the rest of the family will stay while I finish.

First off the pack.  So i wanted to buy a smaller pack but after buying all the other stuff i decided to stick with the one i had.  This is an Osprey Talon 44.  Bigger than i think i need but it weighs so little not a big deal.  Our 11 year old son is taking the Osprey Talon 33, yellow to his dismay.  Now not depicted in the picture would be a pair of Teva sandals and Ahnu hiking boots.  I actually really love Merrell's but after attempting to break them in and them messing up my arch in a weird way i got the Ahnu's.  Now they are high hiking boots but they don't seem too weighty and I've used them hiking around town with no problem so we will see.  Quinn has Merrell's and Teva's as well.

So onto the picture.  So starting on the left side top.  I picked up a light ALPS Razor sleeping bag, it is basically a liner sleeping bag but we will be inside so don't think being cold will be an issue.  Below that is a down pillow.  Creature comforts.  Next a hat, went with a light cute had from Kuhl.  By the way REI now loves me.  Eagle creek purse / hip bag combo.  Back up top rain jacket, pants and cover for the backpack.  Next, gloves, hat, bandana, toiletries, green things a towel.  Third column: a Prana dress, three pairs of smart wool socks with 2 REI liners.  Forth column: long sleeve runners shirt and a long sleeve smart wool base layer (i refuse to be cold).  Below them two wicking Leota T-shirts by Merrell.  I bought one and tried it out at a service project pulling weeds.  In Arizona I must add, it really passed the test of keeping the sweat wicked away.  Same goes for the underwear in the last column.  Now of course i had to find a way to justify in my mind why i would pay so much for underwear.  But they are suppose to last we will see.  Anyway final column:  two convertible pants by Prana (love these have had the style for years), sports bras(One Nike, one Moving Comforts) and ExOfficio underwear.  Finally the book by John Brierley.  I'm going to take the big one but if weigh was an issue i think the skinny one would be fine.

So all this packs real small.  I bought some compression sacks to separate and add extra water proof.  At the moment the weather for June 1st the start of our walk is 60 degrees F with 90% chance of rain.   Let the fun begin.