First Day On The Camino

Tuesday, September 18, 2018

Today was the big day. The first, hardest and longest day on the Camino. I didn’t sleep well last night. I was anxious to get started and Abe snores like a lumberjack. Ear plugs diminished but did not completely protect me from the racket he was making all night long. He is going to be a big hit in the alburges. We, meaning Abe, St. Christopher and I, woke up at 6:00 AM and we were out the door at 7:00. The first stop was the Church of Notre Dame. St. Christopher recited his prayer from the prayer card my sister, California Karen, sent me. We then lit a candle and prayed for Anna and prayed that we would have a successful Camino.

After that we walked out the Western Gate of the Medieval City of St. Jean and took out first step on the Camino.

Mark at the Gate.

As we walked through the western outskirts of St. Jean I was struck by how many chickens were in people’s backyards. The crowing from the roosters was deafening. Now I know where they get all that chicken for the Pilgrim dinners.

We walked almost straight uphill for about 5 kilometers to the first little town of Hunto. I found a roadside vending machine and had a good American breakfast. A Coke and a couple of Twinkies.

The next stop, about three kilometers straight uphill from Hunto, was Orisson.

This is the last place to get food or use a restroom until Roncesvalles, at the end of the day. They don’t want you going on the side of the trail, but they expect you to walk for hours and hold it until you get to Roncesvalles at the end of a very long day. This makes no sense and it should come as no surprise that people on the section of the Way from Orisson to Roncesvalles use the side of the trail to take care of their business. For goodness sake, put a couple of Port – A – Potties on this section of the Camino.

Mark on the Camino in the Pyrenees.

Beautiful sunrise in the Pyrenees.

For most of the day we walked through pastures where cows, horses and sheep were grazing. As you can see, the cows and the horses had collars and big bells around their necks. These bells rang a deep bass note as the cows and horses moved their heads from side to side to nibble on the succulent green grass. The sheep had collars and small bells that made a high tinkling sound as they grazed. What a magical soundtrack for our first day on the Camino.

This purple flower is a Fall crocus. The hills were blanketed with these purple flowers and yellow and white miniature daisies. It was a stunning visual. The only thing missing was Julie Andrews dancing through the high mountain meadows singing: “The hills are alive with the sound of music!”

A wayside shrine to Mary. We stopped and said a prayer for Anna.

Mark at a wayside cross at a location on the trail called Cruciero. We stopped and said a prayer for Anna.

I had a few unfortunate incidents on the trail. First I sat on a cactus. It was a French stealth cactus. I looked before I sat but it was virtually invisible. It was a case of the French taking one more shot at me as I was walking out of their country. Good thing I have armor plated callouses on my backside from all those years of working for the Railroad.

It is also a good thing I didn’t sit on this French cow pie. Nothing stealth about this cow pie.

The second incident I will refer to as the Coke and cake incident. A roach coach was parked at a rest area mid way along the trail. The guy in charge of the roach coach was selling chocolate cake and cold cans of Coke. As you can imagine he was doing a brisk business. By the time I got to the rest area there were 20 pilgrims sitting at picnic tables feasting on cake and quenching their thirsts with ice cold Coke. The roach coach was leaving as I arrived. I evaluated the situation and ran after the roach coach in an attempt to get my cake and Coke. The driver of the roach coach waved me off, sped up and left me in his dust. I fell to my knees sobbing and screaming that life is not fair and that I just got screwed. Nobody offered to share their cake and Coke with me and I left the rest area hungry and thirsty. Abe said I made a fool of myself and embarrassed him. He wanted to walk ahead of me but he is tied to the backpack so he is going nowhere without me. I will eventually get over the Coke and cake incident but I still have a bitter taste in my mouth where the taste of chocolate cake should be.

It was a very hard day and I struggled into the hotel in Roncesvalles at about 6:00 PM. I took a quick shower, washed my clothes in the sink and went down to the 7:00 PM pilgrim dinner. Pilgrim dinners are available every night on the Camino. It was a group dinner where, in this case, about 75 people got together at big tables to talk and eat dinner. For seven bucks we had soup, pasta, bread, chicken, French fries, and a Drumstick ice cream bar for dessert, and water and wine. The food was only OK, but the price was right and I got to meet some people who had walked from St. Jean that day.

Tomorrow we walk 20 kilometers from Roncesvalles to Zubiri.

I hope everyone had a good Tuesday.

Goodnight from Roncesvalles, which is Spanish and means the valley of thorns. I don’t think this is a good name for the town if they want to attract tourists, but what do I know.