Still En route _ September 24 & On Our Way via the Napoleon Route September 25

Last night after we checked in at the hotel we did a walk about of the area.  The temp is a very pleasant 24 degrees.  We opted for room service for supper as we are totally spent, we ordered burgers and fries and of all things they were out of French fries!  How in the world can you be 'out' of French fries in France?? (Jk)  As a substitution we were offered a salad of arugula - delish!

Sid set the alarm on his phone for 4:15 as we have a 7am flight to Biarritz .  I awoke from a very deep sleep and checked my phone only to find the time displayed at 5:10.  Shoot!  I'm having a shower even if we are late - after the shower I woke Sid up to tell him that we slept in.  When he checked his phone the time was 1:10.  My phone is on vacation until I buy a SIM card in Spain  (b/c Spain & France SIM cards are not interchangeable) so the time on my phone did not automatically update. Jeepers!

We did fall back to sleep until 4:15....

We took the 5 am shuttle from our hotel back to CDG to find our way to Terminal 2d and an Easy Jet bound for a 90 minute flight to Biarritz. Not having to check baggage is a bonus we didn't think about. By no small miracle we had a scenic city bus tour which ended at the train station in Bayonne .  From there we boarded a train for 70 minutes to St Jean Pied de Port ( which isn't really a port but is in the foothills of the Pyrenees ). 

We checked into an auberge -L'Esprit du Chemin- run buy 3 Dutch expats.  ( 66 euros, includes supper, breakfast and next day lunch for both of us)

Our room  has 8 bunk beds and they are all full.  

Me and 7 men.  I can hardly sleep in my own bed in my own home with my own husband....not sure how this is going to work.  I may have under estimated my minimum non princess requirements.  We walked about the town - a home made dinner is served here at 7:45 for all 18 'pilgrims'. It is hot - plus 30.

I deliberated at great length about what combination of glasses and and cases would be the most functional.  Decided on perscription sunglasses and my regular reading glasses with a case that would hold both pair and clip on to the outside of my backpack .  Fairly clever I thought.  Well I left my sunglasses and the case in Doug's truck - at least that is where I hope they are.  So disappointing.  I did find another pair of sunnies today.....

Tomorrow morning we begin Our Way

On 'Our Way' September 25

Best. Sleep. Ever.  Sid bought me earplugs - never heard a thing and slept hard all night!  A miracle at every level.

So last night at dinner we had a Dutch vegetable soup, fresh bread, rice and chili with fruit in it, some other kind of fresh bread with cheese in it covered in sesame seeds, an apple custard dessert and unlimited red wine.  We met Frank from North Carolina, John from Ireland, who is doing the walk in memory of his youngest daughter, Rob who is from the UK but is now living in Basal Switzerland, Roger, Louis and Monique from France, Kay from Denmark who retired a day before she left to do the Camino, Dave from Holland, a newly retired army colonel 4 other Canadians - one whose caminio began 5000km and 80 lbs ago, one from Barrhead who knows people we know, 3 Germans of which 2 are engineers, and a fellow from Armenia who is biking the camino.  English was the most understood  language , only 2 folk could not understand English, the Armenian and one Frenchman . Mostly these people are our age (ish) well prolly half -some are older some are younger. 

This morning we had breakfast with the same group and headed out of St. Jean at 8 am. 

We are heading out on the Napoleon route- it is the most scenic but not always passable depending on the weather.  Most folks plan to do 25 km today - we decided to break this up into 2 days.

  It is the one of the toughest parts of the camino,we walked only 8 km today through the Pyrenese, but with elevation of 600 meters.

  If I had not prebooked this overnight stay in Orisson ( 68 Euros, supper, breakfast and next day lunch)

I am certain we too would have continued - the next stop is 17 km further with an additional 600 meters in elevation and a steep 400 meters decent  Today was a tough climb and we arrive at Orisson before lunch, I think our bodies will thank us!

There scenery was fantastic, and the sun is warm!

We spent afternoon overlooking the Pyrenees watching the afternoon unfold.  

Our (new) German friend who speaks only German said how lucky we were to speak English - you can pretty much make your way anywhere with English -not so much with only German .  There are quite a few Canadians here.  One fellow arrived wearing a Chairman Mao hat similar to the one Sid bought in China .  I said to him that my husband had a similar hat that he bought near Nan Chang.  He is from Nova Scotia and spent a year living in Nan Chang setting up a Nova Scotia curriculum (who knew), and subsequently inspecting progress.  He (Gilbert) is travelling with his wife Betty, niece Faith and her husband Lonnie hoping, along with the rest of us, to make it to Santiago.

Today we have a private room!!!!!  For supper we have soup, pork, beans and basque cake which is very delish.  

After supper  each country has to stand and sing a song representing their country.  Team Canuck sang Oh Canada (kind of lame). I thought  about The Good Old Hockey Game but the words fell out of my head.  Folks today are from Canada, USA, Austrailia, Brazil, Germany, Switzerland , the Netherlands, Austria, France and Great Britian.