Maxx Camino

Another walk in the woods, even nicer than yesterday - there wasn't quite as much concreted stone to walk on, but rather more bare earth,  which I prefer All in all, a very pleasant walk - until it wasn't. It was a bit of a shock to the system to hit big city Pamplona with a long walk along city streets It felt quite different being amongst hundreds of people out and about, none of whom were pilgrims It was a relief to hit the entrance to the old town with its HUGE walls However, I didn't expect the old town to be so big and so teaming with people, presumably both tourists and locals (with the occasional pilgrim thrown in for good measure) The place was buzzing, with hundreds of bars and cafes to cater for the hoards. And I see that I didn't even take any photos of the crowds - get me outta here! I think I added another couple of kilometers to the day's total by visiting ...

It was a much shorter day today, about 22 km, and mostly gentle ups and downs, more downs than ups; our group was in Zubiri ready for drinks and lunch at 11:30 am The morning officially started just before 6:00 am, with monasterial chants to gently wake everyone up, followed at 6:01 am by all the lights being turned on to violently wake everyone up. As it happens, I was already awake and up, so rather enjoyed the experience, but some others had contrasting opinions The Way today was mainly a walk in the woods, not as dense as NZ forest, and with occasional trips through small villages. The track was a little reminiscent of tracks in NZ, although no mud, and perhaps wider and better formed than we are used to. Mostly in the shade, which was appreciated! Again there were numerous 'iconic' scenes that I recognised from YouTube A sign warned of a steep downhill for the last few km before Zubiri, but it really wasn't to...

I know some readers will be eagerly looking forward to the details of my latest mishap, but there is nothing to report in that department - everything went well! Today was the first day of walking, and It was a serious walk. About 25km up and over the Pyrenees. My watch tells me it took just over 6 hours of walking time. Rest/drink breaks meant that after leaving my accommodation at 6:30am, I didn't arrive at the monastery at Roncesvalles (for dinner and bed) until 1:45pm The view while climbing was impressive, and matched the best of all those YouTube videos I'd watched over the last year. The fog persisted in the valleys until quite late, which enhanced not detracted from the scene A stop at Orisson for morning tea was a welcome break (and I also stopped at the food truck a bit further up, partly to get a break from the wind) The wind gradually ramped up over the morning. Initially it was very pleasant, just right for cooli...

SJPDP was exactly how it appears in all the YouTube videos. Everything feels quite familiar, or at least the main pilgrim's drag along Rue de la Citadel does As you might expect from the street name, there is a 'citadel' at the top, which is now a school I think, but it did have good views over the town My albergue is very close to the Pilgrims' Office, and is just lovely I'm joining some of the others for dinner here a bit later, and I think several (probably including me) are leaving early in the morning for the trek across to Roncesvalles - the real Camino begins... I now have a pilgrim's passport, which gets stamped at albergues, cafes, churches etc on the way.  I'm now a real pilgrim!

The overnight train from Paris to Bayonne was great, and I even got some sleep. Shame I didn't get off the train at Bayonne though. I was under the mistaken impression that Bayonne was the end of the line, but alas and alack it wasn't. So I had to jump off at the next stop, and buy a new ticket back to Bayonne. Doh! The train from Bayonne to St Jean Pied-de-Port was packed to the gunales with pilgrims, and it was fun swapping stories with people from all over the world. A surprising number of them have already completed a Camino, and were back for more

It's not quite so much fun traveling to the other side of the world without my favorite traveling partner, Sue. Apart from everything else, she probably would have solved my navigation problems at the airport in Paris. I got through arrivals security ok using the new automated passport controls. Then missed a turn and went through departures security (oops), and then got stuck - the automated passport machines refused my re-entry. So I had to go in another long queue to go through the manual border control. All's well that ends well, so I had a day wandering the Paris streets... ... and a lot of waiting around, before boarding the overnight train to Bayonne, with just a short train ride in the morning to St Jean Pied-de-Port

We had dodgy weather in Wellington for Monday morning's drive to the airport.  Dodgy as in torrential rain, flooding, road closures, Victoria Tunnel closed etc - thanks Sue for encouraging an early start So nice to have a clear sunny day in Auckland for the walk to the international terminal.  All good until it wasn't - a thunderstorm hit while waiting to board,  so they had to stop loading the luggage,  leading to a 20-30 min departure delay.  The storm didn't stop the loading of passengers, although we were met at the plane door by two cabin crew holding up food trays to keep the water pouring onto the boarding passengers.  One of them welcomed me, and I quote, with a "shower of blessings" We did arrive in Singapore pretty much on time. And here I sit in transit for 3 hours.  It's a long 32 hours Welly to Paris

Not long now before I put my pilgrim hat on and start walking. Overweight and under-trained, which is a bit of a worry as I shortly start an 800km walk along the Camino Frances from St Jean-Pied-de-Port in the south of France, over the Pyrenees, and across Spain to Santiago de Compostela.  If all goes well, I'll continue on to the end of the earth (a place called Finisterre, where the Romans thought the world ended) on the west coast of Spain - all up close to 900km Somewhat daunted by the prospect, not just by walking 25-30km day after day after day in the Spanish heat, but by the extended time away from family My flight leaves Wellington next Monday, 20 April