A day in Saint-Jean-Pied-de-Port

Picked up my pilgrim’s passport / credential yesterday. It’s stamped at the start of the camino at the pilgrims information centre (and at the end too), and along the way at the albergues.

Recommended pack-to-body weights at the info centre.

Will weigh my pack before heading off tomorrow.

Prayer house and inclinations (wishes) ‘thing’ up the back of Beilari. Inclinations are written on small pieces of paper, put inside small plastic balls then added to the thing. There are lots of them in there so it’s obviously a popular activity. A bit like a wishing well.

More queues at the pilgrims centre. They coincide with the arrivals of trains from Biarritz / Bayonne so aren’t always there.

Plan to head off around 7:30 am tomorrow. Walk will either be around 8 km up to Orisson – if I can reserve a bed at the refuge there (will find out later this evening), else 26 or so mostly uphill km through to Roncesvalles. I’m okay if it’s the latter as the forecast is good, the days are long and I’m in reasonable walking shape.

Stocking up on carbohydrates.

Grimbergen. Blonde. Quite partial to them.

It was a communal dinner last night at Beilari. And really enjoyable. Josef the host facilitated introductions – essentially over the course of a few games (and a glass of passable port) each of the 21 or so peregrinos there introduced themselves and explained why they were doing the camino. Quite moving to hear the various motivations. Dinner was pretty good – bean soup, salad and a sort of vegetable slice thing, and rice pudding for dessert.

Everyone moved on today except me (many / most limited on time available to do the walk), so there’ll be a new group of peregrinos to meet tonight. I’m looking forward to that. Also looking forward to tonight’s meal, but hope there are a few more carbs in it than there were last night (having a beer now can thus be considered prudent risk management).

Not sure whether there’ll be wifi wherever I am tomorrow night so maybe no post. Will have the SPOT running through the day so you’ll be able to track my (slow) progress (link at top right of blog).

So tomorrow is the start of my camino, my pilgrimage if you will.

Pilgrimage teaches you to keep going – forward. It teaches that your only obligation is to this moment, right here beneath your feet; there is no ‘there’. Santiago de Compostela might be your destination, but it is irrelevant if you do not take the next step.