Megan and Shaun got up and left in time to catch the 7:45 train. They were kind enough to turn on the hot water heater on the way out so we could have hot showers when we got up.
I was right on my projection of when we would leave today. We made it to the train station by 9:30 to buy our tickets to St Jean Pied de Port. With a little help from a sales manager, we bought our tickets from an automated machine. When we got done, she showed us the button in the lower left corner which would turn all the displays to English.
We had over an hour until we had to start getting nervous about making the train so we decided to go get some breakfast. Not speaking French is going to be a bit more of a problem than I thought. Almost all of the French people we have run into speak a little English but are not confident in their ability so they defer–it is not rudeness. More of fear of making a mistake. We were able to successfully order 3 expressos and 3 chocolate filled pastries. While we were eating, a woman came and asked in French to sit at the table next to us. I thought she was French but she turned out to be another Aussie. Veronic is also from Melbourne.
We shared the train ride with Veronic but we didn’t do much talking because we were in awe of the scenery and I was still amazed that I was in France. It was an hour long train ride to St Jean.
As soon as we got in town a little after noon, we headed straight for the Pilgrims’ Office to get our credentials and to get advice on where to stay and store our extra gear. They were very efficient in getting us set up. They may have done this before–we hear that we are averaging 250 pilgrims starting every day right now (this is NOT the busy season).
We had time enough to grab a quick bite before we could check into the Auberge de Pelerin (a pilgrim’s hostel–10 Euros including breakfast). As soon as we checked in, we met another German hiker, Peter, who has been hiking all the way across France to get here.
After we tried unsuccessfully to exchange our money for Euros and dropped off our luggage, we went out for a few drinks with Peter. Peter is mostly camping along the way and occasionally staying inside when the weather is bad. He’s been on the trail for a little over 3 weeks so far. His parents hiked the Camino in 2008 & 2009 and told him he needs to get out and do it as well. He is contemplating a career change now so he’s found the time to be right.
Peter went to the grocery store to get some food for supper and we went to try to get some supper. We thought we’d keep it simple and order pizza. Fortunately, the restaurant had an English version of the menu so we were able to compare and learn a few words (which we promptly forgot after our 3rd beer).
Everything is in place for us to begin hiking tomorrow. Once we got back to the Municipal Hostel where we are staying, I headed up to the kitchen area to try to keep caught up with the blog (yay for me). Peter was up there and I was just too interested in seeing what he had been doing on the trail so far. We looked at pictures and talked for a couple of hours. We are going to try to keep in touch on the trail through FB. His plan is to hike the GR 10 back to the coast and then take the northern route across Spain where it is easier to camp. He’ll rejoin our trail about 60K from Santiago.
We have a breakfast included in the hostel that runs from 6-8a and then we have to be out by 9. If all goes well, we’ll be done hiking by noon. We are only planning on about 5-6 miles but it’s all uphill. It’s storming out as I’m writing this so I”m going to have a great night’s sleep–Pam won’t get a wink because of her fear of lightning. It will be an interesting day tomorrow.
Thank you for sharing details, story and photos. Keep on with the fun.