The Roaming Rountrees

Day 2 – Sept 7, 2022 – Orisson to Roncesvalles 

We continued our climb over the Pyrenees today after yesterday’s short, but steep hike to Orisson. We woke up early knowing we were in for a long day and the weather could not have been better!  We had overcast skies that kept the hot sun off our necks and the temperature very cool as we climbed. 

We have a running joke when we hike peaks. It varies depending on our craving at the moment, but the gist is we wish there was a food truck at the top of whichever mountain we happen to be climbing serving cold beer and delicious tacos or pizza. We’ve never found this mythical truck, UNTIL TODAY!!  There was a nice man selling local sheep’s cheese from his farm as well as other hiker favorites like bananas and Aquarius, which is a European version of American Gatorade. Needless to say, we didn’t let this opportunity pass by without stopping!  A short while later we crossed the border into Spain which was fairly uneventful. We were hoping for a cool “¡Bienvenido a España!” sign to take picture with, but sadly there wasn’t one. 

We made our way down the mountain and stayed in the albergue in Roncesvalles. It was built in 1127 for pilgrims and today it is run by Dutch volunteers. It was a long walk today with both the remaining uphill climb to the peak followed by the long decent all the way to Roncesvalles. We were very happy with our decision to stop in Orisson yesterday even though it was a short day. Had we tried to go all the way to Roncesvalles in a single day right from the start, we may have hurt ourselves. 

Day 3  – Sept 8, 2022 – Roncesvalles to Zubiri 

After looking at the elevation map and hearing from several people the day’s walk was “relatively” flat, we decided to attempt the 21.5 km trek to a town called Zubiri in a single day. 21.5 km my ass!  The map creators are liars!  Not only was it nearly 24 km, but the hills were insanely steep and never-ending. We certainly bit off more than we could chew today and nearly choked on it.  Rex even commented at one point that these were most certainly kilometers of unusual size!  (That’s a Princess Bride movie reference in case you didn’t get it).  We walked in absolutely exhausted and skipped our usual regiment of showering and doing laundry. We just didn’t have it in us.

On a lighter note, something quite special occurred on the trail today. We witnessed what I am calling Camino Magic. See the video for more on this. We took a video so you can enjoy as well. 

The day is finally here!  We started our Camino today. The weather has been warm in Southwestern France lately, so everyone woke up before dawn to get a jump start to their destination before the heat of the day. After a carb-heavy breakfast of baguettes and croissants (very common in France) with 4 types of homemade jam from local fruit by our albergue host, Joe at Gitê Bidean, we started our journey. 

There are two possible stops for pilgrims leaving Saint-Jean-Pied-de-Port (SJPP) – Orisson, which is 8 km (5 miles) up the French Pyrenees; or Roncesvalles, which is 25 km (15.5 miles) and gets you over the mountain in a single day. Since we have not been able to do any hill training in flat Indiana, we chose self preservation and stayed in Orisson tonight. 

The Camino showed us no mercy, starting to climb immediately upon leaving our albergue.  For most of the day, we followed the one lane road giving way to cars coming down the mountain.  There were a lot of pilgrims on the trail and they spread out on both sides of the road. I wasn’t sure if we should be walking on the left side so we could see the cars coming at us like we do in the US, or on the right side as many others were doing. I thought “maybe these people on the right are French and know the local rules better than I do” so I moved over to the right side. Shortly after I did, a car came down the hill and “aggressively” waved us back over to the left side. Ok, I guess we walk on the left here too. Lesson learned. 

Holy crap, the hills were calf burners for sure!  We expected the first two days to be hard, but these hills were steep. So steep I had to break out the Apple Measure tool from my “sh*t I don’t use” folder on my phone because I remembered it has a level built into it. My handy new level told me our climb today ranged between pitches of 7 and 13 degrees. Think about that the next time you set the elevation on a treadmill!  Our day’s elevation gain was just under 2k feet. About 20 minutes into our day, we were very happy with our decision not to go all the way to Roncesvalles in a single day! 

The mountains are absolutely stunning and made the climb much more tolerable.  There were sheep and cows grazing in pastures set against green rolling hills around every corner. This was absolutely the French countryside I was hoping for. We took every opportunity we could to stop and take pictures (and if our legs got to rest while we did, then I guess that was ok too). 

After “only” about 3 hours of climbing, we rounded a corner and saw our spot for the night. Hallelujah!  We stayed at Refuge Orisson.

These past 6 days roaming before our Camino have been a whirlwind of long flights, train and bus rides, curvy roads, sightseeing, eating, and sleepless jet-lagged nights.  

Madrid was fantastic. We are planning to come back and stay several additional days here once the Camino is complete. Our hostel was in a great location, close to sites and quaint outdoor dining. We stumbled upon the Plaza Mayor, the Royal Palace, and Casa de Campo Park in the center of town. This large park is reminiscent of New York City’s Central Park with many locals taking leisurely strolls, rowboat rides and even family picnics.  As we made our way back to our hostel for dinner, we walked past a church just as a wedding was letting out and saw the guests throw confetti at the bride and groom.  

We had dinner at the hostel for the small price of 12€ per person.  This included a salad, fish with potatoes, and dessert. The best part, they served bottomless sangria or beer included in the price!  We will stay here again when we return to Madrid.  

We took a 4-hour train ride from Madrid to Pamplona to catch the only bus to Saint-Jean-Pied-de-Port (SJPP), France. Navigating the huge station was chaotic. We continue to work to overcome the language barrier and are very thankful for Google Translate. We really started to feel like Camino pilgrims once we boarded the bus from Pamplona to SJPP.  After everyone loaded their backpacks under the bus and took their seats, you could feel the excitement as all conversations were Camino related.  The ride itself showed us what we are in for as we went up and over the Pyrenees mountains to get to our destination.  We decided to spend an extra night in SJPP and check out the town before heading out for our Camino.  The view from high above the town at the citadel was incredible. The Basque traditions, music and culture is vibrant throughout SJPP. 

Tomorrow, we hit the trail.  Please send energy our way.  We are going to need it.

After a 4am wake up call for the first of our three-flight journey to Madrid, we arrived at the airport to check our packs and learned a very valuable lesson….

WHAT? You’ve got to be kidding!

We were told we wouldn’t be able to check our bag. As panic rose, I begged, “Isn’t there anything you can do?” to get our bag checked to Spain. She said no, and advised our options were to either fly without the bag (by storing it in our car (WTF?), find a way to carry it on, or rebook for a later flight. We quickly ripped open the duffel, threw it away, grabbed our packs and got our boarding pass. The good news is TSA allowed our hiking poles through (yippee) and we gate checked our packs and boarded the first flight of three today.

Lesson learned, to Rex’s disappointment, we will always arrive at the airport at least one hour early for a flight in the future. No more of this last-minute crap. Sorry honey!

We are in route with packs in tow, so it is turning out to be a great day. Look out Madrid, here we come!

With the final shakedown is complete and successful, we are ready for the journey to begin.

Only 6 more days!!!