Roncesvalle

Day 2; 17.3 km/10.75 mi

I felt at times as if I was floating rather than hiking and there was no weight to my pack…a beautiful day

Debbie felt it was very challenging and difficult…but she made it and thanked our Lord…

Attended a Spanish Mass at 2000 hrs at the Cathedral with a concert afterwards

Day 1; 7.8km…4.7mi…all uphill

We made it to Orisson in plenty of time for libations, a timed 5 minute shower, and sink washing our clothes…our first Pilgrim dinner was fabulous and we met many wonderful new friends! We found the new rhythm of music…snoring…in our 8 person room…Lol!

Ready, set, go…here are our evening pictures of beautiful St Jean de Port…

As it goes…expect the unexpected! Even with a 2 hour window we barely (5 minutes to spare ) made our train…our taxi began with mechanical problems 5 minutes after we started…he made it into Paris but had to hail another taxi to take us in! We transferred everything on the autobahn and then saw that we had another 45 minutes to go…after several ‘Hail Mary’s ‘, we just offered it up! We met Mark and Nettie from OH and Ryan from Taiwan on the train and stayed together thru Bayonne until we all settled in our respective albergues…saw a beautiful St Marie Cathedral in Bayonne!

St Jean de Port, France

After checking in to our hotel and freshening up, we decided to take the shuttle back to CDG to exchange $$ for euros… we quickly ran into a mass of humanity and lots of police…part of the airport was shut down due to unattended suspicious luggage…we’re stuck at the airport for a bit as we can’t return to the shuttle…and so begins our adventure!

Ready to begin our pilgrimage!

Welcome to our blog! We begin our grand adventure on 01 September 2019.

Debbie and I (Sharon) committed to walking the El Camino Pilgrimage together approximately 14 months ago. From June thru the first week in December 2018, we hiked 5 days a week always trying out new trails utilizing Rivers to Ridges and then the REI Hiking Project apps. Fellow hikers along our trails were helpful in guiding us to more strenuous hikes as we strengthened in endurance. After the first month or so, we started purchasing our gear and began hiking with our boots and backpacks on and using our trekking poles. During the winter months we trained at our respective gyms. We resumed our hiking again in April. Here are a few photos from our hiking.

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Although many who have preceded us on the pilgrimage have assured us that no amount of training will fully prepare us, we feel confident that through the Grace of God, we will successfully complete our 500 + mile walk! After all, it is a spiritual journey and we have immense faith that we will not be walking alone. So many of our family and friends are praying for us. Likewise, we will be praying our rosary daily for all our family and friends. We hope you enjoy living vicariously through us with this blog!

Buen Camino