Camino de Santiago update 2/16

[DisneyFreak06]

Hi everyone! I was asked to share some pictures from my pilgrimage/hike/walk/journey across northern Spain this summer. I wasn't sure where to post it as it wasn't Disney, so I decided this was the place. It is going to be kind of like a little TR I guess, except it was a month long trip.

I went with R. We had worked at the same school for a few months before she got transferred. She was planning to walk with someone else, but it fell through. I was planning to walk alone, but when I heard she wasn't going because her friend wasn't going, I invited her to come along. To be honest, I am very happy I did that. I got to know a wonderful, strong person, and I am really glad I wasn't alone at some points of the pilgrimage.

Have you ever seen the movie The Way with Martin Sheen? His character walked the Camino as it is familiarly called. I believe Shirley MacLaine wrote a book about it too. It's very popular, not only with Catholics, but people of all religions and no faith as well. (Mods, I will not be talking about the spiritual/religious side of my walk, mostly just the physical part along with sharing pictures of the locations. Oh and pictures of churches, is that ok?)

Our flight was leaving Charlottetown around 10ish. Keep that in mind!

We left PEI, flew to Montreal, then flew to Paris. We didn't really sleep on the plane, so we were exhausted waiting for the train at the airport. (Yes, that's correct!) I was falling asleep. Then we took the long train to Bordeaux, and I believe we both slept some there. I know I did, and I felt much better.The train to Bordeaux was clean, and really nice and comfortable. Well organized and we knew where to sit. I do speak French, so Ronalda liked relying on me, even though we didn't need to ask for much help, except to find the train station maybe. It was in the airport, so it wasn't hard. After a snack in Bordeaux, we got on another train (That was loud, dirty and disorganised, no one was there to help and the seat numbers were not clear) to Bayonne, and then we had to take a smaller train to St. Jean Pied de Port. This train was lovely and you just picked your own seats. We kept watching for people with backpacks wondering if they were part of our Facebook group or if they were pilgrims. We met some the first day that we saw a few more times along the way, and one in particular I am still in touch with on FB.

We took selfies (or twofies?) on at the airport in Charlottetown, and then we took a lot more through the trip.

I took a before picture, hoping that I'd lose a few pounds since I was walking 800 km in about 6 weeks.

P_20160701_071917 by disneyfreak0306, on Flickr

My cell phone (I noticed later) adds eye liner and smooths lines when you put it in selfie mode. I don't particularly like that, but it sure made us look nice. We did not really pack any make up!

P_20160701_082751_BF by disneyfreak0306, on Flickr

P_20160701_120130_BF by disneyfreak0306, on Flickr

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Our overnight plane:

P_20160701_123704_BF by disneyfreak0306, on Flickr

R is not a good flyer, she had to take Adavan because she is so nervous. The attendants noticed and they were very nice to her. I kept making jokes that all the men were flirting with her the whole way. Before we even took off, one noticed her and talked to her to calm her down. We were sitting near their little kitchen/galley thingy and we were in the front row of that section, so the flight attendants were sitting right in front of us, facing us. Once in the air, they jumped up and got us water right away. Well, her first. They kept checking on her and stuff like that, and even when we got off they gave us some chocolate. He was so awesome, and he asked when we were coming home to see if he'd be on the flight! He was on vacation, so that was a no. I wish I'd taken his picture, because it would be nice to remember him, he was that good. We actually did take many pictures with people that we met only once.

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I almost got off at that stop! Do you know what it is? I will tell you later...

P_20160702_075529_BF by disneyfreak0306, on Flickr

Being silly and trying to stay awake while waiting for our train. We booked the 10 ish train, but our flight had landed at 5am. We could have booked an earlier flight, but we didn't want to chance missing it, so we booked the later. Yeah, we had time to spare!

P_20160702_082312 by disneyfreak0306, on Flickr

There was a charging station, but you had to pedal to make it work. Fun!

In Bordeaux for a little bite to eat.

P_20160702_150220 by disneyfreak0306, on Flickr

P_20160702_150316 by disneyfreak0306, on Flickr



Here I am with the first of many baguette sandwiches. LOL

I tried to take a few pictures out of the train window, but it didn't work well, it was a speedy train.

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P_20160702_185948_HDR by disneyfreak0306, on Flickr

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I was basically at the base of the Pyrenees.

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Sad to say, but I have never really visited France. It's on my list, but I've never had the opportunity! I am a French teacher, so I was extremely excited to be there!

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How do you know where to go? You follow shells and yellow arrows! I was just a tad happy to see my first shell.

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I love the roads!

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When you register, you get what is called a pilgrim's passport. You get stamps everywhere you stay. Without the passport, you cannot stay in the special hostel type places. Somewhere between 6 and 15 euros a night for my bed. Not bad.

This lady is filling in my passport for me.

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Then we were off to find our bed. Thankfully, we were feeling like we had the energy to walk and find a bed. The little nap on the train to Bordeaux was very helpful!

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Another shell to follow for the next morning:

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We got a double room in here for our first night. No ensuite, but that's ok. Only the two of us for our first night.

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The view out our window.

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We went out for some food and then decided to hit the hay. We were exhausted, and we new the next morning we had to walk 8 km up a mountain. Not a little hill like we have here, but a mountain. In the Pyrenees. A real mountain!

 

[amcc]

What a fabulous trip! I hope to do at least a portion of it soon. Some of my kids were in Spain/France with my parents this summer and my dad took them to the town where it starts in France (St. Jean Pied de Port) and they walked maybe a kilometer, then they did a couple of other kilometers near a farm where they stayed. They knew very little about it before they went but it impressed quite a bit in their memories and gave them the feeling of being part of a long history of pilgrims. Congrats on doing it!

 

[vanillagirl]

I saw the movie The Way (loved it) and it was the first i ever heard of this.

If i ever get the courage i want to do this trip.

Thanks for sharing your experience. Looking forward to more.

 

[Pugsly]

I too loved the movie and can't wait to read more and see your
Pics. Hiking the Camino is on my bucket list!

As for the station 'Marne La Valle Chessy', yes I totally understand why you would want to hop off there!!!!!

 

[2forMe]

I too loved the movie and can't wait to read more and see your
Pics. Hiking the Camino is on my bucket list!

As for the station 'Marne La Valle Chessy', yes I totally understand why you would want to hop off there!!!!![/QUOTE]

 

[Mrs. Ciz]

Did you bring an olifant on your hike like in The Song of Roland? I can't wait to see all your pictures!!!

 

[DisneyFreak06]

What a fabulous trip! I hope to do at least a portion of it soon. Some of my kids were in Spain/France with my parents this summer and my dad took them to the town where it starts in France (St. Jean Pied de Port) and they walked maybe a kilometer, then they did a couple of other kilometers near a farm where they stayed. They knew very little about it before they went but it impressed quite a bit in their memories and gave them the feeling of being part of a long history of pilgrims. Congrats on doing it!

I walked a few kms when I was in Spain for World Youth Day in 2011, and I wanted to head back eventually, so I understand the feeling! Doing it in stages is great if you can, but when you travel from so far away, the flight is so much it is easier to just do it in one if you can.

I saw the movie The Way (loved it) and it was the first i ever heard of this.

If i ever get the courage i want to do this trip.

Thanks for sharing your experience. Looking forward to more.

That was a good movie. It is totally a daunting experience, but so peaceful and enjoyable while you do it! I keep saying I will do it again.

I too loved the movie and can't wait to read more and see your
Pics. Hiking the Camino is on my bucket list!

As for the station 'Marne La Valle Chessy', yes I totally understand why you would want to hop off there!!!!!

Hee hee! I know! It was so hard to stay on the train. Actually, knowing what was coming really helped, but at least I knew how to get there for my one day trip there!

Did you bring an olifant on your hike like in The Song of Roland? I can't wait to see all your pictures!!!

hahahaha! Nope!

 

[DisneyFreak06]

Marne La Vallee-Chessy is the stop for Disneyland Paris!!

 

[DisneyFreak06]

Most of my posts will be just sharing pictures, but if you have questions, please ask away!

On July 3rd, we only had 8km or so to walk... only the 8km was uphill... well, up a mountain. In the Pyrenees! It was very hard, mainly because I cannot prepare my body for the elevation. Going up was hard for a long time. Not on my body, but on my lungs. I would have to stop to catch my breath. I'm not overly fit, but I'm not overly unfit either. I was okay with walking flat stretches and downhill was easy peasy for me (not anyone else though) so it was odd.

I realised that my phone takes pretty decent pictures, so I was happy about that, so that occasionally I could share some pictures on facebook for my family and friends back home. I had been having charging issues with my Samsung S3, so I'd sent it off, but while it was gone, I bought an Asus Zenfone laser 2 and I loved the camera in it. Before the trip I'd also bought a Sony RX 100 mi, used, but from a reputable company. I couldn't take my DSLR and my four lenses, but I needed something with some manual controls for me.

We had breakfast before we started out, and then stopped at the church to start on a peaceful note, then headed out. We stopped for snacks and rests along the way. Tips for anyone considering this: Take breaks every couple of hours at least, and change your socks too! I started out in one pair socks that were lined, and my sneakers. I should have started with 2 pairs of socks, which is what I did later on. It was amazing how many people we met along the way. I loved speaking French with the locals. We stayed in Orisson, France, in the Pyrenees. We got a little room with 6 lovely bunk beds looking out into the mountains. The four ladies who shared the room with us (Just happened to be all women - most rooms were co-ed) were lovely and we became fast friends. I love them all dearly. Two were from the US, a mother/daughter pilgrim team and the other two were from the Faroe Islands. I had to ask where that was, it is between Iceland and Scotland. One day I'll go there!

Unfortunately, I never changed the time in my camera, so the order might be off, but I'm mostly sharing pictures to give you an idea of what the experience was, so it's not all that important!

from raw-00859 by disneyfreak0306, on Flickr

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Back when my pink sneakers were still bright and pink! Yes, I hiked in those. I have a horrible time finding shoes that fit me right, and I could never find hiking shoes/boots that worked with my feet. So I took those and a pair of sandals I'd bought in Orlando in 2015. I figured my pack was not much heavier than my camera bag, and I walk all over WDW with my camera bag! Hahaha

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This guy leaned out the window of our hostel to wish us a Buen Camino.

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We knew that there was nowhere to stop for food until we were 8 km, so we bought a baguette each. I figured this was the only way to fit mine in my pack... hahahaha

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I'm just noticing how clean all my clothing looks. LOL In case you were curious, I took a small backpack, because I wanted to go minimalist. I took two long sleeve merino wool shirts and one merino t-shirt. Two pairs of the same pants I bought at walmart. And that was it for my clothing, besides unmentionables! I would walk, shower, change into clean clothes and wash the clothes I wore that day. Sometimes it was in the sink, sometimes it was in a washer. I brought 5 pairs of socks, one zip up gym type sweater with no hood, and my rain/wind jacket. I brought my camera and my cell phone, a journal (that I barely used) and a daily mass reading book (that I barely used... oops!) I had some first aid type supplies too, but I was going to Spain, not the jungle or the desert, so I could buy whatever I needed there. We bought our poles the night we arrived.

from raw-00894 by disneyfreak0306, on Flickr

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Sometimes these were the types of things we needed to look for:

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Sometimes people would leave things that they didn`t want to carry anymore:

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I noticed that the new builds usually looked just like the traditional homes in the area.

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[DisneyFreak06]

So beautiful! We don`t have mountains here in PEI, so I was in awe!

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We were lucky it was such a beautiful day. The people that walked the next day couldn`t see anything because it was so foggy/misty.

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Every once in a while we'd look back to try to see how far we walked.

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Can you see the yellow arrow that tells us where to go?

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In the Pyrenees by disneyfreak0306, on Flickr

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You will often notice R walking ahead. I am a slow walker. We got really used to each other and she would often walk ahead, then wait for me to catch up. And those hiking poles... we hadn't trained much, but when we trained, we didn't have poles because we didn't want to check our bags, we only wanted to carry them on, and poles usually can't be carried on. We found it hard at first to walk with them, but once we got used to them, we loved them and we were so grateful for them!

from raw-00980 by disneyfreak0306, on Flickr

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Four of my favorite people!

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This is where we stayed:

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[DisneyFreak06]

These were all taken with the cell phone. It works quite well in daylight!

Cell 1 by disneyfreak0306, on Flickr

Cell 2 by disneyfreak0306, on Flickr

Cell 3 by disneyfreak0306, on Flickr

Cell 4 by disneyfreak0306, on Flickr

Cell 5 by disneyfreak0306, on Flickr

Cell 6 by disneyfreak0306, on Flickr

Cell 7 by disneyfreak0306, on Flickr

Cell 8 by disneyfreak0306, on Flickr

Cell 9 by disneyfreak0306, on Flickr

Cell 10 by disneyfreak0306, on Flickr

A touch of Disney...

Cell 11 by disneyfreak0306, on Flickr

Cell 12 by disneyfreak0306, on Flickr

Cell 13 by disneyfreak0306, on Flickr

That's it for the first day! It was unbelievable. I was in love with this journey already and I'd already made some very strong friendships, where we laughed and talked for hours!

 

[vanillagirl]

Beautiful I was looking forward to more.

So you did train for this? How?

Did you eventually get used to the altitude and have an easier time with your breathing? How long did that take?

Was alot of this journey up hill? Or mostly flat??

 

[Sabeking]

Wonderful so far! I look forward to seeing and hearing more!!!

 

[vicwishes]

I'm enjoying your amazing journey - thank you for sharing.

 

[BernardandMissBianca]

Joining you on your trip. We want to do this with the kids, just waiting for DD to be a little older.

 

[DisneyFreak06]

I really thought I had responded to this before! Sorry about that!

Beautiful I was looking forward to more.

So you did train for this? How?

Did you eventually get used to the altitude and have an easier time with your breathing? How long did that take?

Was alot of this journey up hill? Or mostly flat??

Well... I went for.... well... two or three little walks. Hahahaha... I didn't train much. I really don't think it counted as training, but I did maybe walk half a dozen times with my pack on my back. I don't think anything much I could have done here in PEI would have prepared me for the altitude. I did get somewhat used to the altitude, when we weren't so high up. But I did find going uphill bothered me more than anything else. It was very up and down. The first day was all up, then the second day up and then a lot of down. Some days were kind of flat. My friend had an app that showed hills and altitude level. That was fun. My app didn't, but I liked my app because it told us which towns had ATMs, which is important!

Wonderful so far! I look forward to seeing and hearing more!!!

Thanks... I will get a little something posted now. I've been so crazy busy with the new grade at school.

I'm enjoying your amazing journey - thank you for sharing.

Thanks!

Joining you on your trip. We want to do this with the kids, just waiting for DD to be a little older.

It was incredible. I saw some families doing the walk... and I watched a youtube series of a couple walking IN WINTER with a 6 month old baby!

 

[DisneyFreak06]

July 4, 2016

I don't think I mentioned what happened. We got to our auberge (we were still in France) in a little place called Orisson. We were shown our room and given our shower tokens, so we showered, washed our clothing in the outdoor sinks, and hung them to dry. Our roomies were two lovely American women (I won't share them because I'm not sure if they would like that or not). They were a mother daughter duo, Mom was a nurse and daughter a doctor. Two incredible ladies, celebrating the daughter finishing up all her schooling and starting a new job. We met two other amazing women from the Faroe Islands (I had to look that up! They are between Scotland and Iceland, teeny place, sort of part of Denmark.) while we sat outside. They had booked their room, but were not allowed to get in because the restaurant part of the auberge was busy. I got in trouble because I invited them to sit in our room because they waited THREE hours outside with no shower, no way to wash their clothes etc. Eventually they let them have the extra beds in our room and the six of us became fast friends. I adore all of those women and they will forever have a place in my heart.

Breakfast was included in our stay, so we stayed for breakfast. It was toast, coffee and juice. That is basically breakfast on the Camino. Sometimes you'll find Tortillas (Spanish Omelette) or something else, like cake. I had toast and OJ for 99% of my bks. The two American ladies left ahead of the rest of us, but the rest of us walked together. I was the slow poke holding the others back. We walked up through the mountains, through sheep, horses, fields... beautiful! Then we walked down into Spain through the forest. Beautiful again! The others had a hard time going down, but it didn't bother me at all.

People who started out in St Jean Pied de Port passed us! How do they do that? Don't rush! Slow down. Often the people that pushed themselves the most are the ones who got hurt.

We stayed in Roncesvalles, Spain. It was a little Monastery, but it's basically the only place to stay and it is about 28km from SJPdP, so everyone stays there.

Camera pictures first:

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Everything looks so nice and new (my clothing and my pack I mean!)

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Thank you white van guy for being there to sell us things. I bought my first Aquarius from him. It's lemonade, but similar to Powerade/Gatorade in that it helps replace electrolytes and such.

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We had bought sandwiches at our auberge before leaving. Stopping for lunch, we took our shoes and socks off to air out our feet. We read that it helped prevent blisters.

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Sadly, we saw these quite often.

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We washed our clothes, and hung them out to dry, but before they were dry we were hit with a huge rain/thunder storm! Oops. We hung everything as best as we could around our bunk beds. We were so happy we were not climbing down the mountain when the rain hit. That would be treacherous. We hadn't heard of anyone getting hurt, but it is possible.

We'd wanted to take a tour of the Monastery, but by the time we got our clothes off the lines and inside, hung up, we'd missed the start. So we went to supper, and it was over too late for Mass, so I was disappointed in that too! Just means I need to go again, right? Kind of like WDW, I will go again to do the things I wanted to do ... hee hee hee

 

[DisneyFreak06]

And some from my cell phone.

P_20160704_070216 by disneyfreak0306, on Flickr

P_20160704_070225 by disneyfreak0306, on Flickr

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Our lovely friends from the Faroe Islands. One day I will visit them!

P_20160704_122715_BF by disneyfreak0306, on Flickr

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We were so glad we were not climbing down the mountain at this point in the day!

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[ols386]

Wow, this has to be a wonderful trip for you! Love the photos.

 

[DisneyFreak06]

Wow, this has to be a wonderful trip for you! Love the photos.

It was incredible. I still cannot believe that I did that. And I want to go back and do it all again! After I go visit some friends I met on this one.