Today started with rain, which is a sentance to get used to, because looking at the 10 forecast, every day will be starting and finishing with rain. It would appear that ‘mainly on the plain’ thing is wildly underrepresenting matters. Despite Claude from the Pilgrim’s office’s assurances, I’m worried about the forecast for today.
While I’ve brought some foul weather gear with me, this is some heavy weather in deed. And I’ve never found a system that’s 100% against rain AND wind. I will say, my extremely handsome breakfast companion has me feeling better about everything though.
I’m stocked up on water and pocket the other half of my breakfast baguette and a pear for walking snacks, and out into the elements I head. It’s only drizzling as I walk thru SJPP, but as soon as I step into the outskirts, it starts pouring. I duck under the eves of someone’s garage and both remove a layer and add my rain poncho. I should have practiced more putting it on solo. I’m sure I was quite the amusing site, wrestling with it from the inside.
This first day is nothing but climb, up, up, up. I realized though about half way that I’m on pace to get to my albergue about 4 hours before they open, largely due to my early start. This isn’t totally unwelcome news though as it gives me good reason to stop and admire the sheep at every opportunity.
While much of the walk is shrouded in clouds, it’s so beautiful when they lift. The rain is a constant companion, but I’m not cold… At least if I don’t stop for too long.
A little before noon, and I’m almost at Orrisson, a small in that serves lunch and drinks that’s about 1k before my home for the night. I pause to talk with two men a few hundred yards from the inn and learn that one of them is having chest pains. It turns out a friend of theirs has gone ahead to Orrisson and is arranging for a taxi to take them back to town. They refuse all other assistance so I head to the Inn.
Once inside, I meet up with a woman whose was on the shuttle from Biarritz the day before and realize that 3 other people at our table are also staying at Albergue Borda tonight. We do the usual intros and start to warm up when the two men from down the road arrive.
Unfortunately, by this point the gentleman is looking worse and an ambulance is summoned. Much of the talk in the room stops and we all watch nervously. The ambulance arrives quickly and the gentleman was whisked away.
We’re all sobered by the situation so the mood was pretty somber. We still had more than two hours though before our Albergue opened (I was somewhat relieved to not be the only one who severely over estimated the length of the hike) so we made small talk and watched the rain.
Soon enough I packed up and started to trek on. Albergue Borda was just off the trail and is an inviting combination of new and old. Laurant, the owner, chef, head bottle washer, and Mr. Fix-It, provided a warm cup of tea and a warmer welcome. Once all of the guests arrived, he provided a tour of his amazing inn. He converted it from and old sheep farm. Everything was perfect, warm, modern, inviting, clean. He was super thoughtful in the layout too, with each guest getting their own pod of sorts in one of two dorms.
We all settled in, cleaned up and got ready for dinner. Before dinner, Laurant shared the weather forecast and offered to secure a ride to Valcarlos or Roncesvalles so that those who were worried about the weather or the climb could either take the summer route or skip this stage in its entirety. He shared that while the Spanish Camino authorities hadn’t closed the Napoleon route, the weather was expected to be bad with upwards of 15 centimeters of snow at the peak. A lot of the other guests seemed somewhat unprepared for the experience ie they had never hiked, didn’t have good footwear, brought way too much stuff (one woman was taking about the necessity of her hair dryer, which I guess I get, but…) Some of these guest jumped at the chance, others opted in to the climb.
With that settled, dinner was served. Again, Laurant was also the chef and everything was superb. A super tasty chicken soup and a Basque gratin and pork dish that definitely helped to fuel us up for the next day. To cap it off, he brought out a Gateau Basque, which I have to say, not as good as mine (largely due to the fresh factor.) Stuffed, we headed off to bed.
Many of the women in the dorm expressed their fears for the following day. While I think it can be healthy to work out concerns, somehow this took a turn and quickly became a palpable thing. Talks of landslides and broken bones and hypothermia quickly overtook common sense. I tried to push out calming energy and reason but in the end decided I needed to focus on my energy so in to my pod a folded. I do have worries about tomorrow, but I’m mostly confident. These are all conditions I’ve dealt with before. I’m well equipped and well seasoned, and while I could be in better shape, I know my strengths and limits and I listen to both. I’m pretty confident tomorrow will be okay. Listening to the pouring, cold rain, I drift off to sleep contemplating the many ways things could go wrong tomorrow.
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