Day 1
St Jean Pied de Port to Roncesvalles-1390 m climb, 31.7 Km
Left earlier than advised, 6.40 am, as hostel was not due to be open until 4 pm, but saw sipping a few beers in Roncesvalles as a better option to hanging around in St. Jean. It had rained heavily overnight so there were little streams running down some of the roads as we made our ascent. Our (us being yours truly + Dave Giles) energy was bolstered by a vast resevoir of enthusiasm, so we relished the climb. Dave managed to hold out till 8.30 before having his first beer. It was not long before we were passing Perrigrinos (pilgrims) from the higher Albergues. Unfortunatley the weather began to close in after about 2 hours and soon visability was down to about 20 mts. The majority of the climb was on road. As soon as we left the road progress slowed as now we were seeing how much mud 2 weeks of rain could produce. By the time we reached the top visibility was as little as 5 m. Every 10 m of mist seemed to reveal a new walker. Only sound to be heard was the ringing of cowbells. Looked for visible signs of a national border but found none. As we started our descent the rain started in earnest but it made little impact on our enthusiasm. Came close to travelling some of the downhill on my arse but was saved by my stick. Dave gave a good impression of Guzzle as the slippery surface was no problem for him.
Reached Roncesvalles in under 6 hours-pretty happy with that-shame that we dident get to enjoy the views.
Joined many wet perrigrinos sipping beer for the afternoon. Had my first pilgrim menu-time alloted for the meal 45 mins, we then had to vacate restaurant for "real diners". Settled down for the night in a dormitory of 90 fellow travellers, almost like being back at school, but had a feeling that the snoring might be a little worse