Our Camino begins 2015

Buen Camino day 1, St Jean Pied De Port to Orisson – 9 Kms

Day 1 of Our Camino

Day 526 – August 9th, 2015.

All smiles as we leave St Jean Pied De Port at 8.20am after a pretty good nights sleep in our first Auberge on the Camino ‘the way’.

All smiles at the start of the Camino Napoleon Route 2015

Even though it was only a light rain we chose to cover up with our poncho’s and walk on, only to remove them after a couple of kilometres.

The walk leaving SJPDP is clearly signed and keeps to the road for the first 5kms, before it begins to gain altitude and the hard part begins. We managed these first 4k’s in an hour, the next 5kms took us 2 hours 10 minutes that should give you an idea of how much harder the way became.

Leaving St Jean Pied de Port on the Camino 2015

Even though we left SJPDP among a good number of pilgrims, it soon thinned out as each pilgrim found their own walking pace. We were over taken by many as we made our way up the climb towards Orisson, but one thing each pilgrim should know is that the Camino is his or hers alone and not a race or competition in any way.

About a kilometre from this sign the way leaves the road and continues on a country path which is in places slippery and wet, we are glad that we have the walking poles with us. There are a few cyclists on the way and this is a time they would rather have behind them, the pushing of their bikes up this path.

On the Napoléon route to Orisson Camino 2015

The route is well sign posted and marked with red and white colour on posts etc. These larger signs give you the distances to the next destination, here we have 2 km to reach Orisson.

I guess I should just add here, for those that may not know much about us and our backgrounds, that we are in our late 40’s both non smokers and would rather relax with a glass of red wine than go to the gym and pump iron. With that said, I would say that we are not very fit neither totally unfit, if that’s possible, anyway, we’re up for the challenge of the Camino.

The upward march that begins 5km from Orisson on the Camino 2015

This is by far the toughest part of today, the climb from 500 metres above sea level to 900. In places it is quite steep and the loose gravel makes it slippery, we take great care and walk slowly finally reaching some great vantage points for a breather.

The way to Orisson on the Camino way 2015

The clouds are still low and there is a little moisture in the air. The country path ends and the road continues towards Orisson, there are many goats on the hillside with bells on and we pass the odd group of cows.

The walk seems to never end nearing Orisson on the Camino 2015

Finally after walking 3 hours and 10 minutes since leaving St Jean Pied de Port we arrive at our accommodation for the night on the Camino at Auberge Orisson.

Orisson Auberge on the Camino 2015

Today we walked from St Jean Pied de Port to Orisson which is a distance of 9 kms. It took us 3 hours and 10 minutes to complete with a couple of short stops on the way. Just under 3km per hour walking pace which is considerably slower than our few training walks back in Pellegrue where we were averaging 5 km per hour.

What started out as quite a pleasant walk turned pretty tough for the final few kilometres, I think the pack weight of 10 kilos and the incline from 200 to 900 meters above sea level have a lot to answer for. I would certainly recommend stopping off in Orisson to break what would otherwise be a very very long, hard walk.

Camino costs

• Accommodation 60.00 (includes dinner & breakfast)
• Snacks 18.90
• Donation 1.20

These costs were for our first night in SJPDP. The costs below are for this day 1 of our Camino.

• Coffee 3.00
• Beer 7.50
• Dinner 20.00
• Sandwich 8.00 (for tomorrow)
• Accommodation in Orisson 35.00 (includes breakfast)

Total for today is 153.60 Euro. 76.80 each for day 1 of our Camino.