Saint-Jean-Pied-de-Port → Orisson
Distance: 4.95 miles/8km
Elevation: 2071 feet/631 meters
I woke up at 6:30am at Gite Beilari (the hostel I stayed at in Saint Jean). I got up, packed all my things, and went to breakfast. It was a cloudy and overcast day, with some pretty heavy rain during breakfast. Thankfully it didn’t last long.
I left the hostel at 8am and started walking my first day of the Camino! I went with some friends I'd met at the hostel, Adrian, Maureen, and Debbie. Today I walked only 5 miles but with over 2000 feet of elevation gain. The route passed through Saint-Jean-Pied-de-Port, went along an automotive road for a while with an asphalt path, then diverged into a dirt road. The views were beautiful along the way.
We passed pastures of sheep, lots of big piles of cow poop, and saw a few friendly cats that let me pet them. While walking, I saw a number of familiar faces from the hostel or just from around town and it really does feel like a community.
I arrived at the hostel in Orisson around 11am and it was good timing as it started raining a bit heavily right when I arrived. The hostel was VERY busy when I arrived as it’s pretty much the only place to refill water, get a coffee, and use the bathroom between St Jean and Roncesvalles where many people continued onto.
I checked in and got my bed on a top bunk, in a room with 5 others. This hostel gives each person 1 shower token and each token gets you 6 minutes of water. One thing I want out of the Camino is to experience new things, and timed showers are definitely a new experience.
I set up my bed, showered, and then hand washed my clothes and hung them out to dry. I called Tovin on the phone for a bit, not realizing it was only 5:30am his time, but he answered so we talked while I had lunch: a can of tuna and some crackers. After that, I laid in bed for a while and decompressed. Today was probably the shortest day distance wise for the whole Camino, but the elevation was a real challenge.
A lot of people were socializing at the hostel, but I was wiped by the day and my social battery was low so I mostly stuck to myself. I did a little walking around the area, enjoyed the view, had a few short chats with people, and just recharged.
Dinner was at 6:30pm and it was communal, so all the pilgrims sat together and ate. We had some sort of wine, blended tomato veggie soup, sliced turkey and chickpea stew, and a slice of basque cake for dessert. It was a very delicious dinner and it was nice to get to know some of the other people a bit more.
After we ate, we all went around the room and said our name, where we’re from, and why we’re hiking the Camino. There were some really heartfelt stories! There was a mother daughter duo who was hiking together and the mom was 77! Another woman’s dream was to do the Camino with her husband in retirement, but the week she retired, her husband died, so she was doing the Camino in remembrance of him and as a way to feel close to him. There were a lot of people who had recently retired and some others who were in a transitional period of their lives. It was really interesting and moving to hear everyone’s reasons for hiking it.
After dinner, I chatted with some other people and then got ready for bed. I was in bed with the lights off by 9:25pm!
