Stage 1: St. Jean Pied-de-Port - Roncesvalles (34 km)

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I am writing these blog entries a few days after the journey as Pamplona was the first place I found internet for free! This being said I may be a little more positive about this portion of the journey than I would have otherwise been since day 1 was by far the HARDEST day of physcial activity I have ever accomplished in my entire life. St. Jean is the neatest little town which sits on the River Nive. It is historically the beginning of the Camino Frances route for the Camino de Santiago and therefore olds much significance for many pilgrims. I however, found that the best part of this entire village was the Barbra Millous Patisserie where I had the best pastry to ever cross my lips. I cannot not tell you what exactly it was as I don´t speak enough French but all I know is it is like a macaroon but 100x better! haha
The walk itself this day was absolutely excruciating. Besides the fact you go from 170 m above sea level in St. Jean to 1400 m at the height of the height of the Pyrennes, the near-hurricane wind on the top of the mountain tossed me around like a rag doll and if it were not for my backpack I am sure I would have blown right off the mountain. The scenery through the Basque region is absolutely breathtaking and thousands of sheep, cattle and wild horses roam the hills. The Pyrennes is also home to the world´s largest vulture population (1800) although we didn´t see any. The only evidence I saw was the remains of a poor horse, nature at its finest. The end of the walk happened to be the best part, as in the last 5 km to Roncesvalles we were hit by monsoon rains and practically sprinted the last hour to get to our álbergue´(pilgrim´s hostel). Absolutely drenched it did not matter because the sense of accomplishmnet I felt was like nothing else in the world.

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