Capestang and Some Catchup

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Well, here we are in the south of France -- have rented an apartment for 3 weeks so have ready access to Wifi (weefee as the French say) so are going to attempt a blog. Technology....a blessing and a curse.

Have been having a lovely time. Canada seems so far away. It's hard to imagine people harvesting potatoes and going about everyday life. We have had several segments of the journey so far. Started in Toulouse which is a beautiful old city in the south of France. Took a couple days to get our feet back under ourselves after the "time warp" of the flight over. Then caught a train to Bayonne in south western France where we were to catch a train to St. Jean Pied-de-Port where we were to start our hike in northern Spain on the Camino de Santiago. Note the "were supposed to". We'll post some photos of Bayonne in the flood! Seriously, the biggest flood in 50 years and we were there for it. We ended up having to stay the night in Bayonne and then they managed to get us out by bus the next day (still no trains running due to the flooding) and we spent a lovely although wettish day in St Jean Pied-de-Port before arranging a ride to Pamplona where decided to start our trek (rather than in the pyrennees in the rain).

The Camino was very interesting, and frankly, a much tougher walk than we had expected it would be. They don't mess around with the number of kilometers per day. We walked 24 km the first day, 23 the next with pretty full packs. Feet and legs were very sore although neither one had blisters which is the most common complaint. Then, due to our timeline, we decided to bus/train through to the other end of the camino where we started the trek in earnest (25 - 30 km per day). We were amazed at the variety of the scenery and the number of people we met from all parts of the world. Arrived in Santiago ahead of schedule so we had a couple days to explore the city. Then we flew to Barcelona with Ryanair and caught a train back to Narbonne in southern France. Met our friend from Ottawa, Vicki, in Tolouse on Friday, Oct. 1. More on that in the next blog. Now we are settled, have some time and some access, we'll try and catch up on a few things with some comments and photos. Think of it as what is going on now, with the odd "Flashback".

Hasta luego,

Anne & Peter

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Photos

Toulouse
Main square, major building

flood in Bayonne
In Bayonne, on our way to St. Jean Pied du Port we were stranded due to the largest flood in 50 years.

14th Century Church
This is San Andres church in Zariquiegui, about 5 km outside of Pamplona. There is a fountain next to it and it was a good stop for a snack before the climb up Alto de Perdon.

giant pilesof hay
These piles of square bales were huge-about 8 or 9 tier high. Bales looked about 4 ft. x 5 ft. x 10ft. Serious!! Wouldn't want to have to toss them on a hay wagon!!

Comments

[CandiceM]

"A man outstanding in his field" ... very funny! I love the sunset pics at the end (592, 593, and 'sunset same day')... Gorgeous! The cathedrals are also lovely, as are the views. The Basque festival looked really interesting too. I'm sure there is no shortage of interesting things to see. But seriously ... peppers, logging, haying ... I could show you that here! Any snow? I could also show you some snow today. Looking forward to following you on the rest of your journey! Candice

[Helen Pickard]

We all miss you a lot!! Come home before Christmas Please!!:) (; :P

[Richard Campbell]

Nice pictures, have fun!

[Richard Blaquiere]

School Presentations
I'd love for you to do a presentation, with piucs of course, on the historical (and what in Europe ISN'T steeped in history?) elements of your trip. Fantastic pics. Come home safely.

[Mary Ellen]

Impressive.
I am so impressed with your amazing adventure and how you have captured the highlighs via a blog.."Well Done!!" Enjoy the remaining days of this excursion. This has been giving me some ideas for my travel buddies yearly vacation together.