Day 1 SJPdP- Roncesvalles

Total Km's 31.7 (with elevation correction) time 13hrs 2 mins

Today I found God on the Camino as we left the Mountain. It may seem like an odd way to start at the end but it was at the end of the final leg of this day that we really needed a helping hand. Ok so let's go over what our day was like. We awoke at 6:30 to get an early start but after breakfast we ended up leaving at 8ish. As we took off down the cobble stone streets toward the start of our 36 day Journey we were hit right away with an climb that challanged our will. The three of us laughed over the way we struggled up the street that led to the begining of the Mountain. After all if we were all dragging it now can you imagine when we actually begin the ascend?

Right away it was clear the three of us had very different challanges, Kimberley's was the descends, mine was keeping my Asthma in check and Heathers was her ascends. The scenery up the mountain was absolutly wonderful. We saw many different towns and villages but more importantly pilgrims of many nations. A Spanish lady whom we dubbed Monkey lady due to her stuffed monkey on her pack told us in Italian that she was doing her second Camino, a group of elderly Germans who sped up the Mountain (tiny backpacks!) and many many more. We knew that throughout these next 36 days some of the people we started off with would make the Journey and others would not. It was easy to see whom would stay the night in Orisson and who would trudge on to Roncesvalles.

As we ascended making good time we decided to keep going to help with the time we would lose on the descend, though at this point we had lost Heather to a hill back before we hit Orisson. Thinking she may have stayed the night we kept on trekking. Kimberley's foot was in extream pain at one point but she did not complain, instead we took in the scenery that surrounded us. We had a picnic on top of the mountain trying to give our American friend time to catch up. When she did not show we continued on.

Finally as we hit the final ascend before hitting the ascend to the summit we spotted her from a distance and waited for Heather to re-join our group. It is hard to put into words the beauty we saw that day so hopefully the pictures that are going to follow soon will do it justice.

As we continued on our way and the hours continued to mount we came across an emergency hut. We entered the hut as Kimberley went off to releave herself and explored our possible home. It was equiped with all the emergency gear you could ask for so we started thinking. How great would it be to wake up in the Mountain?Delerium began to set in, we were so ehausted from the climb we just wanted to stop, sleep and recharge. Heather and I believed that as in Surviver her and I could start a fire to keep us warm by banging together rocks or sticks... after all she was a girl guide. When we brought the idea to Kimberley she looked at us like we were nuts told us to gather our gear and we forged on.

3 hrs later and many many painful steps we still were not off the Mountain. At this point Kimberley had had enough and wanted to lay down and sleep in the open. As the sun set and dark should have come I prayed for the second time on this trek. This time it was for light because the final hr of the trek was through forrest and only one of us had a torch handy. The night before the sun set and it got dark just after 8pm, I was worried this was going to turn into another episode of Mount Washington vs Kimberley and Viviana. We pushed her to move quicker, Heather and I were worried for different reasons, I was worried Kimberley would pass out from the pain and Heather was worried we would be stuck in the dark. We ended up arriving in Roncesvalles at 9:15pm... 45 minutes before the Arbegue closed for the night. As we entered the Arbegue the light outside slowly left the night sky and it became pitch black dark outside the glass doors.

Call it what you will but I call it a miricle so that is why I say today I found God on the Camino.