Today is the one year anniversary of the sad and unexpected passing of Lee – we wrote about this in a previous blog post.
Our day started early – it is a beautiful and steep climb from SJPP to Orisson (8km) – there were many pilgrims on the road most heading to do the 26km over the Pyrenees ti Roncevaux (French ) or Roncevalles ( Spanish).
We had previously decided that we will take it easy on the first two days so tomorrow we will do 18 km and try find a bed in Roncesvalles
The route we are following is called The Napoleon Route – this route was favoured by Napoleon to move in and out of Spain during the Peninsular wars. My history needs a bit of work – so this was looked up …these wars were in 1807–1814 the conflict was fought in the Iberian Peninsula by Spain, Portugal, and the United Kingdom against the invading and occupying forces of the First French Empire during the Napoleonic Wars.
Fascinating that the world has constantly been fighting over land & resources – now we have the Ukrainians being subjected to Russian invasion – In the words of John Lennon – “All we are saying is give peace a chance “
And then I think of the greed and conflict surrounding my late son’s meager estate and get an inkling in the stupidity of action/ reaction ; dangers of procrastination and a host of frustrations.
Enough ramblings…
After some steep climbing and multiple magnificent views
Along the way we came across cows, sheep birds ( LBJs), the Griffon vulture and some great spider webs. This following pic is Jules examining a complex spider web which is only visible if you magnify the pic
The planning tools that have been most useful so far have been (1) the practical and mystical manual of the Camino Frances by John Brierley – a pilgrim & author (2) Ivar’s Camino de Santiago Forum (3)App “Buen Camino” by Carlos Mencos, a journalist & pilgrim (4) The Wise Pilgrim app by Michael – links will be provided below
The trick with Camino planning is to first decide in what route – we used Ivars forum a lot and also the Camino Frances was in the bucket list
John Brierley camino books are available from Ivars forum or any bookshop – it is better to buy the latest edition as John updates prices and details regularly
https://www.caminodesantiago.me/
The Buen Camino app and Wise Pilgrim apps are available in the App Store