Every day I was walking the Camino, I made a diary entry and I also wrote a poem to capture what had happened that day. In these blogs, I reproduce what I wrote while walking the Camino, plus some comments to amplify my diary notes.
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This lady shared a taxi with me from Biarritz to Saint Jean on Sunday the 14th of April 2013.
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The village of Saint Jean Pied de Port, France on Monday 10th of August 2009. Saint Jean is very pretty.
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Saint Jean Pied de Port as seen from above while climbing the Pyrenees on day one of the Camino; Monday 10th of August 2009.
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Diary Entry Sunday the 14th of April 2013, 7:52 pm
I am in a Pilgrim Refuge in Saint Jean Pied de Port run by Les Amis de Chemin de Ste Jacques de Compostelle. I left Dublin about 12:20 pm today (1:20 pm France time) on Ryanair to Biarritz. I met 3 others at Biarritz airport who were going to Saint Jean Pied de Port and we shared the cost of a taxi. It cost €33.00 each. I picked up a Pilgrim Passport from Les Amis and they also offered a bed. It was all very easy and smooth. I had dinner with two of the ladies with whom I shared a taxi - they are French Canadians; one originally from what is now the Czech Republic and one from England.
The day is full of beautiful sunshine - at least 20 Celsius. It was about 6 Celsius in Dublin and it was also raining with snow on the Dublin hills. If this sunshine continues, it will be perfect walking weather.
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Soul Song Number 1 - Weather Wizard 14 April 2013
Weather can really jerk you around.
You said goodbye to 30 degrees when you left Adelaide.
When you got to Dublin, you had to say hello to snow.
You also had to give warm greetings to constant rain.
Most of all, you had to tell yourself to enjoy rather than endure the Irish cold.
You only had to put up with the Irish weather for four days.
For the Irish, their weather was always present.
Then you were heading for Biarritz and the wind was snatching at you,
Pushing you over the tarmac and into the plane.
Despite the chill of its charms,
The wind did you a favour,
For it hurried you to Biarritz.
Unlike Ireland, Biarritz was bathed in sun,
Unlike Ireland, Spring was definitely alive in Biarritz.
Just a little way up the road from Biarritz was Saint Jean Pied de Port.
The weather was even better there.
Saint Jean had sunshine, long evenings and blessedly, it had warmth.
You felt smug.
You pretended that you were a Weather Wizard,
That you were weather wise.
Did you really make this happen?
You knew you didn't,
But it did feel good to pretend that you had changed the weather.
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I flew from Adelaide to Dublin and stayed in Ireland for three days before catching the plane from Dublin to Biarritz in France. It had been bitterly cold in Ireland.
I intended to start my Camino walk in the village of Saint Jean Pied de Port in France. I had intended to get a train from Biarritz to Saint Jean. When I had walked some of the Camino in 2009, I had got a taxi from the airport to the railway station and then got the train to Saint Jean. I had assumed that I would be able to repeat my train journey to Saint Jean, find a bed for the night in a pilgrim refuge and then commence walking early the next day.
I did not do my homework though and discovered shortly after my arrival at the Biarritz airport that because it was a Sunday, there was no train service from Biarritz to Saint Jean.
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I got very lucky though. Good things have a habit of happening when you are walking the Camino.
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After picking up my backpack after clearing Biarritz Customs Control, I was seen by a very friendly and efficient volunteer who spoke English. She told me there was no train to Saint Jean because it was a Sunday. It is 55 kilometres from Biarritz to Sain Jean – too far in normal circumstances for a taxi fare to be remotely affordable. The volunteer lady told me that I could have booked a mini bus seat online with one of the companies which meet pilgrims at the airport and drive them to Saint Jean. My volunteer told me that she had an alternative plan that would probably lessen that cost of a taxi ride to Saint jean. She had already found one other pilgrim in the same situation as me and if she could locate another two pilgrims, that would mean the four of us could share the cost of a taxi to Saint Jean. I waited and a few minutes later I was introduced to my three travelling companions for the taxi to Saint Jean.
In Saint Jean, we walked to a Pilgrim Refuge operated by Les Amis de Chemin de Ste Jacques de Compostelle. There I picked up my Pilgrim Passport and was offered a bed for the night in the Refuge. I had dinner with my new friends and slept that night in the Refuge.
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This is the first page of the Pilgrim Passport I obtained on Sunday the 14th April 2013.
By ensuring that the Passport is stamped at designated places along the way, you become entitled - when you arrive at Santiago de Compostella - to be issued with a certificate certifying that you have completed your Camino pilgrim walk. The Passport must show you have walked at least 200 kilometres before you become entitled to the completion certificate.
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This is the second page of the Pilgrim Passport I got on Sunday 14th of April 2013 in Saint Jean.
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