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Saint Jean Pied de Port to Roncesvalles, leaving in the afternoon

We really should have fitted you with a tracker. I spent a few hours virtually watching friends on the Berlin marathon on Sunday and I think you could have had quite an audience.

Good luck.
 
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JonnyRosa said:
Today, traveling by bus from Pamplona to SJPP, we passed through Roncesvalles. In Roncesvalles, it was raining and the fog was all over the mountain.
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Hi again, @JonnyRosa, you made a sensible decision. The current weather isn't anything even close to severe, just dense cloud cover reaching low down in the atmosphere and some rain but there is not much point to walk where, imho, the main attraction are good views. It will be better when you start walking tomorrow.

I am a little puzzled that you wrote yesterday that you were very happy with the weather forecast and you only saw in Roncesvalles today that you weren't so happy. Today had been pretty predictable, see cloud cover and precipitation forecasts below. And it had been mentioned earlier in the thread that mountain weather is not identical with "small town in the valley weather" or with "city some 75 km away weather". Precise location details matter.

You are coming from the Sao Paulo region where, it seems, the lowest temperature during the year is some 14 ºC. When you leave SJPP tomorrow morning, it will be around 11 ºC and that's what it will feel like. By lunchtime it will be around 16 ºC in SJPP while you will be already further up at a higher altitude of some 1300-1400 m where the temperature will be around 9 ºC but it will feel more like 5 ºC or 4 ºC, especially when there is some wind. No body parts will freeze off but it will feel not so pleasant ... I think nippy is the word. I am sure you know how to dress appropriately.

Have a great walk and I am looking forward to reading your report!

 
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JonnyRosa said:
Even though I was a little upset, I decided to spend the night in SJPP and leave for Roncesvalles tomorrow morning.

Tomorrow I'll tell you how the journey went and how I got there.
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Good decision.

Good decisions are based on experience.
Experience is based on bad decisions.

Lots of experience on this forum...

Buen Camino!
 
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JonnyRosa said:
Even though I was a little upset, I decided to spend the night in SJPP and leave for Roncesvalles tomorrow morning.
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Great !!

30 years ago I was as fast a walker as you are today, and leaving SJPP after 11AM at the VERY latest was completely unreasonable.

Tomorrow OTOH you might have a good chance at getting some distance beyond Roncesvalles.
 
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Thanks Kathar1na,
When the bus passed through Roncesvalles, I noticed something that the weather forecast didn't show. The forecast was for a maximum of 5 mm of rain, and during my journey it rained much more than that, with a lot of wind and poor visibility, which could have been a problem at the end of the stretch, on the way down to Roncesvalles, because whether I was going on the asphalt or through the forest, the stretch to the finish line was through a forest. I'm writing this detail because it might be useful to someone.
 
You have travelled far today.

Enjoy your first (and last) French dinner tonight, get a good night's sleep, and start fresh and well-slept tomorrow morning. It will be a great day with no stress about darkness or invisible hurdles in the dark, and then a good Spanish dinner in Roncesvalles.

One point; When I walked, I took the way through the forests down to Roncesvalles: It was autumn, like now, and it was steep and incredibly slippery due to large amounts of wet, rotting leaves on the ground: I was falling several times. My advice is to follow the road the last part.

Edit: Thanks to the last post by @Kathar1na , we can see that you would have had a tough afternoon/evening if you had started today. Remember, this is the hardest day of the whole Camino Frances. Better save your efforts for the coming days. Many pilgrims have been broken and had to stop their Camino after day 1. Too bad.

Tomorrow, OTOH, looks clearly much better.

Visit the Pilgrims Office tomorrow morning, get your credencial and first stamp, and pay close attention to their weather advice. No stress.

Looking forward to your report tomorrow. From Roncesvalles...
 
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JonnyRosa said:
Most people probably already know that young people are usually impulsive and don't usually listen to the advice they receive. I'm not much different. Although I listen to the advice I receive, I usually plan, mitigate risks, and follow my plan.
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This is not exclusive thinking with young people, older adults can do pretty much the same.
Wishing you a most memorable day tomorrow!! No rain in the morning or afternoon forecast, but it will be quite chilly with the wind. Layer up and...up up and away.
 
JonnyRosa said:
When the bus passed through Roncesvalles, I noticed something that the weather forecast didn't show. The forecast was for a maximum of 5 mm of rain, and during my journey it rained much more than that, with a lot of wind and poor visibility
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This comment surprises me a little and makes me wonder about the weather app or website being used or interpreted. Meteoblue which is one of the apps/websites with detailed mountain/local weather forecast had an orange alert notice for the Bentarte pass yesterday: It said that more than 24 mm of rain had been expected in this specific area of the Pyrenees (over 24 h).

Luckily, it looks like it will be dry for most of the day today but the ground may be water clogged, i.e. saturated with rain, and therefore muddy and slippery on the zig-zag section and on the high sections, especially in the forest area and in the parts where there are a lot of autumn leaves on the ground.

So this may slow your intended speed of 6 km/h down a bit and you may well heed @alexwalker's advice. You must be well on your way by now.
 
Today I started walking at 7:30 am, certain that with each step I was getting closer to my destination. My heart raced along with my joy. I was living what had once been a dream, I was carrying out a meticulously prepared plan. I don't know if I was going too fast, but I felt like everything was in slow motion. A great sense of well-being and enormous gratitude to everyone who helped me get to this point grew inside me. I remembered many people who helped me, some of whom I don't even know personally, as people here on this and other forums contributed with their messages. My friends and family members who always encouraged me, sometimes supporting me and sometimes doubting me. Whenever I do any physical activity, whether it's training, a race, a race or a walk, the first two kilometers are the most memorable. After this phase, I find a balance in my breathing and rhythm, and I do the rest more comfortably. I divided this stretch into 10 stages, divided according to the terrain's slope. For each stage, I determined a running speed and an average speed. It was a complete waste of time, the path was under my feet and I didn't care how steep it was, it was up to me to walk.

The sun was rising and the view was a spectacle of nature, very beautiful.

Further ahead, suddenly, an area with low clouds and visibility of no more than 30 m, I could hear the cattle bell, but I couldn't see it, what a shame. These clouds would go down as I gained altitude, and another spectacle of nature was present. I remembered a movie called "Las Nuvens".

As many people here on the forum have warned me, the weather changes very quickly. When I arrived in Orion, I stopped to fill my bottle and took off my warm clothes, and continued wearing a t-shirt. I couldn't stay in just a t-shirt for long, as the wind got strong, quite humbly. I wonder if Vivalde walked through here when he was inspired to write the 4 Seasons?

When I passed by the Food Truck, I asked what the opening hours were, as I had a question about this station. It's open until 1:00 p.m.

I am very urban, I was born and raised in a big city. I love animals, but I was very afraid of cows, horses... On the way there were some cows and I was terrified, I didn't know where to go. I thought, do cows kick? I decided to walk in front of the friendliest one, and she was very kind. I took a selfie with her.

Along the way, many pilgrims asked me to slow down. It was funny, it's rare when we are different from the majority, they look at us like strangers. Today I don't care about this, and I understand that people only want the best for us.

The last 5 km, on the way down, the terrain was terrible, very slippery, very unstable, I couldn't establish a pace, I walked slower than on the way up. This was a surprise.

I arrived in Roncesvalles in one piece, just a little dirty with mud, but right at the entrance to the hostel, there is a brush and a tap, which can help improve the situation.

I had planned to make the trip in 4:30h, but I made it in 4:43h. The important thing is to arrive in one piece!

I had to wait for the hostel to open. Check-in is at 13:00h and the rooms are available at 14:00h.

Now all that's left is to get to Santiago de Compostela!

I don't know if it's possible, but I would really like to offer my joy to you.

May God's blessing illuminate you!
 
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JonnyRosa said:
Hi M108. Today I crossed Burgos. Just a rainy day while I was walking. I'm on my way. It's quite difficult, but as I always say, there's no such thing as hard cheese, there's just a blunt knife.
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Hi @JonnyRosa, I echo what @m108 said four weeks ago when you crossed Burgos: “How are you doing?” I hope you have arrived in Santiago by now or are close and that you enjoyed your Camino. How did it work out with the 6 km/h plan? After a whopping 320+ comments in this thread, some of your readers are a little curious and would be happy if you could share some of your actual experience.

In any case: Buen Camino!
 
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Hello Kathor1, it would be a pleasure to share my journey with you.

I walked the path from SJPP to Santiago de Compostela in 29 days. Then I went to Finesterra and Muxia. Today I am home.

As I said in the title of the post, I usually walk at 6 km/h, and this has not changed. The thing is that for most of the route, I did not walk at this speed, I walked at a slower pace.

Many stretches of the path have completely unfavorable ground conditions; sometimes the ground is made of loose stones, other parts are muddy, some parts are slippery, and other challenges increase the risk, and in these situations for safety it is better to walk at a slower speed.

I took advantage of the stretches that were on asphalt to speed up. And sometimes I heard criticism from other pilgrims about my pace, but this does not bother me, I understand that I am "out of the curve" with my way of being.

I arrived in Santiago de Compostela and attended the All Saints' Mass in the Cathedral, with Botafumeiro and ministered by the Archbishop of Santiago de Compostela Don Francisco Fernandes, who at the end of the Mass, in a private meeting, blessed my Holy Rosary; closing my Camino to Santiago de Compostela.

May God bless you!
 
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