LIVE from the Camino [Salamanca to Santiago - Sanabrés 2024 - Intermediary in my Home to Home]

[JabbaPapa]

Well !!

Here's an unexpected parenthesis in this much longer Camino : https://www.caminodesantiago.me/com...-home-to-home-2019-2021-2022-2023-2024.58346/

In fact, I had thought that my Home to Home was finished, uncompleted except in an abstract sense, but I have been very powerfully drawn back to it. A surprise even to me !!

It's also true that health-wise, this is becoming increasingly necessary, both physically and mentally. I thought to myself some years ago, I think near the start of my 2014, perhaps I even thought this in 2013, that for my health I might need to walk every 2 years or so instead of every 5 or so, and that prediction seems to be becoming true. I need to be out and about, not stuck at home and in front of my computer.

Anyway, I am planning to get the Night Train from Nice to Paris, spend a day there, then Night Train to Biarritz. Bah !!! there's still no return of the Night Train directly from here to there, that was a lovely train !!

Not sure yet how I'll get from the border to Salamanca, but I'm sure I'll think of something.

I'll walk to Santiago, and I'll walk at least some distance out from Santiago -- hitch-hike likely to an extent along the Francès, with definitely some days walking on the Meseta, which I love to bits !! Then make my Way to Roncesvalles, which I'll consider (when I get there) as Day 373+0 on my Home to Home. I did get further last time ; but with so many of the compromises I was forced into, I really do need to restart my Way Home from that point onwards.

Wish me luck !!

 

[C clearly]

Good luck, and buen Camino!

 

[mspath]

JabbaPapa,

Please don't try to do too much too quickly. Will you be taking your famous black cape?

Looking forward to reading your updates as you progress. My heart goes with you.

Stay safe, Carpe diem and, as always, Ultreia!

 

[JabbaPapa]

JabbaPapa,

Please don't try to do too much too quickly. Will you be taking your famous black cape?

I will OF COURSE do "too much" !! ... but certainly not too quickly.

The great big black pilgrim cape is coming along of course, though I suspect that this time it will serve more often as a blanket than as a cape. It's not a Winter Camino.

 

[JabbaPapa]

Every. Single. Time. -- I make myself play a game of Hide the Passport, Find the Passport.

Took me about 45 minutes to lay hands on it again this time. Found my old expired Passport within 10 minutes, but that was no help.

It was in my old Credencial plastic pouch this time instead of somewhere sensible. Like for example in the "new" one ...

---

I've started packing the backpack. French Army sleeping bag takes up most of the volume, but I don't need many clothes and I think I can squeeze in all that I need. Nice to be able to leave the woollen jumper at home, that thing does take up some volume (and weighs a bit, but it's a necessary on a Winter Camino), and I need fewer medicines with me from only about 2 months outside of France instead of 8 like last time.

The great big black woollen pilgrim cape is raggedy, and likely I'll have to do a DIY fix along the way, with boot laces. Fixing it at the seamstress is something else I had to compromise against. Well, at least my belt is a bit more viable this time.

Clearing up the mess pre-Camino I did anyway find my hiking gloves -- I don't like them, they're artificial fabric and they stink as soon as they're wet, but I hadn't the time to organise better ones.

Haven't put everything in yet, but the pack is definitely lighter, even with the sleeping bag and cape already there.

I've a feeling I won't get going 'til early next week -- I won't travel on the week-end anyway.

 

[lovingkindness]

Buen Camino!

 

[JabbaPapa]

Well, the project of a trip via Paris is dead.

Can't afford it. I'd have had to book it two months ago or something ...

So I'll just go back to my usual "make it up as you go along" ...

 

[JabbaPapa]

It's starting tomorrow.

I am still annoyed at the death of the Paris plan, but I will instead get a train to Arles or Tarascon or Avignon, and then either travel or hitch-hike onwards from there.

I'm putting my shell back on around my neck as I type. It's the same one from Pablo Payo, El Mesonéro Mayor del Camino de Santiago, that he gave me on my 1994. One of my most loved and treasured possessions. My Roman key is back off for the time being, but it'll back on for my Home to Rome next year. Once that's done, I may keep it on upon any pilgrimage afterward.

 

[JabbaPapa]

Day 1 - - Narbonne - - it has been a day of contrasts and paradoxes, and so a Camino day, with its joys and frustrations.

It began quietly enough, doing my interwebs stuff, some cleaning chores.

Then my first train was half an hour late, which turned into two hours, then four.

Having said that, in Nice, the manager of a small local supermarket, nothing special, gave me the food I wanted to buy for free.!!! - - because I am a pilgrim. And I think that's a pretty good sign.

Train journey was by parts horrendous and sublime.

The part I loved most was traveling along the amazing Estèrel, particularly along the part of the track where I could see where I had walked in 2019, and where I shall walk again later this year.

I found a reasonable spot to sleep, mostly in the shade from the street lamps, against a wall, and covered too, which is good because it rained and indeed it still is raining.

The elf cheapo inflatable mattress did a great job !!!

Have to start hitch-hiking today, but not before coffee and resupply, besides it's pointless trying too early in the morning.

Depending on how long it takes me to get into Spain, there is a chance that I may need to start in Zamora rather than Salamanca.

 

[JabbaPapa]

Good morning, updated the previous post as I was too sleepy to get even the basics down.

hmmmmm, it's raining pretty heavily now - - the spot where I slept is the only dry place in sight.

 

[JabbaPapa]

I'll be doing my first actual walking this morning, hopefully not too much, but anyway the hitch-HIKING starts in a while. I need to find a second phone charger gizmo, one of my two died, also a new pair of black jeans as my 2022 Camino jeans are dying, sadly.

It's stopped raining anyway, and my sleeping spot is still dry. Seems I chose well !!

 

[JabbaPapa]

I REALLY like Narbonne, the people here are so lovely and kind. And the city has a bourgeois but at the same time rustic elegance combining what seems to be the best of city, suburb, rural, simplicity, and Catholicity into a genuinely healthy whole.

I am quite unsure that the title of this thread is an accurate one for this Camino, which seems to be changing into something entirely unexpected.

 

[JabbaPapa]

Howsoever that I might try to look at things, as if I were somehow in charge or something, this fundamentally unexpected Camino has taken on a life of its own, and not since my 1993 has it been like this. I have no idea at all what I'm doing nor where I'm going, and yet here I am on my Way to Santiago.

I'm not even sure at this point that I will even set foot on the Sanabrés.

I need this one somehow to be guided by my intuition.

 

[JabbaPapa]

I have anyway found my first 1L bottle of Spanish cerveza, sadly San Miguel rather than Mahou Verde...

 

[JabbaPapa]

And I REALLY like my new backpack. Everything fits in perfectly, it's a LOT lighter than my old Decathlon one, and much more comfortable. Ideally a somewhat larger Osprey or something might be better, but for THIS Camino, what I have is perfect.

 

[JabbaPapa]

This is a very strange day.

I just walked haphazard, and hap took me straight to the exact right place to get my new pair of black jeans and my new charger gizmo.

I didn't even expect yesterday to be in Narbonne in the first place !!

I also still have not the faintest clue of what I am doing nor how I am here, nor why, which really is quite refreshing.

I am near the edge of Narbonne anyway. I still have found no coffee, but I guess that Whoever brought me here has other priorities.

 

[JabbaPapa]

Day 2 - - at Emmaus and at the crossroad between the road to Perpignan and the road to Carcassonne.

It's a bad hitch-hiking spot.

I've asked to sleep in their covered porch, to which the guy has agreed in principle, though he may well have floor space somewhere. Anyway I am in the refectory and out of the rain, so that's good.

I have just been given an ice cream, and that's lovely.

Oh, and I walked here, so that's good too.

Tomorrow I'll also need to hike not hitch, at least until somewhere with better possibilities. Whatever else has happened today, I've realised that I am in no hurry regardless, and that whichever way forwards is the right Way.

Nice to be out of the rain anyway ...

 

[JabbaPapa]

Montredon des Corbières - -

I'm fumbling my way along. Hitch-hiking on the main road is a non-starter, but I can see that I am not too far from the Carcassonne variant of the Arles Way, and that little roads lead there, and somewhat parallel to it, which should be easier.

It just happens also to be a part of my return route from Roncesvalles and SJPP later this year, and Heavens know why I have been drawn towards it already.

There was good food at Emmaus last night, a good shower, and I slept indoors on my inflatable mattress. Finally managed a coffee this morning, the normal machine they're using is broken.

Weather is a lot better.

 

[JabbaPapa]

Day 3 - - Ginestas - - and progress !!

I got a good lift out of Montredon, from a good young man who is following via Facebook the progress of a foot pilgrim on his way to Jerusalem (currently in Serbia, apparently). It's a small world ...

I am very close now to the route of the Arles Way variant via Carcassonne, though truth be told, this is one of the very villages that I was considering for a detour around this particular local section, only now it has of course become a dead certainty that it's exactly what I'll do !!

It's a lovely village, full of flowers and laughing children. And typical South-West France.

I got myself a pot of traditional Terrine, a steal at €3.50, and that's my very tasty lunch.

Not sure what more I might do today - - this is turning into a pretty good training hike, I've walked towards I guess 5K to 10K both yesterday and today, further today, and I don't want to push my legs too far too soon.

The heat of the day is anyway right now, so staying put for the time being.

 

[Camino Chrissy]

I am enjoying reading your daily reports, Jabba. You are definitely walking/hitching/sleeping by faith as you usually do, always full of interesting twists and turns along the way.
Ummm, talking about those black jeans, I hope they are the newer stretchy variety for more comfort, but they sound miserable either way if your weather stays hot.

 

[JabbaPapa]

Well, I'm staying here, at the kids' park, but looking at the lodging possibilities on this route, potentially I am revising my plans for the section Roncesvalles to home. We'll see.

 

[JabbaPapa]

Sleep was a bit complicated, as there were so many activities in the village that there were no good spots until after 1AM. The spot that I did find that was protected both against the wind and the intense full Moon was in use until then as a car park by the patrons of the pétanque tournament.

It didn't help that the inflatable mattress deflated -- not bust, just the cap fell out.

Also not helpful is that the Android device is messed up, doing stuff on its own and draining charge. If I switch it off, it has been switching itself back on, it's been opening the camera app solo, and sigh ...

This Windows Phone is now working straightforwardly better than that thing, just with a very outdated version of mapy.cz.

Well I dozed anyway in the kids park, then moved to the good spot, reinflated the mattress, and slept.

 

[JabbaPapa]

Conilhac-Corbières - -

Two good lifts this morning, and I am halfway from Narbonne to Carcassonne.

I did catch sight of a picturesque point along the Canal du Midi, at Ventenac-du-Minervois, so I can see why some people like it.

I am back on the main road ; however it's more sensible size here.

Anyway, after last night I need some strengthening, so I have decided to go for a pilgrim menu at the little Basque restaurant here.

 

[JabbaPapa]

My understanding is that there was a massive hail storm in Perpignan yesterday, and general bad weather along the coast, so good thing I guess that I was drawn this way instead.

BTW, the steak is excellent, and delightfully the chips/french fries have been properly fried in fat, not oil.

 

[JabbaPapa]

I am now in Carcassonne. Hooray !!

 

[Camino Chrissy]

I am now in Carcassonne. Hooray !!

I loved Carcassonne and have good memories of walking the rampart walls.

 

[JabbaPapa]

Day 4 - - Carcassonne

I am on the Arles Way (Carcassonne variant) !! Also technically on the Piémont Way.

Three decent lifts got me here, the first the short distance from Ginestas to Ventenac-du-Minervois thanks to a vineyard labourer. Was a quick one over a short distance, got picked up inside Ginestas itself, where I had taken a café au lait and recharged my devices a bit.

Then the walk through Ventenac and the aforementioned beauty spot at the canal, maybe 2K total, and got a lift from a gentleman in an old but well cared for 2CV who took me to Conilhac. We discussed politics and religion, though he did get into the a rather anti-clerical monologue towards the end. It's clearly a great area for hiking and biking anyway , nice and flat, with a mix of little tarmac roads, dirt trails, and agricultural roads.

Lunch, then a lift to Carcassonne, didn't really have to wait that long for it, fairly standard lift and not much to say, but it was good and fast.

I tried to stay at the Abbaye, but nobody was answering the phone, I went there to see what's up, nobody was there except for a couple of pilgrims who had been calling since morning to try and get their credencials, and a guy who lives there and told us that often on the weekend there's nobody there. Guess the nuns have gone, then. The website of the place wants you to reserve in advance via email ...

So I called the youth hostel, and got a good lower bunk here. It's set up a lot like some of the more modern Albergues on the Francès, of the individual bunk alcoves type with a curtain, pillow and duvet, a shower and toilet in each dormitory, and so on. They sell some overpriced food on the ground floor, which is nonetheless attractively set up and comfortable.

Good place to stay overall, and of course I really needed this night in an actual bed, shower, and get some soap and water into some clothing !!

Between the short bits of morning walking, then some to-and-fro between the old town and new over the old bridge, maybe a 5K or so total ? So not much.

I'm trying to sort out my Android device misbehaviour, and I am beginning to see that the main reason for it seems to be that after some months if non-use, it resets all apps to default settings, so that all that I had done to make it usable last time round had been lost. Found out anyway why the camera was switching itself on, and so it should stop doing so.

Rest here a bit longer, go down for a coffee and then look for a little supermarket open on Sunday morning. Sadly no time I guess to go to Mass, unless I get lucky on the way out of the city towards a good place for hitch-hiking.

 

[JabbaPapa]

I've met a few pilgrims.

Apart from the couple who were looking for credencials, one of the residents at Emmaus suddenly declared, I walked the Camino !! 913 Km !! then scuttled off, hmm maybe he did.

A Spanish pilgrim who has just finished the Norte, he lives on the Norte and often bikes along it was staying here too, for a post-Camino vacation, so we swapped notes and some stories about the tourigrinos LOL.

His French is better than my Spanish, so that's what we spoke in, with a few pieces of Camino-specific Spanish thrown in.

At the same time, my Camino habits are kicking back in, so this is all doing a pretty good job with my Camino prep, that is getting used to life out of the backpack again, re-introduction to the daily effort, as well as the social element.

 

[JabbaPapa]

Bram - -

Bit of a suburban slog out from the centre of Carcassonne to the edge point where hitching even becomes possible, got one short lift, then a second better one from a Catholic couple who picked me up because I am a pilgrim. They would not have picked me up otherwise.

Wearing your scallop shell is very frequently helpful.

We exchanged some hot church gossip, then they left me between the Mairie and the village bar where I am taking a cool one. Or two. (...)

Closing in on the Arles Way proper in its passage through the Lauragais.

 

[JabbaPapa]

Well this is a big one ...

Day 5 - - Auterive

It took me quite a while to get a lift out of Bram, from what really should have been a good spot, to the point that I started to make my prayers for help, spontaneously I prayed to Mary in particular for guidance on my way.

Shortly after a young woman stopped, driving her young son back home from somewhere, and she took me to Villefranche-de-Lauragais, then to Nailloux where she lives. Which happens to be the exact route that I took in 2005 when I left the Arles Way to head for Lourdes.

Then - - as I was by the roadside looking at mapy.cz trying to work out where to sleep and what not, a young man with his young wife and several young children stopped and asked me if I needed anything, I said not unless you're going to Auterive ; and they said hop in, and they brought me here.

So clearly whatever reason has brought me here is one that goes via Lourdes.

So I am now on three pilgrimages - - Lourdes ; Santiago ; finish the Home to Home (which will include Lourdes again).

So yeah, this is a big one.

And the Camino provides.

 

[JabbaPapa]

It's a lovely warm evening, and I'll be sleeping on the grass next to the river Ariège, which I guess is the same choice I made last time in 2005.

I met another pilgrim, this time an elderly gentleman who in his youth made the foot pilgrimage from somewhere near, not sure but via Auterive, 12 years in a row, little money, sleeping wherever he could and so on.

We compared notes on rough sleeping.

Twelve is of course a Marian symbolic number, and the number of the Archangels.

 

[OzAnnie]

It's a lovely warm evening, and I'll be sleeping on the grass next to the river Ariège

So real / no expectations … and I’m enjoying reading your pilgrimage notes. I hope your night beside the river was as comfy as I am seeing it in my imagination… (lush soft grass beside clear flowing water ????).
Buen camino

 

[JabbaPapa]

So real / no expectations … and I’m enjoying reading your pilgrimage notes. I hope your night beside the river was as comfy as I am seeing it in my imagination… (lush soft grass beside clear flowing water ????).
Buen camino

That's what I did last time here in 2005, and that's a very close description of what the river bank is like here. I slept a little further up this time, against a low wall for some protection against wind and street lights. Also good to sit on and sort out my things this morning.

The sound of the flowing river water was most soothing.

 

[JabbaPapa]

Carbonne - -

Very hot today. Fine in the shade, scorching out in the Sun.

 

[JabbaPapa]

Rieux-Volvestre - -

Carbonne was frankly so hot and humid, I just took the bus here. I am still escaping the heat.

I found a restaurant here that hadn't quite closed where I was able to get a coffee, some water, and some Android device recharge.

Got some shade after that at the covered market, and the humidity is a bit better here too.

The Albergue that was here in 2017 has gone the way of the dodo.

I suppose that I'll try again later once the heat goes down a bit, nevertheless it is starting to feel like Spain, including the 2PM "Spanish midday".

Today's pilgrim was a villager along the way who has just finished his first stage, Le Puy > Conques and will carry on in stages going forward.

 

[alhartman]

2CV!!! Your Chemin is truly blessed!!
Sometimes the Camino Provides really well.

 

[JabbaPapa]

Day 6 - - Cazères-sur-Garonne

Short update now.

It was a frustrating day of trying to find a bar for a bit of rest and recharge but finding none, but upon arrival into the centre of Cazères I met some local carefree types.

The lady of that house offered me a fantastic plate of pork and chips, we all shared conversation. She was thinking of offering me a spot to sleep on, but changed her mind later which is fine - - but I did get to take a shower Hooray !!

I will probably add more tomorrow, but for now sleep, not on grass (there's a bench here I can't do without), but near the Garonne.

 

[JabbaPapa]

Despite and because of the difficulties coming this way even just hitch-hiking, I am glad to be doing it, as it gives me a far clearer understanding of the Via Garona and the Arles Way variant via Béziers > Carcassonne.

The attempt by the region to promote the Via Garona as a secondary Camino route, from 2017 onwards, seems mostly to have failed, and I'm sure the covid restrictions were a bit of a killing blow. There's virtually nothing in terms of Camino infrastructure, just the usual sort of gîtes and chambers d'hôte that you could find on even the most DIY route. It might be better for bikers.

All of the above applies to the Arles route variant, except that additionally it hasn't even been waymarked and so includes much DIY. Plus between Béziers and Carcassonne there seems to be the same dearth of Camino infrastructure as between Béziers and Perpignan, which seems to be indicative of a widespread failure by the Region to support these two major and one important secondary Camino routes.

Does the fact that the region has become broadly atheistic have something to do with this lack of support ?

Anyway I may need to roughly follow the Piémont Way out from Lourdes on my Way back home, always assuming that there's any better support on that route ...

I will not be walking back this way anyway, unless I change my mind again ?

As to my way forward hitch-hiking now, some motorway hitching looks to be unavoidable, though my best route looks still to be via Lourdes - - unless who knows which way someone might take me ?

Slept well last night anyway, just passing some time to recharge the Android device somewhat in a bar.

 

[JabbaPapa]

OK I had another look and did find some good details for the Piémont Way. So more or less that way it will have to be on the way back, though I do like my detour via Saint-Palais.

 

[JabbaPapa]

I am in Lourdes.

 

[JabbaPapa]

Day 7 - - Lourdes

After recharging myself and my Android device in that (pleasant) bar at Cazères/Cazère (both spellings are used), I headed out on the little road eastward, and got a lift pretty quickly from a Muslim gentleman, Moroccan origin, with his baby daughter in the back seat, who was headed to Tarbes.

He was low on fuel, which was lucky in the end, as I was able to help him out a bit, and he switched his route and drove me to Lourdes which was only slightly out of his way.

Towards the end, the driving route took me along the road that I had taken walking here in 2005, some of the views from it are spectacular and it was a joy to see them once more.

He had the Koran playing on audio which didn't bother me, nor did his smoking, and we had the usual Christian versus Muslim arguments, but it was friendly enough, though I did have to stop him at some points with "we will never agree about this". The trip went well, and I got into Lourdes at about 1PM or so.

I got some beers, not many, and sat down to rest in the shade for a while by the Parish Church.

Then I went in search of the pilgrim office, which has moved again, and first time ever for me it was open. Hooray !! Just went for the chat really, and to be friendly, though I did get some more up-to-date info about the Lourdes -SJPP lodging situation. Was happy to see that they have updated that info, particularly as I had called them in January last year to inform them of some errors on the old list.

It was a pleasant chat, and I saw the guy again quickly just now as he had come to visit Jean-Louis.

Because yes I stayed at La Ruche which is as wonderful as always. It really is my favourite among them all. A varied group of pilgrims, among them one retired lady (here with her husband), and she had walked home to home some years ago from the Alps, a 4,000 to 5,000 K job, of the kind that's dear to my heart. Six months for hers.

Supper and breakfast were great, got some clothes washed and dried and so on.

I will make my Marian devotions at the Grotto this morning, after some shopping in town, then back on my way.

 

[JabbaPapa]

Compared hiking staff techniques with Jean-Louis on the way out nice to meet someone else who knows his stuff.

I use a one-handed technique, his is an interesting two-handed one that requires a longer staff. Always good to learn something new !!

 

[JabbaPapa]

Day 8 - -

I am still in Lourdes.

Because of another fairly crazy day. Last night, I had the start of a fairly deep conversation with a Dutch peregrina here, then on my way down to the grotto at a point that was still early enough for hitch-hiking, I met her in town, and we needed to continue that conversation.

She is still staying here too, so that's nice, maybe we'll carry it on.

Anyway then I went down to the grotto and made my prayers and whatnot, then stopped for a spot in the shade while looking for the exit towards the road.

A young man was there studying a corrected paper, and as he got up to leave I casually said hallo, and is that a paper for your studies ?

Yes but I'm a seminarian, just being polite we said where are you from and so on, are you going to Santiago etc.

Anyway he was from Barcelona he said, I said oh I used to live there, in a village near Sant Cugat dell Vallès, oh that's where our Seminary is. I said actually I went to school in Sant Cugat, but actually we lived in Valldoreix. He said crazy, our Seminary is in Valldoreix (which is sometimes considered as a part of Sant Cugat).

Anyway, he went off then came back, have you eaten you can come with us.

So it turns out that the whole Seminary group from Valldoreix was in Lourdes, and I ate with the group and we shared some stories - - and at the end, after Grace, their Spiritual Director gave me a pilgrims blessing, which is the kind of very unexpected thing that's been happening to me all week.

Anyway after all of these alarums and excursions, my route to a hitch-hiking spot took me straight back to the front of the Albergue, the heat of the day was up, pretty much impossible to hitch, there was a pilgrim buzzing at the door to get in, and the whole of it was just - - OK I give in, that's the end of my hitch-hiking aspirations for the day !!

Sigh ...

Well, I have nothing more left to do in Lourdes now, tomorrow that is, I'm at the right edge of the city to get out my way in the morning, my clothes have had a second round of cleaning, so hopefully I'll be back on track tomorrow.

But yeah, the Camino really does provide ...

 

[henrythedog]

the Camino really does provide ...

I think of it as ‘the more you put in, the more you get out’.

Nobody could accuse you of not ‘putting in’. Do please keep the narrative coming. I’m sure there are many vicariously on Camino with you this time as well as previously.

 

[JabbaPapa]

Day 9 - - Arudy

I got in when it was still more or less early enough to continue hitch-hiking, but I needed a bit of a rest, as I had walked the last few K into the village, and anyway I needed to check my way forward from here regardless.

And it became clear to me that there was too much likelihood of getting stuck in Oloron-Sainte-Marie, or even if I made it to say Navarrenx, too much risk of a bad night outside.

So here I am again, in this wonderful place. Just one peregrina apart from myself, a pleasant and lively young woman who started at Carcassonne.

She slept upstairs, and I had the men's dorm to myself.

A fairly simple day really, needing little to eat from all of that food I had in Lourdes !!

------

I am starting to think more about my itinerary going forward, and I am starting to think that the Sanabrés is probably right out. I may only be doing a 200K job or something into Santiago, which may leave Ponferrada as my only real option.

Unless someone has a different suggestion ?

 

[JabbaPapa]

I am in Oloron-Sainte-Marie - - and after having spent some years telling people to get the ultra-cheap local bus lines, it's time for me to take my own advice for once.

 

[JabbaPapa]

An extra snippet for those who follow such matters - - the Oloron > Somport bus is still technically a temporary replacement bus while the railway line is down.

Well ; the local timetable says that it's currently modified because of work on the track.

So it seems that they are actually finally doing it after all this time !!!

 

[VNwalking]

which may leave Ponferrada as my only real option.

Unless someone has a different suggestion ?

There are 3 possibilities from there - the Francés, the Invierno, or the Francés/Via Künig to Lugo/Primitivo. So it's a good idea - gives you choice.

 

[JabbaPapa]

Day 10 -- Saint-Palais

Hitch-hike to Oloron then buses.

Sadly got grabbed by a bit of the black dog between the afternoon and evening, which is always annoying, so I isolated myself when I got in here and looked for somewhere to sleep that wasn't the Albergue.

It passed anyway, and I found a good enough spot at what I think is the covered market, even mostly sheltered from the street lights.

Possible better news from yesterday is that I may need less beer than I used to against the pain. Needs confirming, but my knees are definitely feeling better since Lourdes. Ankle is still bad.

Raining a little this morning, used the cape for a short bit, but it's too warm to actually wear it.

Seeing if I can get a coffee, two main bars are still shut though, then hitch-hike to SJPP then onwards from there.

 

[JabbaPapa]

I am in SJPP.

 

[JabbaPapa]

I am in Spain. Hooray !!

 

[Lindsay53]

I am in Spain. Hooray !!

That deserves a cerveza or two!