Day 1 St Jean Pied de Port to Roncesvalles

A very tough day today - walked from 8am until after well after 5pm - phew it seemed like it was all up hill -we travelled through the pyrennes -it was quite cool with some snow still about - walked most of the way with Barbara a German lady (from near Studgart) now living in Nambibia - she gave me one of her walking poles to try - I enjoyed her company as Blair and Jeremy took a different route down (harder but shorter) - Barbara was quite fond of saying oh my shattered soul or four five, six when she really wanted to swear - we both took the call of nature behind the first tree only to be sprung by a fellow pilgrim passing by - should have got the shewee Rae... towards the end of the day I was really plodding just one foot in front of the othere - so was so pleased to get to the alburgue - when I came back from my shower that evening I found the pole on my bed a gift from Barbara - have walked with it ever since - that night we shared with 103 other pligrims - so strange hearing all the different languages and see poeple trying to understand each other -as we were getting ready for bed ,met a lovely young man Dean from Tauranga but living in London - Jeremy walked with him all the next day..... I'm sure they went a lot faster without Mum....