It’s steep – 8km straight up, relentlessly up. My pack felt a lot heavier than ever it did on our training walks at home.
I puffed, my heart got a work-out, my thighs threatened to go to jelly. I had a few “photo” stops. We were lucky with the weather, the rain stayed away and the views were stunning.
And then, I passed a group of cyclists pushing their bikes up the hill. This is no race, but I’ll admit that was rather a sweet moment, one accompanied by the tinkling of what I thought were cow bells. Except they weren’t. They belonged to a small herd of horses grazing on the side of the road.
The path is well-marked, and if it wasn’t we still wouldn’t have got lost, we were never far from other pilgrims.
We made it to Orisson in time for lunch. This is where we are spending the night, our last in France.
Tomorrow will be more challenging, up and over the pass to Roncevalles and Spain. It’ll take us five plus hours.
Categories: Camino de Santiago, Europe, France
Jill's Scene 
I will be walking up that exact hill in about 5 weeks.. I read your post hoping for phrases like “It was a breeze”.. “mearly a bump in the road” etc… I’m now thinking the photo’s in my blog will mainly of me crying and flailing around on my back …off to read day two… surely that will be a more relaxed read??
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Are you planning to stop at Orisson? If so, reserve a bed now. They get booked out weeks, sometimes months in advance.
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i’m already booked in !! i think i would have to be airlifted off the mountain if i didnt have a bed there… 🙂
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Photo stops well worth it
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These views are beautiful, Jill. I’m backtracking to see how long you estimate it will take overall. There seem to be a few variations on the walk. Are you doing this currrently or is this a retrospective? 🙂 🙂
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I’m posting day by day, as we walk, Jo. On my phone – which is s challenge of a different sort.
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Flipping heck! Absolutely! Well done to you, Jill 🙂
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Congrats on the first step on the leg 🙂
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Congrats on first day! Way to go.
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Haha… I’m another who enjoys “photo stops”. So how many miles did you walk each day to train for this hike Jill?Must admit, those views are worth the trek. Hope you don’t mind me sitting on your shoulder 🙂
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“Photo stops,” I take multiple “photo stops” too… more and more as I get older 🙂.
This is the second Camino hike I’ve been on this year (vicariously through blogs) and I think there is a third, although he hasn’t posted for a while. I’m enjoying the views and the individual journeys.
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