Roncevalles to Zubiri 24km

QUITE A DEPRESSING SIGN.....

A very early start before 6am, with quite a few aches after spending a very cold night on the corridor outside the toilet in an old hospital building.

We said our goodbyes to the lovely Germans who had the pleasure of sharing our sleeping space and set on our way to Zubiri.

As we made our way down a muddy track out of Roncevalles Isabel managed to slip and twist her ankle, Doctor Vanessa was straight onto it, bangaged up and we were off again.. not the best start, but determined to keep going!

We started to climb down the mountain we found ourselves in the muddiest of muddy fields, beyond anything we´d ever been through in Ireland! We had thick heavy mud caked about 2 inches thick all around our shoes.. this was before we reached the ´slushy mud´as we decided to call it which really was quite exciting.

Think very steep rocky path, going downwards, and several inches of runny runny mud flowing down it! We laughed our way through it as mud splattered up the backs of our legs and up around our ankles.. our pretty North Face shoes were no longer looking quite so pretty!

On we trundled through some small towns and then up a never ending hill... decided to take the road route which was slightly longer but better ground for a dodgy ankle, however we found ourselves climbing on a loopy road up this hill for an additional 2 kilometers. Next time the calculations will certainly be done better!

We followed another quite steep decent into a small town called Zubiri, arriving about 3.30pm. To our absolute delight we found that all the hostels were full, as was the hotel, and we were being faced with a further 6 hilly kilometers before the next town, Larrasona which we did not feel like one bit.

After some grovelling and a bit of luck we were kindly allowed sleep in a big sports hall behind the main hostel, with its extremely high ceiling the echoing of all the snoring was less than entertaining but wrapped up in all our clothes a good nights sleep was had otherwise!

St Jean Pied de Port - Roncevalles 28km

Today we arrived in St Jean pied de port which basically translates as st jean at the base of the mountain pass. its a very sweet little french town (once the sun comes out) with lots of people ready to start their journey to Santiago. Step 1 - We get our pilgrims passport along with our very first stamp which is highly exciting. The man at the pilgrims office is really helpful with maps and notes. Step 2 - Accomodation, we wander about with our rucksacks for a bit, just to show what serious walkers we are, and find ´Chez Kriss and Sevan´. We are shown the rules - plastic sheets with some very informative pictures! At 7 euros a night you really cant complain and Kriss the lady in charge is lovely. The hostel if full of about 6 cats, a dog called Charlie, some hens in the back garden and now two very hungry irish girls.
Step 3 - food, our first pilgrims menu. Interesting...

The following morning, we are up early and we start walking from St Jean Pied de Port to Roncesvalles, 28 km.

We wake up to clouds and mist, lots of it too. Total beginners that we are, and with some advice from the office of the conditions, we decide to forgo the over the mountain route and go the slightly less steep ( though it doesnt feel like it) but longer route through Valcarlos. Getting lost somewhere in the mist probably wouldnt be the best way to start off. By the end of the day we will have walked 28km and climbed to a height of 1300m.

For the first few hours we make our way along country lanes as we cross over into Spain. We follow random little yellow arrows or a yellow shell on a blue backround (see pic above).
The really tough part begins when we start to climb higher and higher through valcarlos which is the halfway mark and on to Roncesvalles.

We find ourselves late in the day on a muddy mountain path, with extremely heavy mist approaching fast, and visability fading faster! Adventure moment number 1: With no real idea exactly where we are, nobody else in sight and no idea how far the end is, we decide to climb this, it turns out, extremely steep brambly embankment up to the road which we can hear above us. We emerge only to meet the end of the path about 5 minutes later down the road! Frustrating after being on our hands and knees pulling ourselves up by trees and having our 10kg rucksacks helping us roll backwards!


The mist is everywhere by now as two very tired girls walk down the hill to Roncesvalles.
We get a friendly welcome at the hostel in Roncesvalles, however we are also told there are no beds left so we are given some luxurious accomodation along a corridor floor right next to the toilets! All in all we survived our first day...

DeLalio SFA Sponsorship...

Well to the delight of both Isabel and Vanessa an over 3kg bright orange hoody arrived on our doorstep the week before leaving for France.. this luminescent delight came along with the kind sponsorship of the DeLalio road building company is Long Island, New York, who were offering generous sponsorship for it to take the road to Santiago with us!

DeLalio SFA are making some sort of bid to tarmac the whole 788km of the Camino..

At weighing 3 kgs we decided it needed a bit of an operation before leaving, neither of us could fit it in our tightly packed 35l rucksacks so it was going to be coming in hand, over these dreaded mountains.. A sad goodbye was said to all thermal lining....

As you can see the jumper made it to some of the highest points of the trek,
And also provided a 12th layer for Isabel who was less than impressed at our warm and luxurious sleeping arrangements!

1000 MILE SOCKS DO NOT WORK!!

Follow on to previous post, we have blisters! Only little ones but socks do not work!

After Day 1 we are 28km on better side of the mountains, sitting in the bottom of a church in middle of nowhere. Sleeping on floor tonight but so tired we will sleep! Cant upload pics but will do in a couple of days with details of the walk so far when we get to a proper internet cafe.

Looking forward to our first cheap pilgrim stew tonight mmmmmm.

1000 Mile Socks

The famous socks.. we have 2 pairs each which guarantee we can walk 1000 miles without getting a blister.. are they going to work?? We sure hope so, money back guarantee if they dont!

The Journey Begins...

We have arrived in Biarritz! After setting off from Dublin yesterday we flew to London overnight and paid a visit to Stuart who was in great form, really good to see him and hear all his thoughts on Spain as he has spent a lot of time here himself.
Flew down to Biarritz this morning where its decidedly cloudy and grey, however pretty all the same. Here until the morning when we make our way by bus and train to St Jean Pied de Port, the starting point where the mountains begin.. oh what fun!

FUNDRAISING...update

Unbelievable! Massive thanks to everyone who has been sending us money for Stuart over the last few weeks, we have cracked our target of 4000 euros so have now raised the bar to 5000 and seem to be well on the way! Please all keep it coming in, every euro is hugely appreciated.

TRAINING - SUGARLOAF MOUNTAIN!

Today we made it up the 501 metres of the Sugarloaf mountain in Co.Wicklow without too much pain! It was our first bit of proper mountain walking, painful at times but gave us hope that we may make it over the Pyrenees in one piece, fingers crossed!

Below you can see someone didnt cope so well.. as we were on our way down there was a helicopter rescue happening at the top..

After a nice picnic and appreciation of the views of Dublin bay and across Wicklow, we made our way back down finding the steepness of the decent rather confronting!

NAAS R.F.C - A Big Thank You!

We would really like to express huge thanks to all who gave so generously at a collection we held for Stuart, on Saturday 18th at Naas R.F.C. The generosity and good will shown by those who attended the Naas RFC v Corinthians RFC match really blew us away, and we are delighted to have added an additional €660 to our Walk For Stuart fund. A special thank you to Seamus Lenehan for his support in making this collection happen.

STUART IN THE IRISH TIMES

Kathy Sheridan who lives close to us in Kildare recently wrote a fantastic piece on Stuart after visiting him in his apartment in London.
It was recently published in The Irish Times..
See http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/weekend/2009/0228/1224241959501.html

17 DAYS TO GO...

Can't believe how quickly it has come upon us!!
We have both been doing rigorous workouts in the gym in Clane, thanks to the very generous Westgrove Hotel and them letting us use their facilities.
Between the treadmill, crosstrainers, bikes and the pool it is definately proving painful as we find all these muscles we never knew existed.. It had certainly better pay off as we climb that dreaded mountain on the first day...

ACCOMMODATION..

For accommodation there are plenty of refugios, simple mixed hostels with basic facilities costing a few euros a night operated on a first come- first served basis. We have been warned not to expect these to be like 'normal' hostels, and rather consider them as a better option than sleeping rough. Delightful.

On occasion the beds do fill up before your arrival but we have been reassured that floor space will always be found..

We have a large bag of earplugs as these pictures of the hundreds of people in the same room are some what worrying....

THE 788KM ROUTE..

The Camino de Santiago stretches nearly 800 kilometres (500 miles) from St. Jean-Pied-du-Port near Biarritz in France to Santiago de Compostela in north-west Spain. The route includes the major cities of Pamplona, Burgos and León, the large towns of Logroño in the Rioja, Astorga, and Ponferrada, and hosts of interesting smaller places along the way. It is very varied terrain from crossing over the Pyrenees at over 1500 metres, to the flat, hot plains of the central section.

We are planning to complete a minimum of 25km per day, other than the days crossing the Pyrenees, these will certainly take a little longer!

FUNDRAISING SO FAR...

A big big thank you to everyone who has sponsored us so far.. we are currently nearly at 75% of our target of 4000 euro...

Fundraising target:
€4,000.00
Money raised off-line:
€865.00
Money raised on-line:
€2,045.58
Total Raised:
€2,910.58

Please keep it coming in!

ABOUT STUART..

On Saturday April 5th 2008, a simple tackle in a club rugby game in London left Stuart Mangan, a graduate of Rockwell College and UCC, aged just 24, with a devastating spinal injury. In global terms, Stuart’s injury is the most catastrophic rugby injury seen in recent years. Categorized as C1 Complete, he is completely paralyzed from the neck down and unable to breathe without a ventilator. Stuart will require 24-hour medical care for the rest of his life.

Dr Fred Middleton of The Royal National Orthopedic Hospital at Stanmore, London says of Stuart: “The level of Stuart's injury at the top of the spinal cord eliminates all voluntary movement in the limbs and trunk including the muscle of breathing. This is the worst cord injury which can occur in sport" Stuart’s life and that of his parents and brothers changed utterly on that fateful day. Physically, Stuart is now dependant for his every basic need, in sharp contrast to how he lived his life before the accident. A talented sportsman with an exciting career ahead in banking, Stuart loved to travel and speaks five languages

In coming to terms with his horrific injury, Stuart has managed to show incredible courage. He is determined to deal positively with his drastically altered circumstances. How can you help ? Stuart’s care will cost millions and quite simply his future is in all our hands. He and his family have been inundated with messages of good will, many wondering just how they can help Stuart deal with the days and years ahead. A fundraising campaign- The Stuart Mangan Appeal - has been launched and each contribution, no matter the size, will help enormously in ensuring Stuart enjoys the best possible quality of life. In this context, an Irish trust fund has been established with the responsibility of managing Stuart’s needs in terms of housing, living, equipment and medical care.

Please support us our fundraising page www.mycharity.ie/event/walkforstuart

100% of all donations will go directly to The Stuart Mangan Appeal.