Via Podiensis (November 5, 2013) - Day 58 Urhad Mixe to Saint-Jean-Pied-de-Port

I'm here...success!!! Over the past 58 days of walking just under 1,600 official kilometres I have walked across Switzerland, a good part of France and completed 3 Caminos...Via Jacobi, Via Gebennensis and Via Podiensis (The Puy route).

In the past 8 days alone I have walked 245 kms or an average of 30.6 kms...that kind of distance was not in the plan however the planning went out the window some time ago!

Today was another really tough day...it rained all night and the wind was howling. This morning the wind was still really strong and it was pouring out there. 

At breakfast Anna was in obvious difficulty and could not walk. Marie and Jean-Michel had some soreness in their backs and the prospect of walking in this terrible weather resulted in their decisions to take the bus to Saint-Jean-Pied-de-Port. Claude reluctantly agreed to do the same to support Marie.

That left Cyrille, Samuel and me...I left at 7:45 as I found it difficult to get motivated in the midst of all this negative thinking. No way was I going to bus it in after coming this far.

NO PICTURES TODAY due to yesterday's rain and my camera being toasted...thankfully the pictures are ok as the photo card is still good.

When I left it was really bad out however I persisted and over time the rain let up a bit. I found the walking a real treat as I knew this part of the adventure was coming to a close...27 kms over 6.5 hours and I was there!

Tonight I will be going out for supper with Cyrille, Anna (if she is capable), Brook and Ruth ( who bused it in from a longer distance). 

Future Pilgrims

I am staying at the Erracladia B&B which is 100 meters or from la Porte de Saint Jacques...the official start for the Camino Frances. I am sharing a room with Cyrille for 60 euros per night including breakfast. Tim the owner is more fluent in English than in French and has been very helpful. Perfect way to end this portion of the walk!

Post walk

My final supper was a lot of fun...Brook and Ruth will return in spring to walk the Portuguese way...learned that Jean-Michel returned home to Switzerland for a few weeks...Anna's friend with whom she will walk the Camino Frances joined us at the end. Oh and my final Armagnac courtesy Brook.

Plans have been made...I am returning mid April to complete the Camino Frances and Camino Finisterre. My brother Marc will be joining me...will for sure be a good time...also Cyrille has been in contact and we hope to meet up in Cebreiro where he had to stop his walk to Santiago de Compostela due to injury...looking forward to that.

In a future blog prior to returning in the spring I will post some videos on my walking...pictures set to music. I expect that my exposure to System Architects will enable me to tackle this project using bug free software.

Finally I am unclear as to whether I will blog while in Spain or post walking as I have just done...need to reflect on this.

Thanks for following the blog, and for your comments. Wishing each of you and your respective families the very best over the special holiday season and into 2014!