May 13th 2019

Its day zero, time to get to France and man do I have a punishing schedule to get there,  guess thats what happens when you use frequent flyer miles. Four plane rides and a train.

Just spoke with Kaz whos in France with a Rose Wine in her hands. Seems the girl is a little confused already, apparently she flew Australia to London, then to the south of France before she realized that one shoe was Blue and the other Black, one patent leather and one suede. Bill and I will have to keep an eye on her I think or there is no telling where she may walk to when we are not looking

Its time to leave for the airport , Blog will start for real on about the 16th, depending on internet regularity and how hard Microsoft are going to make it using Blogspot. Oh yeah, I have a small Ipad and big fingers so forgive the spelling and auto correct which I hate.
The start is in the village of St Jean Pied du Port ( saint Johns. At the base of the pass)  at 4500 ft climb with a 2500 ft descent over the Pyrenness Mountian range to complete day one.
St Jean is only 8 km(5miles) from the Spanish border and lies on the banks of the river Nive. This medieval village is very quaint and a popular start to this walk.
First things first when we get there ,is to sign in at the Pilgrim office and get our credentials, without these we cannot use the Alburgues ( pilgrim hostels). It is at each night stop that the credentials are stamped to prove at journeys end, that you have walked the pilgrim route.
With this document ,which you produce at walks end in Santiago de Compostela, you are given a Latin certificate with your name on it stating that you are indeed a pilgrim.
Right now I’m sitting in a lounge at a London Heathrow airport hoping Leonard the girl Elephant( my backpack ) will arrive on the next plane in time for my flight to a Paris, Leonard has gone AWOL.
5/15/2012
Today Kaz and I arrived in St Jean and immediately went to the pilgrims office to sign up and get our credentials stamped at the start.

 Heard the lecture on safety etc etc like before, and now I am finally getting excited. We went out to lunch and a beer, then the supermarket to get breakfast for tomorrow’s early start. We got some food for the road too as there is nothing between here and the other side of the Pyrennese. St Jean is a really pretty place, but once we cross that old bridge tomorrow, only climbing will be on my mind.

Early night and it’s time to go
I am fired up.

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