Day 1 - September 5

Saint-Jean-Pied-de-Port to Roncesvalles. Day 1 of long runs is always difficult. I have learned that doing half the distance we would like to achieve for the rest of the days is the best way to wade into the big pool. Today was Christina’s maiden voyage as crew chief and standing at under 5’ tall it was a concern she could see over the dashboard on the VW van we secured as well as maneuver on the Camino and the small village streets. She handled it like a pro! Gabe and his girlfriend Shelby escorted Amy and I on a tough stage. We drive 2 hours from San Sebastián to our start and after we secured our pilgrim passports, we set off at 10am on our journey. We were treated to a stunning run that ascended more than 5k feet into the Pyrenees and along the spine until it dropped 1k feet into our final town. Gabe who is generally not competitive counted 158 pilgrims we passed today as our ongoing entertainment. Mission accomplished on getting through the day and for today only we will head back to our apartment t in San Sebastián then return tomorrow morning to pick up where we left off and say obye to Monica, Gabe and Shelby.

All for today. Cheers,

David