We arrived at our hostel for the night and were greeted with hot tea and smiling faces. I can not even begin to explain how wonderful L'Esprit du Chemin is. The pilgrims staying there (only 18 allowed) were all kind and we met people from Germany, Australia, and Canada! They served us a 3 course meal and made sure we had plenty of wine to drink. This alburge had a strict bedtime (which was good because we were all exhausted) and this morning they has breakfast ready and sandwiches for us to take with us. If anyone ever does the Camino in the future be sure to stay here!!
Mints on our pillow and a sweet little note greeted us when we arrived!
Before supper we explored St. Jean a bit.
This morning we woke up and felt a chill in the air, it was also raining. We were excited and ready as we bundled up in our warm clothes, little did we know what lay ahead.
We had to take the valley route because the Napoleon route was closed. It was drizzling as we walked along enjoying the beautiful farmland and mountains that surrounded us. Wildflowers lined our path and sheep and cows watched us closely.
We continued walking feeling great, until suddenly the path turned up toward the mountain and we never saw a downhill again. We climbed and climbed, the air turming colder and the mist becoming rain. Eventually we turned around and saw something that truely surprised us....SNOW.
Yes, snow. It is the middle of May and the mountains were covered in snow. I thought to myself "Oh, cool. Thank god we didn't take the mountain route where all that snow is!" As we continued on, we found a small overhang to eat our lunch. After that we walked and walked and eventually found a sign saying that the next town was 5 km away (no biggie after the 20 we had already walked). We continued on excited about being done for the day...and we continued on and on, and suddenly there was 2 inches of snow on the ground and the wind was howling and the rain was pouring. We were all freezing as we truged up and up, soaked to the bone. At one point I found myself yelling profanity at the sky. Why St. James, why?!
Finally we found a road and saw the town we are staying in tonight. I fell down in the snow twice trying to hurry to the only shelter we had had all day, the alburge I'm currenly sitting in. We walked to the alburge and were greeted by a man who told us to take off our wet clothes and go upstairs for a hot shower. I was shivering so bad he looked at me and said "Oh you're so cold. You look like you will cry." I'm sure I looked like a cold, sad, drowned rat. We finally got our beds, took scalding showers, and had proper time to rest. Dinner is in one hour at one of the two resturants in town (we had to make reservations as soon as we got here because over 300 pilgrims are staying in this old church).
Day one was a real doozy.
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