Day 1: St Jean Pied de Port to Orisson (8km)

After finally having a good night's sleep, Noni and I decided to bite the bullet and walk the 8km to Orisson. 8km? That's nothing! We'll walk, have a coffee at the bar at Orisson, then catch a cab back to St Jean. Easy!

So we set off, jet lagged but pretty excited.

Here's Noni and I taking our first steps! These sorts of markers are along the whole Way.

Just look at how fresh faced and energetic we were!

We set off through the beautiful town of St Jean and I got pretty camera happy. We had a good pace, had only minimal belongings in our backpacks to ease ourselves into it, and we were overtaking people left right and centre. We had this Camino in the bag.

The road started becoming a bit steeper, which was a little bit difficult. We knew it'd be a solid incline, but so far so good.

Look at us! Despite my red face, we were still enjoying our brisk walk in nature, waving to all the adorable farm animals (sheep! donkeys! baby donkeys!).

And then the path veered away from the road and the real incline started. And I died. I cannot describe the struggle, but I'll try anyway. First, the mouth breathing started. Then the huffing. Then the pain in my calves. Noni suggested smaller steps on the incline, so I tried taking small steps. Then I just stopped. I was attempting to get some energy back and psyche myself up to keep going.

Then an angel appeared.

 

Not this Virgin Mary statuette, but Christine. Christine saw my plight (which I was still pretending wasn't happening) and leant me her walking poles. They were odd, but I definitely think they helped me, if only to concentrate on something other than the fact that there were still 3km to go of this blasted mountain.

Helpful signs like this "keep going" one were helpful, but not as helpful as Christine. She also taught us to walk up the hill in a zigzag pattern which took a lot of the strain away.

Here's Noni waiting for me, hating me for making her take so long.

Here's Christine and her poles.

Eventually, when I thought I couldn't go any further, we rounded a corner and found this:

Orisson. Finally! 

I cannot stress enough how difficult this walk was, and for some people, this isn't the end of their first leg. They continue another 17.4km up that bloody mountain to Roncesvales. I cannot even imagine going further than Orisson. Apparently the incline isn't as bad, but those measly 8km zapped us of our strength.

At Orisson we ran into our iPad charger hero, Oliver, and his travelling buddy, Rudyard. We bought them both the promised beer. 

If you ask me, Rudyard has a drinkin problem. Look at him, the lush.