We're on our way!

We arrived safely in Paris after an uneventful overnight flight - the way we like it - and took the train to Bayonne through the beautiful countryside to the south of France, though the scenery was a bit lost on us as we dozed off and on along the way. Bed at the hotel was very welcome! On Monday we took the bus to St. Jean Pied de Port, where we poked around for the rest of the day. It's a lovely old, little tourist town in the Pyrenees. The market was in full swing - with lots of colourful things to buy, but we held fast to our rule "no souvenirs until Santiago". We checked in at the Pilgrim office and picked up our credencials des peregrinos (passports for pilgrims). And we bought lunch goodies for the trek on Tuesday - some cheese, dry sausage, bread, an apple and chocolate (a staple for hikers).

At the gite we met other hikers, including a group from Ottawa! And on Tuesday morning (today) we started walking!!!! Our first day has been short, though uphill all the way - 8 km to Orisson - picture above; we arrived at 11am, ready for coffee and lunch. We met more hikers, this time including a couple from our neighbourhood in Etobicoke.

The walk this morning was lovely - a very still morning with the early mist still hanging around. We heard lots of birds, cows and cowbells, sheep, roosters and the chatter of fellow peregrinos. The scenery is breathtaking - steep green hillsides, picturesque white plaster farmhouses with red tile roofs and matching shutters, wildflowers blooming along the narrow ashphalt roadsides. All but about 1 km was along the narrow road; we had to step off the road to let cars by. The 1 km was off-road, on a grassy/stoney/wet/muddy track.

So now we've done our chores - showered, did our laundry, made our beds, and updated our blog, fighting all the way with a very different French keyboard!!

Tomorrow we anticipate more good weather and spectacular scenery as we continue to climb up and over the Pyrenees.