Day 79-85 of walking to Santiago de Compostela from the Netherlands. On day 80 I finally arrived in Saint-Jean-Pied-de-Port, a well known starting place for many who want to walk the camino. The last two weeks before I arrived here I almost started to dread it (even though before I left home I anticipated feeling like I couldn't get there fast enough). My weeks in France had been both wonderful and challenging and I had met some amazing people. I loved the quiet nature of the Chemin de Compostelle and the business that I was anticipating on the Camino Frances made me feel like I didn't really want to arrive in Saint-Jean yet. But during my last days in France my feelings slowly started to shift. Seeing the Pyrenees in the distance probably helped and Saint-Jean-Pied-de-Port turned out to be a lovely town.

My walk from Saint-Jean-Pied-de-Port to Orreaga, where the first albergue in Spain is located, was definitely a highlight. It was very foggy and I heard some people complain about the lack of views from the mountain tops, but it was such a beautiful experience. Although there where now many more people walking in front of me or behind me, the fog wrapped me up in my own little world…

10 pictures. You can view the rest of my posts about my journey in this collection: https://pixelfed.social/c/786952650105245859

#Camino #CaminoDeSantiago #Hiking #Pilgrimage #France #Spain #CheminDeCompostelle #CheminDeStJacques #Pelgrimstocht #Wandelen #Travel

Quelques photos, le long du #chemindecompostelle en #navarre et dans la #rioja.
#caminodesantiago #caminofrances #chemindestjacques

Aujourd'hui pour la deuxième fois de ma vie j'ai croisé des pottok en #Liberte. Et c'était magique. Dans ce monde où on érige partout des clotures, des murs, des barrières, croiser des chevaux en liberté c'est juste un moment de grâce.
#paysbasque #pyrenees #CheminDeStJacques

Etape 1 : #saintjeanpieddeport - #roncesvalles. 25 kilomètres, 1200 mètres de dénivelé. Mais c'est tellement beau qu'on ne les sent pas passer.
#compostelle #chemindestjacques #caminodesantiago #caminofrances #paysbasque

Jour J-1. Enfin. Demain, première étape, la plus difficile, la plus belle aussi dit-on. #saintjeanpieddeport - #roncesvalles . 25 kilomètres avec un fort dénivelé. 6h35 dit le panneau... j'en doute un peu.
#compostelle #chemindestjacques #caminodesantiago

Day 72-78 of walking to Santiago de Compostela from the Netherlands, during which I sent my tent back home, slept in some of my favourite places in France (an old church turned into pilgrim accomodation and an old bathhouse), started on my second pilgrim passport as my first one was completely filled with stamps and I could finally see the Pyrenees in the distance for the first time...

10 pictures. You can view the rest of my posts about my journey in this collection: https://pixelfed.social/c/786952650105245859

#Camino #CaminoDeSantiago #Hiking #Pilgrimage #France #Pèlerinage #CheminDeCompostelle #CheminDeStJacques #Pelgrimstocht #Wandelen #Travel

Day 65-71 of walking to Santiago de Compostela from the Netherlands. This week I said goodbye to three pilgrim friends and it was quite an adjustment to continue by myself. However, I wasn't by myself for long. I had already met another French pilgrim with whom I stayed in the same accomodation before. One of the other pilgrims had acted as an interpreter at the time, as the new pilgrim didn't speak any English and my French was quite poor. But as we suddenly seemed to be the only pilgrims left on this part of the route we started walking together and staying in the same places. My French was challenged a lot, but it was pretty cool to notice that we were actually able to communicate about many things, even with my limited vocabulary. I was challenged to be less scared of speaking French and meanwhile my companion was challenged to be a little more patient!

10 pictures. You can view the rest of my posts about my journey in this collection: https://pixelfed.social/c/786952650105245859

#Camino #CaminoDeSantiago #Hiking #Pilgrimage #France #Pèlerinage #CheminDeCompostelle #CheminDeStJacques #Pelgrimstocht #Wandelen #Travel

Day 58-64 of walking to Santiago de Compostela from the Netherlands. This whole week I walked with three other pilgrims: one from France, one from Germany and one from Australia. Even though we only formed a group for around ten days I feel like we learned so much more about each other than probably would have been the case in any other setting.

10 pictures. You can view the rest of my posts about my journey in this collection: https://pixelfed.social/c/786952650105245859

#Camino #CaminoDeSantiago #Hiking #Pilgrimage #France #Pèlerinage #CheminDeCompostelle #CheminDeStJacques #Pelgrimstocht #Wandelen #Travel

Day 51-57 of walking to Santiago de Compostela from the Netherlands. This was the week in which learned to let go of the pace I had set myself (at least a little) and do what felt right in the moment. Just because you know you can walk 30 kilometers, doesn't mean you have to. I had met a lovely group of people and after spending two days with them I had planned to continue on my own as they walked shorter distances. But I actually didn't enjoy it as much as I thought I would. I had great conversation over dinner that evening with a pilgrim who travelled by bike, but at night I was stressing out about where to go the next day.

In the morning I set out not really knowing my plan for the day and the weather was much colder and rainier than I had anticipated, so I wasn't dressed appropriately. After a while I got incredibly cold but luckily I stumbled apon a road-side café which happened to be open. While I was warming up I decided that I would only walk a short distance that day, to the place the group from the previous days had said they were going to go.

Even though I had only spent a short time with them it was so nice to see the three other pilgrims again and I was surprised how easily I fitted in with the group. One of the others was French so he had a much easier time arranging accomodation and offered to book for me as well, and I decided their little group for the moment. After over fifty days being mostly by myself, it was really nice to have someone else do the decision-making for me and just focus on walking from A to B.

10 pictures. You can view the rest of my posts about my journey in this collection: https://pixelfed.social/c/786952650105245859

#Camino #CaminoDeSantiago #Hiking #Pilgrimage #France #Selfie #Pèlerinage #CheminDeCompostelle #CheminDeStJacques #Pelgrimstocht #Wandelen #Travel

Day 44-50 of walking to Santiago de Compostela from the Netherlands. After walking together with two Flemish pilgrims for some days I had to say goodbye to them. It felt strange to continue on my own again; somehow on the road just one day spent with someone can feel like a week.

And eventhough I was already living day by day (quite unusual for me), I was challenged further with a rather sudden change to my plans. On a day where I had planned to walk 32 kilometers I fell and hurt my knee after only a couple of kilometers. I had to cancel my accomodation and ring up a closer hostel in French. I strongly dislike phonecalls in any language, but the added stress of having to speak a language that I'm not fluent in didn't help. Still, when I finally arrived at my new destination I felt incredibly calm. It feels good knowing that you can rely on yourself.

10 pictures. You can view the rest of my posts about my journey in this collection: https://pixelfed.social/c/786952650105245859

#Camino #CaminoDeSantiago #Hiking #Pilgrimage #France #Bourges #Pèlerinage #CheminDeCompostelle #CheminDeStJacques #Pelgrimstocht #Wandelen #Travel