Roncesvalles - first day on the Camino

My first view of the Camino

A very early (and expensive!) cab ride from Pamplona to Ronsecvalles, the starting point in Spain for the Camino de Santiago Compostela. In the dark we drive up into the Pyrenes, arriving at the refugio, convent and chapels of Roncesvalles. The Camino de Santiago Compostela is a medeival Pilgramage route that crisscrosses throughout Europe and Spain ending at the Cathedral of Santiago honoring St. James, the apostle and pilgrim. The Camino Frances - the most common route that connects all the routes in Europe and travels through Spain is 750 km long. Finding myself between jobs with a desire for a challenging trip, I thought this may be a perfect time for such an ambitious undertaking. It is also an opportunity to visit a lot of new archtiecture in Spain. The combination of physical challenge, cultural history and comtemporary architecure became key in my decision to follow the Way of Saint James.

Roncesvalles is where a great battle was fought, the story of the famous French medeival epic, The Song of Roland. Charlemagne, while fighting the Saracens in Spain, was called back over the Pyrenees, leaving the great hero Roland and a small band here to cover his retreat. Roland is given a great horn to blow if he needs help, a horn only he can blow, a horn that can be heard hundreds of miles away and will make the ground shake. 400,000 Saracens attack Roland in here and the Franks left behind to fight fall one by one. Roland refuses to blow the horn until the last moment, but it is too late, by the time Charlemagne returns to help him he has been killed.

I look around at the mountainous country, what must have the fighting been like in these hills and valleys? I am glad I am starting here and not on the French side of the Pyrenees, I can ride up into the foothills and walk down.

It is still dark, everything is locked up tight. I wander about in the cold with my heavy pack. A man and a young woman show up, wandering around like myself. They are Spanish, a father is being dropped off for the trail by his daughter. He will hike for a week, his has been putting together several trips to do the entire Camino. This summer he will finish the last leg on July 25 the traditional day of festivities. No one is around and he decides to move on, leaving me with the traditional greeting - ´Buen Camino´. He suggests I go wait in the church where it is warm.

Sitting in the church, a small dark chapel (but warm!) - suddenly it is filed with chanting. Two couples entire the chapel, greeting each other quietly. A Priest enters and performs a service. A good start for my trip.

After I go outside and shortly a woman drives up and parks. I follow her and ask if she can provide me a credentiale, a certificate I will need as a travel, this will be stamped as I make my way proving I hvae hiked the entire route. Having accomplished this I take care of another important piece of business, breakfast. A small cafe nearby is filled with a bus load of Camino hikers, elderly, but all vigorous, jovial and excited. It is 8:30AM and I see several brandy snifters among these experirenced peregrinos. I think to myself, I could get used to this! Ah, I have accomplished so much today, a long ride, service, the search for my credentiale, now a respite in this cozy cafe, let me see, so far I have hiked exactly how many miles of the Camino?

Time to get going - the camino here is beautiful and wooded, the morning is misty and perfectly cool. Dispite the large group in the cafe, I don´t meet any fellow pilgrams as I walk.

I walk through very small towns - all quite ancient, although typically in good shape. The stone work and construction is somehow inspiring, so different from New England.

I will also pass many medeival bridges and roads, even some Roman construction.