Day 1 supposedly the toughest we will encounter involved a 27.1 km slog up the pyrenese in what can only be described as hell with a 15 kg bag and only two walking poles for support. This aside the scenery was lovely- the snow was melting around us and the snow capped mountains were amazing. Enjoyed a coffee break in Orisson and a lunch break before taking on the climb up Leopoder. The Leopder climb is around 1500m and is well above the cloud line. It provided us with some amazing views of the surrounding countryside which includes both France and Spain. The descent you would think would be much easier but sadly no- in my opinion it was much more difficult and taxing on the knees. Sahra suffered from some bad blistering on the back of her heals so it will be interesting to see how this plays out over the next few days.
After departing at 6.40am we arrived safely at 3.00pm, a bit worse for wear but excited about sharing a room with 100 other pilgrims (please note the sarcasm). Our accommodation was a mere 5 euros each and we enjoyed the pilgrims special priced meal for 9 euros- this included soup, fish or beef for a main and a yoghurt for desert. Most of the price accounted for the bottle of wine between 4.
All in all an awesome start to our journey- not to oversell it but one of the best days we have had since being away. Cant wait for tomorrow. Anyways off to sleep as we have 25km ahead of us tomorrow.
Hey I know exactly where you are comming from- the decents are really taxing on the knees especially the back of the knees.
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