Gite Makila (pronounced Jeet). Directly across from Beilari, where I stayed in 2019, and two doors down from the Pilgrim office.
Sept 4: Gite Makila – Saint-Jean-Pied-de-Port
September 4: Haircut in Saint-Jean-Pied-de-Port
They always work so diligently to straighten my hair and make me look civilized. This hair won’t see a blow dryer again until my next haircut.
September 4: The Pilgrim Office – Saint-Jean-Pied-de-Port
Started the day with a visit to the Pilgrim office to register and get my sello (stamp). We collect stamps all along the way and must get two per day for the last 100km. The stamp on the left is from our local chapter of American Pilgrims on the Camino, given to me by Dana Ballentine before I left: Your camino begins at home.
September 4: Rest Day in SJPP
Saint-Jean-Pied-de-Port, France ( SJPP). Rest day. I am staying in an albergue in a private room. We must leave around 0900 so the owner can clean. He does it alone, and there are many areas to clean. We can return at 3:00.
Two “Don’ts”
- Don’t wear your shoes past the front entry.
2. Don’t put your pack on the bed.
There’s always a rack or shelving for shoes.
Sept 3: The walk back to Gite Makala
The restaurants aren’t open for dinner until 7pm, so I had a dark walk home. The streets aren’t as isolated as this photo looks – I had to wait a bit to get a picture without people in it
September 3: Arrived at last! Met my first pilgrims
Settled in my room and found dinner. As it is on the Camino, a person can walk solo, but we are not without companions. Met my first Pilgrims over dinner. I shared a table with Matthew, an architectural student from Paris, and a couple from Portland, OR. Matthew walked here from Paris, carrying his little tent, cooking gear, and water filter for gathering drinking water from small creeks. The Oregon couple started this Camino in Le Puy, France, and will walk on to Santiago- about a 1,000 mile walk. He’s 66 and she’s 70.
Sept 3: Trains, Planes, and Automobiles
Sept 3: Taxi to Saint-Jean-Pied-de-Port
Sept 2: A Heckuva Day
Up at 0300 and at the Kansas City airport by 0430 for an 0600 Delta flight to Newark. A four-hour layover and a nice chat with a United Air crew member over my semi-warm $33 piece of chicken. Then the stormy remnants of Hurricane Ida decided to sit on the airport for a few hours.
The airport lost power, the ground floor had twelve inches of flood water rushing under the escalators, and after six hours of delays, the flight to Madrid was cancelled. Then, uncancelled. Happily, we are Madrid- bound. It’s 0340, we’ve had dinner (chicken or pasta microwaved to a scrumptious chewiness). I have a free WiFi connection and a 3-seat row all to myself.
Since I will have missed my $49 Iberia Airline flight to Pamplona by the time we arrive in Madrid at 3pm, I called to change my flight to the next day. The charge to do that: $312. I’ll spend the night in Madrid and decide on alternate transportation to Saint-Jean-Pied-de-Port (SJPP). Either an 8+ hour bus ride or the train to Pamplona with a bus to SJPP.
