Breakfast of hard boiled eggs (prepared in a tiny hot pot yesterday), bananas and bread, packed up and out the door by 7:25am. One final photo in front of the hotel and then a familiar walk to the bus depot.
Our 7:45am bus was right on time. We boarded, scanned out tickets and settled in for the 40 minute ride. This battery powered bus was beautiful. The inside was as sleek and modern as the outside. And quiet! About 15 stops later we got off across the street from the train station. A quick walk and we were in the station searching out our track. As we wandered thw small station staring up at the information boards a beautiful train woman (everyone in France is beautiful) told us we would be riding on her train on track D. It was scheduled to leave at 8:52. It was already at the station and we boarded about 8:40. It was a single car, more like a huge bus on railroad tracks. As the train filled to capacity it was hard to miss the fact that everyone was a Camino hiker. All had backpacks. The overhead luggage shelves were filled with backpacks. The hour long ride was down a river valley filled with small farms, woods and beautiful scenery.
At the St. Jean station we followed the crowd theough a residential area and then through the surrounding wall into the old city to the Perigrino Office. Becky had been following a Camino Facebook group that kept emphasizing the massive crowds starting on the Camino, over 400 per day, so we were braced for a long line at the office. There were about 20 people forming a line outside, with a dozen inside. Sally and Becky stopped to buy trekking poles at a shop while I got in line. They finished their transaction and walked up hill to the office just as it was my turn to step inside.
The small office (12x20) had five people sitting at a row of tables helping pilgrims get oriented and handing out and stamping credentials. These are volunteers. The three in the middle spoke 3 to 4 languages and had a placard in front of them listing the languages. The guy on the left spoke only French. The guy on the right spoke German and French. We ended up with Almut, a very kind German woman. We started the interview by thanking her profusely for doing this work. She said she is only there for a week, yet yesterday they worked from 7:30am until 10:00pm. At 8:00pm they had 40 people who did not have a place to sleep in St. Jean and scrambled to find housing for them. Anyway, we got our Credentials and our first stamp and were soon back out. We moved to the grassy yard next to the office and ate a snack and planned our day. We took a walk to the post office and back, then went to our rooms for the night, which were not open until 3pm. Becky and I made a run across town to the grocery for lunch, dinner, breakfast and lunch. Once back, we sat by the river that flows through town and ate lunch, then cruised the town and finally got into our room.
Our room was a top floor, very nicely finished, very large room. Sally and Becky took naps while I wrote and read. We returned to the yes next to the office to eat our salad for dinner, walked to the starting point of the Camino and then returned to our room. The host boiled our 6 eggs for our breakfast in the common area and we retired to our room. Tomorrow we start walking!!
Interior of battery powered bus in Biarritz
Train station in Bayonne
Arriving!
Line at the Perigrino office to get Credentials
Crowd inside Perigrino office
Getting our initial stamp in or credentials from Ulmut, a German volunteer working 13 hour days at the office to accommodate the 400 pilgrims a day.
Unmet got a short break. We got an “usy”.
St. Jean Pied de Pont Main Street in old city
At the entrance to the walled city of St. Jean.
A quick jet lag nap in St. Jean after getting credentials and lunch
Salad for dinner in the yard next to the Perigrino office.
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