Stage 0: Bayonne to Saint-Jean-Pied-de-Port

Stage 0 – the day I was not ready

Start: 3:00, 15 ºC, rain

Stayed at: Gite du chemin de l’etoile

Instead, courtesy of Ryanair, we are going from Cambridge, to London Stansted, to Biarritz, to Bayonne. Today is all about getting in position.

Flying out

A word to the wise: your 50L backpack is not meant to be hand luggage. I took my few valuables into a smaller bag, and checked in my backpack, together with my Swiss army knife (which, among 70 other functions, definitely had a blade, somewhere…).

If you are planning to use walking sticks, those will have to be checked in as well. I didn’t, and, except for two specific situations, I didn’t really need them. YMMV.

How did I want?

I didn’t have many expectations for this Camino. The one thing I wanted was to walk – and to walk to the finish line. Everything else was an extra.

How did I feel?

A world away from corporate scum, I felt once again in control of my own path; hopeful, cautious and determined.

Autonomy

A wise man taught about the concept of “Autonomy”, a direct consequence of the world-famous abstraction of “FU money”. To be your own person; to be independent, psychologically and financially; to be in a position where you simply don’t have to jump into the very first job coming your way. A condition which for most can only by time-limited, may it be for a few months or several years.

Eventually you run out of money, or just get bored. In my case, I took a deep breath and approached the Camino with a sense of Autonomy: it was all about doing this thing, work and other obligations could wait. No urgencies; the only priority was making it to the finish line.

Bayonne

From the Biarritz airport, a bus will take you straight to Bayonne. While I was waiting for my train to SJPP, I enjoyed a nice tour of this lovely French ville. Beautiful, just beautiful.
It’s a shame restaurants allow smoking inside, though, it spoils the whole experience.

Saint Jean Pied-de-Port

SJPP is starting point for less than a third of pilgrims who venture on the Camino Frances. In my “shift” probably 250-300 pilgrims (and turigrinos) started from SJPP with me on that day.

Whether you already have a credencial or not, you are meant to start your CF from the Pilgrim Office in SJPP. Show up early, the queue is pretty long.

The office will give you a stamp, a ton of useless paper and an option to buy a shell for your journey.

This queue was my first exposure to the concept of “turigrino”.

Turigrinos are a nightmare. Or maybe not. More on this later.

SJPP is of course a tourist trap on its own. You know your camino’s stage is a tourist trap when they offer you a “pilgrim menu” without even checking your credencial.

Citadel

Next to the main bridge there is a narrow set of stairs taking you on some sort of belvedere, with a breathtaking view on SJPP and its surroundings.

Here, at the end of my “first” day, I could fill my eyes, my lungs, my souls with the vastness and freedom awaiting me on the Camino.
My heart was ready.