Simply overwhelming!

Dear ones,

the first 2 days are behind me... they were days full of incredible encounters and experiences, but also some hardships.

I had survived the flights from Berlin via London to Biarritz very well. Although London was very confusing :D. Everything went automatically... the passport control was just a scanner without any other people and I also had to weigh my backpack myself and attach the belt for the flight.

Funnily enough, I sat next to the same young woman on both flights. Unfortunately, we only started talking on the 2nd flight. However, it turned out that she was also walking the Camino de Santiago. It was great, we got along very well right away and couldn't stop chatting. Unfortunately, our paths separated in Saint Jean Pied de Port after a short visit to the pilgrim office, as she had already reserved a relatively expensive room in a hotel. However, I still had to find a bed. So I walked along the beautiful streets of SJPDP and saw a lady hanging out a sign saying that there was still a room available. And so it happened that I had an incredible, beautiful and breathtaking evening. There were a total of 20 pilgrims. Including several from the USA, and one each from Sweden, Canada, Australia, South Korea, Brazil, 4 sisters from France, and me, the only German :)

For dinner, we all sat in a small, very cozy backyard. First, the two hostel proprietresses introduced themselves and offered a small aperitif. These two led us through the whole evening in an incredible way. It was so wonderful! We laughed a lot and got to know each other. A farm owner from the USA, a founder of a non-profit organization...

It was truly an incredible evening!!!

And today, I tackled the challenging stretch of almost 30 km with 1200 meters of elevation gain. I'm currently lying in the quite cozy pilgrim bed, and my legs and shoulders are already hurting quite a bit. It was quite exhausting, but I managed everything well so far. And actually, I would like to write much more, but my eyes are getting heavy... I hope I can tell you about Peter from Vancouver and Richard from Ireland tomorrow.

Best regards!

Nicole