Day One: The Napoleon Route

We were up and out of the albergue early. We'd been waiting for this day for months and were eager to get going. On our way out of town we met a Spaniard named Philipe. Philipe owns an albergue in Santiago (the city where the camino ends) and had walked the camino before.

After a few km we realized we were on the Napoleon route which we had been told was closed due to the amount of snow on the trail. Philipe told us otherwise, and since there were no signs saying it was closed, he was convinced it was open. His certainty worked for us and we continued on.

The route was incredible! Rolling green hills, old farm houses, wild horses, and amazing vistas. The best part: we had the whole route to ourselves. We plugged along, enjoying ourselves thoroughly and relishing every twist and turn of the trail.

Philipe was hiking at a faster rate than we were and had gone ahead earlier in the day. We were stopped at a fountain to fill our water about 18km into the day when we saw Philipe walking towards us. Not a good sign. He informed us that the trail was impassable ahead, with over two meters of snow blocking the way. After hiking up the mountain for 18km, and only 6km from Roncesvalles (our final destination for the day), we had to turn back.

After studying the map for a bit we discovered a side trail that would take us to the alternate (open) route and save us having to go all the way back to St. Jean. The trail saved us a lot of back tracking, but was such a steep downhill gradient that Jordyn aggravated an old knee injury. Philipe was a massive help on the decent, going ahead to scout the trail and leading us in the best direction to avoid any unnecessary stress on Jordyn's knee.

After 8hrs and 32km of steep ascent and decent, we arrived in Roncesvalles. We were bruised and battered, but we made it. Day 1 in the books.