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@ matej
2025-02-12 09:17:04
DAY 1
St.-Jean-Pied-de-Port -> Roncesvalles [24,78 km -> 7:24 hrs]
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"Whatever the circumstances, whatever the hardships, the only thing that gets you to a better place is taking the next step, so just TAKE IT."
Green as grass, and full of enthusiasm, I start my journey like hundreds of thousands of pilgrims each year, in St.-Jean-Pied-de-Port. A small, medieval, French town near the Spanish border where you can get your Pilgrim’s Passport and a scallop shell to put on your backpack. The first day is also one of the most challenging since you have to ascend about 1200m. The start is nice and slow, but soon enough the steep ascent starts. It’s long, it’s steady and my backpack is very needlessly heavy. Throughout the Camino, I either threw out or sent home 6 kilograms of stuff I did not need, yet was carrying on this first day. Hours and hours of pumping myself up, calling on the ancestors to give me a boost of energy, and wondering “What am I doing here?”. Near the end, it started raining, I was tired beyond my imagination, yet the only thing to do was to take the next step. I couldn’t stop in the middle of the forest, I couldn’t call a taxi, and I had no other recourse other than to take the next step. It is a funny situation, all you want to do is to stop and have some comfort, dry clothes, and warmth, yet the only way to get there is to endure more of the discomfort, pain, and dreary weather. The only thing that gets closer to the desired state is taking the next hurtful step. And that was the very first lesson the Camino taught me: "Whatever the circumstances, whatever the hardships, the only thing that gets you to a better place is taking the next step, so just TAKE IT."
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