St Jean Pied de Port

We’ve arrived at the start of our Camino journey.

We travelled yesterday from St Pancras International to Paris in two and a half hours. That gave us a couple of hours to get across town on the metro to Gare de Montparnasse. Then the TGV to Bayonne via Bordeaux arriving in Bayonne four hours later. It was amazing to be smoothly travelling at 300 kph / 200 mph.

We enjoyed a look round Bayonne this morning which is a very pleasant city at the confluence of two rivers.

The train to St Jean was just after midday. We had seen fellow pilgrims in Bayonne and then we were crowded on the train together for the 70 minute journey. It was good to chat with Brian from Sleaford and Janet from Ohio as well as others.

We had some good advice on travelling from Tours to St Jean by bicycle from a Dutch cyclist who was on a reconnoiter.

The hills gradually rose around us as we travelled up the river valley. As the train arrived in St Jean we were met with a heavy downpour. A quick dash took us to our hotel for the night.

We’ve enjoyed a wander round the town and most importantly had our pilgrim credential stamped. We left a gap in the stamp record in case we get to finish off the section from Tours to St Jean.

We went into the church. Although this doesn’t feel like a religious experience for me I was moved to say a little prayer for us as we begin in earnest.