Saint-Jean-Pied-de-Port, Nouvelle-Aquitaine, France
We had a 5:00am wake up call to pack and walk over to the train station only to discover our train was leaving at 7:58 and not 7:00am as we thought. Should have checked the tickets earlier and we could have slept in another hour!
The French trains are very efficient we’re finding and we left Paris right on time at 7:58am on the TGV, in the rain. Now if we’d walked over to the station an hour later we’d have been caught in that rain so there are blessings to being early! We were so lucky to get a lovely clear day in Paris yesterday. Our seats were opposite some kids heading to Spain with their parents for the school holidays. The train was packed.
We passed canola fields, wind turbines and small peaked roofed villages doing 295km/h - 315km/h. A couple of hours later we started seeing some vineyards after leaving Poitiers.
The train arrived in Bordeaux St Jean right on time. It was absolute bedlam at the station. Of course it’s the first day of the school holidays and everyone was heading somewhere with their children! It took us quite some time to find our next train.
The number had been changed so we couldn’t find it listed on the notice board and Bayonne wasn’t one of the towns named. We had to find the information centre which was no easy feat, where they told us ‘non, complete!’
Luckily I was able to show her my QR code for the tickets and all was good. She let us through and sent us to the right platform. This was a local train so it had no seat assignments. There was a bit of a dog fight to find somewhere.to sit. This train being a local one traveled slower than the TGV but was still going a lot faster than our trains at home in my opinion. Since we weren’t going to the end of the line we had to concentrate on the stations as they came up. The train only stopped for a couple of minutes. We negotiated that stop and then finding our third and final train for the day was a breeze.
The last journey of the day was only an hour but it was the prettiest into St Jean Pied de Port. This is the beginning point of the Camino Frances so the passengers on the train were mostly wearing hiking shoes and carrying back packs.
Sheila and I lumped our suitcases the 800m to the Gite where we’re staying tonight, up a hill and over the cobble stones from the train station. We are so looking forward to being unencumbered by this annoyance each day and only having a day pack to carry around with us. We’ll be passing our suitcases off to a luggage transfer company to move from place to place for us from here on out.
We’ve chatted with a number of people who are starting the walk tomorrow but we’re waiting another day and exploring this charming village a bit more. We’ve booked into our first hostel for the next two nights. This one has small cubbies with 2 or 4 beds in them. Sheila and I are sharing one for two people. For those of us who left our youth hostel days behind us long ago it might be a bit of a challenge! All part of the adventure! We’ll let you know what it’s like tomorrow.
Suzanne
2023-04-23
It looks very green. Hope your accommodation is comfortable, and enjoy your explorations tomorrow.
Beth
2023-04-23
Loving the photos, Leanne. Would be thoroughly enjoying everything bar the accommodation, but maybe I've become (foolishly) a bit of a'princess'. Can't wait to see what happens down the track. Love Beth xo
Carole
2023-04-23
I’m really enjoying your blog Leanne, it’s so detailed it’s great. X
Allan
2023-04-23
Great photos from your big travelling day. XX
Jenny
2023-04-23
Loving your blog as always, Leanne! Beautiful photos! Hope you slept well in your cubby house xx
Margot
2023-04-23
I’m getting very excited on your behalf. Isn’t St Jean just the cutest place?
Jackie
2023-04-24
Ok Girls-I have filed away the "start" pictures & will compare them at the end to see if those happy smiles are still there or are you throwing walking sticks at one another!!!Fantastic journey so far-love reading about it & so pleased it's all going so well.
Helen Leben
2023-04-25
We just arrived home from our Balkans trip and had to giggle reading your post about flight with Qatar as sounded so similar to our experience. Also working out buses and trains times definitely tests the patience . I will now be able to sit back & enjoy reading about your travels.
Tanya
2023-04-28
Stunning ❤️