Tuesday, April 11, 2006

She went up.... she came down

This will be a quick one but after reading my messages I felt so grateful that so many people were thinking of me on the 11th.

I was feeling very nervous as I packed in Paris and came ny train but St Jean Pied de Port was such a lovely town and I met people straight away that Ifelt better.

I woke this morning to a very misty and cold morning. I mailed some things ahead to lighten my load and then started walking around 9.15 - which is alitle late to start.

I planned to stay in Orisson, 10km up the hill and made it there by midday. Jacques informed me that it does not open for 2 more days - even though I had made a reservation....... seems i had to face the next 17.5 kms!!

<Jacques very kindly drove me up the road for 3km to catch up with the next group of people as I was the last to come up the mountain (due to post office duties etc) and I rec´d some dirty looks for taking a car!! as it was the safer thing to do I decided to not feel guilty!

Then met up with a really lovely bunch of people who I stayed with all day - 2 from Scotland, one form Italy, 1 from Amsterdam, one from Holand and one from Poland! A funny little mix.

We pushed on and after 10 hours !!! finished the pass and came into Roncesvalles at 6.30pm!!

My feet hurt and I am very tired but I am also very proud f us for mak8ing that pass. IT was 1350m at the highest point and covered 27.5km. It was breathtakingly beautiful and we had lots of stops to admire the view.

Now that the hardest part is over I feel more calm and more capable.รง


I feel very lucky that I have such support from my friends and family and I thank you - I think all of those good wishes carried me up that hill today. I found it much easier than I should have - considering my fitness :-)

Love to all and onwards to Santiago!!

Love kellie

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

Woo hoo! Well done Kel! That's fabulous! Am so proug :-)

Anonymous said...

I mean proud...

Anonymous said...

Kel! I am so proud of you! Well done. Can't wait to see the rest of your adventures unfold.

Anonymous said...

On ya kelso. fancy you starting late .. unheard of. I'm very proug too!

p.s. snowy clapped for first time today

Anonymous said...

Hey Kel - Johnno and I are in NZ for the next couple of weeks. Will be thinking of you every time I drink too much and...well...you know the rest
Kristie