I am going to bag my bag for the Camino this evening, which is very impressive for me, because if you know me, I am always a last minute packer!
Usually about twenty minutes before I go the airport!
So I have looked at many lists on the internet of what to bring and tonight I am going to see if I can pack my bag with the least possible weight.
Monday, May 21, 2007
Saturday, May 12, 2007
Our Travel plans for day 1
We will be flying to Biarritz from Dublin on Ryanair on Sat 26th May. Unfortunately we will land until 14.40 local time, which makes it impossible to make the train for St Jean Pied de Port as it leaves at 14.42 and next one is not until 16.47 and arriving at 19.35. http://www.voyages-sncf.com/dynamic/_SvHomePage?_CMD=cmdHomepageUK for train times in France.
We wanted to do a small walk on our first day, so I had a look on Internet and found a cab company in Biarritz that said they could take us to St Jean in an hour http://www.taxis-biarritz.fr/. As there will be 5 of us, this means that we need to get two cabs and it will be roughly €40 each.
So we decided to go with this plan, get to St Jean and start walking to Orisson http://refuge-orisson.com/. We booked this with the help of my brother Maurice, who is a fluent French speaker. For €30 we get a bed, breakfast and a dinner, and it looks great on the website.
We wanted to do a small walk on our first day, so I had a look on Internet and found a cab company in Biarritz that said they could take us to St Jean in an hour http://www.taxis-biarritz.fr/. As there will be 5 of us, this means that we need to get two cabs and it will be roughly €40 each.
So we decided to go with this plan, get to St Jean and start walking to Orisson http://refuge-orisson.com/. We booked this with the help of my brother Maurice, who is a fluent French speaker. For €30 we get a bed, breakfast and a dinner, and it looks great on the website.
Why did we choose the Camino?
Last summer I was on holidays with my wife and daughter in Spain and I came across a book about the Camino. I picked it up as a present for a friend of mine, John O'Connor. He had mentioned to me before that he wanted to walk this pilgrimage trail, however by the time I gave it to him, I had already read it myself!!!
So when I gave him the book, I also mentioned that I would be interested in doing the Camino as well. So from this we started to make some inquiries into what we needed to do.
A couple of weeks later while out fishing in Johns boat we mentioned our idea to another friend, Tommy Lawless and he asked could he come with us. Tommy also suggested mentioning it to Paul Fortune, which he did. Paul was also interested. So now we were four.
I did a lot of Internet browsing and found that we could fly into Biarritz with Ryanair, direct from Dublin. So we booked this flight. Now we had to figure where to fly back from. After much discussion, we settled on Vittoria, as it also had a direct flight to Dublin, plus there seemed to be good rail connections with Burgos. We figured that we would finish our trip near Burgos.
Unfortunately we don't have enough holidays from work to complete the trip in one go. But hopefully we will finish it next year in our second visit.
Later Paul was talking to a friend of his, Eugene Healy about holidays and Eugene mentioned that he was planning on walking in Spain as well. Paul said, why don't you come with us. So Eugene was now our fifth.
I mentioned it to one of my oldest friends, Mark Lawlor and he said that he would like to do some of the Camino with us. Unfortunately he can join us for all of it as he is doing his final exams in homeopathy in May. Now we are six, and will probably stay this way.
So when I gave him the book, I also mentioned that I would be interested in doing the Camino as well. So from this we started to make some inquiries into what we needed to do.
A couple of weeks later while out fishing in Johns boat we mentioned our idea to another friend, Tommy Lawless and he asked could he come with us. Tommy also suggested mentioning it to Paul Fortune, which he did. Paul was also interested. So now we were four.
I did a lot of Internet browsing and found that we could fly into Biarritz with Ryanair, direct from Dublin. So we booked this flight. Now we had to figure where to fly back from. After much discussion, we settled on Vittoria, as it also had a direct flight to Dublin, plus there seemed to be good rail connections with Burgos. We figured that we would finish our trip near Burgos.
Unfortunately we don't have enough holidays from work to complete the trip in one go. But hopefully we will finish it next year in our second visit.
Later Paul was talking to a friend of his, Eugene Healy about holidays and Eugene mentioned that he was planning on walking in Spain as well. Paul said, why don't you come with us. So Eugene was now our fifth.
I mentioned it to one of my oldest friends, Mark Lawlor and he said that he would like to do some of the Camino with us. Unfortunately he can join us for all of it as he is doing his final exams in homeopathy in May. Now we are six, and will probably stay this way.
Only Two weeks till we start
As I sit here at my computer, its hard to believe that its only two weeks, 26th May, till we arrive at St Jean and start our walk to Orisson, http://refuge-orisson.com/ . In the next couple of weeks, I will try and keep the blog up to date with all the last minute planning and packing that we are doing.
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