http://www.refuge-orisson.com/en/
Refuge Orisson is too close to the start of the Camino in St Jean to stop at…..
Ok, that is what the guide books tell me but it also tells me that the first day of the Camino is the hardest one as it is uphill all the way!
I don’t think it matters what the guide books tell you! Guide books are just that – guides, not dictators! I think you have to know your own limits and your own needs and stop where you think you should. The other day I posted a list of suggested stages Staging the Way: the plan, part 2 but walking beyond your own capabilities, especially at the beginning of the trip is a sure route to failure. The last thing I want to do is not complete the challenge that I have set myself.
I have been walking a lot in preparation for this and the Achilles pain is lessening every day (except for the rather foolish moment of running on the treadmill which caused a lot of complaints in my calf!); that apparently makes me one of only 10% of Camino-ists who train at all! Would I call it training though? I am not sure if enjoying every day in the fresh air and walking my dogs constitutes training! Or cycling 60 km on a warm summer’s day to meet friends for a picnic, was that training?
Whatever you choose to call it, walking/cycling the Camino, or anywhere else for that matter, calls for one thing – to know yourself and to know your own limits. So if stage one takes you as far as Refuge Orisson than that is a victory!
As ever, Buen Camino!
talestrailsandtravels 