To be a Pilgrim

From the train station we headed straight to our accommodation for Sunday night, dumped our baggage and made our way to St Jean Pied de Port's Pilgrim's Office. The weather was pleasant, albeit a little overcast so I made sure I took a few photos along the way; I'm glad that I did. The village is one of the most well-known in the Basque Country but I'm guessing that you probably wouldn't pay a visit unless you were doing something 'Camino-related'. It's a medieval village well-known for its citadel and the Pilgrimage. The narrow streets were a hive of activity, mostly made up of the fellow-travellers we'd shared the train journey with down from Bayonne.

If you're embarking on the Camino then a visit to the Pilgrim's Office is a must, in order to obtain the following:

1) Passport - this is where you're issued with your Pilgrim Passport or Credencial, the official accreditation that identifies you as a Camino pilgrim and a place to record your personal journey. In order to receive your Compostela, which is the official document that certificates your pilgrimage once you reach Santiago, your passport must be complete. This involves getting your passport stamped at least once every day of your pilgrimage, and when you reach Sarria (100 km from Santiago) you must obtain at least two stamps every day to validate your journey. Stamps are easily obtainable from: accommodation providers, shops, restaurants, churches, civic offices, etc and vary in design from very boring to extremely elaborate.

2) Shell - once you have paid €2 for your passport you are able to collect your free shell. You can make a donation if you prefer. The idea of the shell is that you hang it on the outside of your rucksack meaning you're immediately identifiable as a pilgrim along the route to Santiago. It's also somewhere you can write the names of people you'd like to 'take with you' on your journey; loved ones who may be going through a difficult time, experiencing ill-health, etc. Then, on those occasions when you are struggling to continue walking, or finding the journey hard-going, you focus on those you're carrying 'inside your shell' instead of on yourself.

3) Advice - this can be anything from an update on the weather conditions the next day when you cross the Pyrenees, to accommodation needs, to what apps you should download, to what you can expect along the way, to which boulangerie is the best to have your final coffee and croissant before embarking on your journey the following morning. I was a little alarmed when handed a map of the route over the Pyrenees with a number of red, bold, shouty warning boxes of routes to avoid. Firm guidance was given to us on which paths you should and shouldn't take, with stories of those who had injured themselves or indeed perished by not heeding this advice. This may just have been a little over-dramatic to ensure the point was made clearly, but having said that we have, to date, seen a number of markers along the way for those pilgrims who didn't make it.

4) Scales - an opportunity to weigh your rucksack on the scales hanging from the ceiling, only to be told what you already know - that you've brought way too much with you! Those with much more walking experience than me under their belts, advise that your backpack should weigh no more than 10% of your body weight or preferably a little less. This was one of the few occasions that I felt very proud of myself for having taken on a few extra pounds in the UK two weeks earlier. Plain and simple, I could therefore take more 'stuff' with me - hoorah!

We had to queue for around 40 minutes to even get into the Pilgrim's Office. There weren't many people in front of us and I was curious to find out why the queue was moving so slowly. Surely it didn't take that long to issue a passport and hand out a few maps? However, once we sat down opposite our 'adviser' Claude we realised why things had taken so long. The office is run by pilgrim volunteers who seem to relish the opportunity of meeting new would-be pilgrims and taking time with them, to share much of their Camino wisdom and experience. Claude proudly advised us that he's walked the Camino every year for the past 13 years; I began to realise that I should probably listen to what he had to say and could probably learn a thing or two which might just come in handy over the next 40+ days.

Leaving the Pilgrim's Office we made our next stop at the Pilgrim's Shop where you can buy anything and everything you might need kit-wise for your journey. Given I still had a few extra ounces of spare capacity in my rucksack I purchased a new pair of 51% merino wool walking socks, the crème de la crème of walking socks. I already had 2 pairs with me but felt a compulsion to buy a third for two reasons: a) since walking for over a month I wouldn't have to wash out socks quite as often and b) they matched my walking boots.

The Camino has been a pilgrimage route for over 1,000 years and as the day drew to a close and we sat eating our 'last supper' I couldn't begin to imagine what it must have felt like starting this journey all those years ago without all the trappings we are privileged to enjoy now: the long-range weather forecasts, accommodation options, warnings about what paths not to take and, most importantly of course, merino wool walking socks. Following a fitful night's sleep, anxious about what the new day would bring, we awoke and pulled back the curtains to be greeted by a cold, rainy and foggy day.