Orisson, France - September 5

We made it! We climbed 4500 feet in roughly 5 miles and we are all in good spirits (mostly). It was a very hard walk. I like to walk but I HATE to walk uphill. Rich and Olga were super patient and supportive as I inched my way up the mountain. The last 2 kilometers felt like 200. Every time we came to the top of a stretch that we thought was the end we would round the corner only to see another steep hill. Finally we made it to the hostel where we are staying tonight.

They have a tradition here for pilgrims that are spending the night. We have a family style dinner and then one by one we get up, say who we are and why we are doing Camino. This turned out to be a sob fest for me because two sisters from Texas said they had been planning to do Camino for years but their Mom got sick and they thought it was the end. But they prayed over her and she got better. I was happy for them that they still have their Mom but broken hearted that mine has gone. Did I not pray enough for her? I was pretty emotional already bc as I was doing the climb, I kept thinking how much I would want to call Mom and tell her that I did it.

Ok, enough with the sadness. Tomorrow, I will be taking a taxi to Roncesvalles, our next stop. It is another steep climb with a steep descent and I want to try and conserve my energy for the long road ahead. Rich and Olga will be walking.

Here are some pics from today: