Day 45 / Saint-Palais - Saint-Jean-Pied-de-Port / 34.08 km

The sound of the rain outside makes I do not need my alarm this morning. Rain is pouring down on the tin roof of the building (no fiddler around in this weather).  I get out of bed and look outside to the grey sky. Jean Jacques, the hospitalero (volunteer in non-Compostela lingo) has made breakfeast. Normally breakfeast is not foreseen but since I’m the only pilgrim...the dedication and hospitality of the volunteers I meet is always a positive experience.

After breakfeast I suit up in my rain gear, step outside and start running. Jean Jacques waves me goodbye. After 500 meter I leave the road and start my first climb of today. The path ascents almost 50 meters with an average grade of, I guess, 15 %. Until St.Jean le vieux which is just before SJPdP I will do today 1800 height meters. The paths are wet with a lot of mud and often water pools covering the complete path. My feet get through and through wet after km 2. My shoes, which are screaming for retirement, have lost a lot of their profile, as result I often slip and it feels more like ice skating than running. I give up to try to avoid the water pools. The washing machine at the place I rent can take care of the mud. Although the rain is pouring I have a lot of fun and enjoy the landscape intensely.

Due to the rain I don’t take a lot of stops except bio breaks. I was hoping to encounter some pilgrims but I guess it’s raining to hard. I’m making less progress than usual due to the weather and path conditions. Just after afternoon I pass a village where I see a pilgrim having lunch under a shelter. I decide to have a stop and eat the sandwich I made this morning. I chat some time with the other pilgrim, who is Belgian, retired teacher who ends his walk in SJPdP today. Next year he will continue into Spain.The weather improves and finally the rain takes a break as well. I continue to run though a beautiful landscape. A lot of sheep support me a long the way. 

Around 14.00 I arrive at SJPdP. Which is a sort of Las Vegas for Compostela pilgrims. I see more new, unused,  clean, walking pants, backpacks and boots than one can find in a Decathlon. Pilgrims with backpacks everywhere, pilgrim bars, pilgrim menu’s, pilgrim cakes,..I find myself somewhat out of place. The last 42 day’s I met around 10 pilgrims in total which is probably the number of pilgrims you can find in SJPdP per square meter (I’m exaggerating let’s say per 10 square meters) and it’s not even pilgrim high season. I queue to get a stamp in my credential and learn that the Napoleon route (the route going to 1400 meters) is open, although there are still some patches of snow on the top. If the weather is good on Wednesday I will take the Napoleon route. I leave the pilgrim frenzy behind me and go the small apartment I rented for 2 nights, just outside the village. The place is perfect. Washing machine, a nice terrace overlooking the lower Pyrenees. Tomorrow sunny weather is predicted and I plan to give most of my clothes a wash. I can inform you that after 40 day’s hand washing, clothes can use a more thorough cleaning. 

After a shower I do groceries for the next 2 day’s. Tomorrow I will wash my clothes and enjoy the sun on my terrace with a local chilled rosé.

Lessons learned : 

- The best way to ignore mud is to step into it.

- I will not be longer alone during daytime the next month.

- Hoka rules. 

Song of the day : Love is blindness - Jack White.

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