Welcome to the Forum Mawani!
We took the last train from Bayonne like you are planning to do. Staying in Bayonne is a good option but for us it was more important to reach the starting point and wake up in SJPP after a good night´s sleep. We stayed at the Hotel Ramuntcho
http://fr.federal-hotel.com/hotel_hotel ... _16707.htm in SJPP (May 15 2009) about € 32 each with buffet breakfast, had called them a month before and made a booking. The Ramuntcho is right on the camino in the old city and close to the Pilgrim´s Office. At the Office you are told if the Route Napoleon is recommended weatherwise or not.
Other accomodation in SJPP:
http://www.chemindecompostelle.com/Sele ... Puy25.html
If you need some equipments, books or maps:
http://www.directioncompostelle.com/equipements.html
We had booked Orisson
http://www.refuge-orisson.com/index.html too so our first day was only 10 kilometres. Orisson is closed for the winter right now.
SJPP is a nice little town in France and well worth some sight-seeing before you leave it - and you will meet many other pilgrims here. Some of them will maybe follow you all the way Santiago if you walk in the same pace.
There are two kinds of pilgrims in SJPP: those who will start from SJPP, many of them first-timers or in the beginning of their camino. The first- timers do not really know what to expect, are worried about the weather, their walking skills, blisters, boots, rucksacks etc. And the pilgrims who already walked from Vezelay, Geneva or Tours and have reached the flow of walking in solitude.
Time table from Bayonne to SJPP May 4 - 6 2011
http://www.sncf.com/
Aller entre le 04/05/2011 à 18h11 et le 06/05/2011 à 08h18 - prix total pour 1 passager
Départ á 18h11 08h18 11h55 15h05 18h11 08h18
A partir de 8.80 € 8.80 € 8.80 € 8.80 € 8.80 € 8.80 €
Durée 01h26 01h18 01h18 01h18 01h26 01h18
It is really up to you how you would like to plan the first days of your camino. If you want to stay in Bayonne there are many hotels and hostels there, too. And arriving at SJPP by the first train in the morning and walking from SJPP to Roncesvalles - well it is possible and doable if you would like to plan so.
Happy planning!