Just set date

[vanjohn]

Today the ticket to Biaritz was booked. April 19th starting in SJPDP I expect on 20th. I would welcome any advice about transfers if somebody has any help to offer. The SNCF web was unclear as it had no timetable for April yet.
Final destination is Santiago we hope or even further to Finisterra.
I still have to complie the backpack. All we know is to travel light, light, light. Any help is welcome.

 

[cecelia]

Hi vanjohn,
Congratulations and buen camino!!
You can get a train from Biarritz that leaves around 8:00 in the morning or maybe a bit earlier and there's a youth hostel close to the train station (or lots of reasonable two star hotels in the old town also within a couple of kilometers). You'll have to change trains in Bayonne, which is only about a ten minute ride from Biarritz. You do have time to get the next train if you move quickly. Check out the signs to see which bay the train to SJPP is leaving from because you will have to change bays and possibly even cross to the other side. You'll get to SJPP about ten or ten-thirty with lots of time to go to the pilgrims' office, pick up some food for your journey and even have lunch if you want to.
I have always headed up the mountain and stopped at either Huntto or Orisson for the night. It makes the next day much easier (only 17 km).
If you want to stop at Orisson (about 10k up the mountain), you'll need to make a reservation ahead of time. You can make it now from their website http://www.refuge-orisson.com (click the contact button). They are almost completely booked for most of May already. The albergue at Huntto doesn't usually need a reservation this early in the year but the pilgrims' office in SJPP will phone up for you to make sure they have room if you do decide to stay there. Of course you can also stay in SJPP for the night All of the places mentioned are a great place to meet your first fellow walking pilgrims.
Cecelia

 

[vanjohn]

Thanks for that. Ryanair do not land untill about 10.30 we expect the trains to Bayonne run all day?
By the way the ticket was €0.01 plus taxes and all the subtle charges that they apply for using the service. The final tally was €27 from Shannon. Still good value. It is not intended to book the return untill we need it. Would that be best?
We had not intended to leave SJPDP untill the Sunday morning but the idea of starting from either Orrison or Hutton would make it quite easy the next day.
On the subject of training we would regularly do about 20 km sometimes a little more sometimes a little less along with 1000 to 1300 meters of ascent about once a week at a pace of about 5 km per hour on all but the steep ascents but we do not get anything else over the course of the week.
We note that orrison has no English and while we could get by using phrase books etc we would not have a ghost of a chance of sending an e mail to them! Still we will find something somewhere.
Is accomodation gone scarce for late April all along the Camino.

 

[Arn]

Vanjohn...welcome to the Class of 2008 and the soon to be on the Camino.

Too much excitement going on and the season is just beginning for the bulk of the peregrinos.

I am in the up the mountain all the way mode right now when I leave SJPDP...but the more I consider a stop in Orisson, the better it looks.

Buen Camino,
Arn

 

[spanishlancer]

Today the ticket to Biaritz was booked. April 19th starting in SJPDP I expect on 20th. I would welcome any advice about transfers if somebody has any help to offer. The SNCF web was unclear as it had no timetable for April yet.
Final destination is Santiago we hope or even further to Finisterra.
I still have to complie the backpack. All we know is to travel light, light, light. Any help is welcome.

You should get the bus to Gare de Bayonne from the airport.It is Line no. 6, costs Euro1.20, dont bother going into Biarritz it is the other way.I know there is a train from there to SJPP at 15.06,not sure of earlier times.On the SNCF web site you need to navigate to the part that is called,TER, regional trains,Bayonne is in the Aquitaine region.
Have a great Camino experience, God Speed Ron

 

[MermaidLilli]

I am in the up the mountain all the way mode right now when I leave SJPDP...but the more I consider a stop in Orisson, the better it looks.

Buen Camino,
Arn

I stayed in Orisson the first night and was glad to do so. Several people that I met there were with me on and off those first 2 weeks and it was so much fun when we would meet in some stretch of road or in an albergue further down the Way. Since I stopped those 2 weeks while recuperating my foot I lost them. Until.......
.....as I was leaving Finisterra's lighthouse to walk back to town, alone in the dark, I hear, "Lillian!!!" I turned around to see Pieropaulo, an Italian guy I met in Orisson 7 weeks earlier. What a sweet moment to feel that one of my first trailmates was the last one I saw. And today he wrote to me for the first time to tell me he made his complete trip....he had started walking from Rome to Santiago and then to Fatima.
The Camino has a way of affecting me in some magical ways.
Magically,
Lillian

 

[vanjohn]

Back again!!!!!!!!!
Just got the reply from Orrison and I understand it means that I have to be there before 18.00. I am afraid that the sums for a 15.00 train would hardly stack up. Even though Biaritz would be the other way would it possibly be faster and have a better selection of trains?
Thanks again

 

[Cyd]

If you want to stop at Orisson (about 10k up the mountain), you'll need to make a reservation ahead of time. You can make it now from their website http://www.refuge-orisson.com (click the contact button).

any tips (anyone) for using their online booking form - keeps rejecting my email address and not submitting my booking enquiry form - I've tried both my personal and work emails - they both end in ".com.au" so I wonder if that is causing a problem. I'm entering my email into the box that says "email" and tried deleting the text, adding a space, colon, entering directly etc - just can't get the damned thing to submit!!!

thanks
Megan

 

[Mouse]

any tips (anyone) for using their online booking form - keeps rejecting my email address and not submitting my booking enquiry form - I've tried both my personal and work emails - they both end in ".com.au" so I wonder if that is causing a problem. I'm entering my email into the box that says "email" and tried deleting the text, adding a space, colon, entering directly etc - just can't get the damned thing to submit!!!
thanks
Megan

I've been having the same problem!! :evil: My email address ends in ".co.za" so not sure what the problem could be.

 

[vanjohn]

any tips (anyone) for using their online booking form - keeps rejecting my email address and not submitting my booking enquiry form - I've tried both my personal and work emails - they both end in ".com.au" so I wonder if that is causing a problem. I'm entering my email into the box that says "email" and tried deleting the text, adding a space, colon, entering directly etc - just can't get the damned thing to submit!!!
thanks
Megan

I've been having the same problem!! :evil: My email address ends in ".co.za" so not sure what the problem could be.

It worked ok first time for me using an eircom.net e mail try using a hot mail account or something like that if you have one. It is posibly the two dot that confuses it.

 

[cecelia]

Re: just set the date - re Orisson website rejecting emails

It may be that the mailbox is full and that's why it's rejecting the mail. I know he doesn't look at it as much early in the year. Here's another address that someone gave me that I used to book for April in 2007 and it was answered really quickly.
<Jean-Jacques.Etchandy@wanadoo.fr>
Don't worry about only having English - just make sure your date is clearly stated in the email and he'll figure it out (he does speak Spanish as well as French). He will respond by asking you to confirm the day before. If you stop at the pilgrim's office in SJPP, they'll usually do that for you otherwise there are always internet cafes of course.
If Orisson is full (I know it is for some days in May already) you may want to stop at Huntto (Hunto) which is about 5 or 6 km up from SJPP. It's also pleasant and, as with Orisson, the price includes dinner. The walk from SJPP feels like quite a hike, even to this albergue.
It's definitely a good idea to stop at the pilgrims' office in SJPP in either case because they will phone up and make sure there is room at one or the other albergue. That'll save you coming back or going the next 17km when it may be too dark.
Buen camino
cecelia

 

[Anonymous]

Re: just set the date - re Orisson website rejecting emails

It may be that the mailbox is full

Or the emails have all stuck together in the icy conditions and he's waiting for the inbox to thaw out?

Gareth

 

[spanishlancer]

Back again!!!!!!!!!
Just got the reply from Orrison and I understand it means that I have to be there before 18.00. I am afraid that the sums for a 15.00 train would hardly stack up. Even though Biaritz would be the other way would it possibly be faster and have a better selection of trains?
Thanks again

Taking the train from Biarritz means you have to change in Bayonne anyway. A taxi, Biarritz Airport to SJPP would cost around Euro 80.00.I think there is also a bus from Biarritz Town Centre but not sure of times.
Are you sure you want to set off the same day from St Jean,most pilgrims leave very early in the morning as the stage is demanding to say the least.Consider staying in St Jean overnight then set off fresh the next morning and enjoy instead of rushing.

Ron

 

[Mouse]

Re: just set the date - re Orisson website rejecting emails

It may be that the mailbox is full and that's why it's rejecting the mail. I know he doesn't look at it as much early in the year. Here's another address that someone gave me that I used to book for April in 2007 and it was answered really quickly.
<Jean-Jacques.Etchandy@wanadoo.fr>
cecelia

Hi Cecelia

Did you use this email to book at Orrison? I want to book for a night in May but my emails keep coming back.

 

[vanjohn]

Hi
I have just had to cancell because of a recent hospitalisation.
I now hope to start in the last week of Ausust so that I do not arrive in Santiago when it is to busy.
I now need INR tests on a two to three week intervals to assist in the prescription od Warafin could anybody give me advice on this issue as I have just been diagnosed.

Regards
John

 

[MermaidLilli]

Hi John,
If you are having a blood clotting problem I would definitely take the advice o your doctor regarding a long distance walk. Mobility, meds and diet are things to think about. Hopefully by August all will be well and you can do your walk. I started last August 19 from SJPP and it was a lovely time of year to do the Camino Frances. Very few hot days. Never a full albergue.
Something to look forward to.
Lillian