I’m not sure who wears the crown when it comes to gnostic superiority. Builders generally have it effortlessly “I tell you the cowboys who did that should be shot. If you don’t fixilate a double hontal over the pluggnote then you can expect damp to come pouring in over the groggage.” Car mechanics are also in the race but I met someone today who is definitely in the running for first prize.
St John Pied de Port
He is a volunteer at the Pilgrim Office in St Jean. I called in to register, get a second credencial (I don’t know why, I’ve already binned it, it just seemed what was expected) and get advice on the route over the mountains. He weighed my rucksack with much pantomime struggling to put it on the scales and declared that in total I was carrying 16 kilos. “Far too much” he said sadly and wisely, shaking his head, “the maximum is 10% of your body weight plus 2kilos for food and water”. My glib response of “actually I’m not far off and if I eat a vast amount of chips this evening with a gallon of red wine I’m probably on the nail” was met with a slow shake of the head. Anxious to go on the offensive I asked him how many times he had done the Camino. He said “once”. My sneer was too obvious because he then added “from my home town on Lake Constance – it took four months”. He then, having acquired complete superiority over me in the rucksack carrying competition, proceeded to tell me that it wasn’t about what we take when we go on pilgrimage, it’s what we leave behind. And we carry a stone (yep, I’ve got one) from our hometown to leave at the foot of the iron cross about 3/4 of the way to leave behind all our problems. At this point I was starting to get a little antsy…when he told me that all the problems I had at home were to be addressed by “letting go” on the Camino….I had to tell him that actually I wasn’t on the Camino to resolve any problems. I don’t think he rated me as a proper pilgrim.
The really bad news is that he was probably right about the rucksack. Fortunately the delightful owner of the guesthouse where I’m staying (he gave me a key plus 30 minutes of advice on getting through the mountains) said that I could have the rucksack transported to Roncesvalles by car for €8. I appreciate that this is wimping out but I reckon I am most likely to do myself in on the first day so spending €8 to improve my odds seems like a fair trade. It’s either that or hire a donkey and I’m unlikely to be able to a arrange a donkey in time. The weather for tomorrow is predicted to be glorious in stark contrast to a fortnight ago (pass closed by 12 foot of snow) and the forecast for this weekend (snow, high winds and sub-zero temperatures). I’ll be climbing to 1450 metres so I’m hoping to see some seriously good views.
I did eat chips this evening. Didn’t quite manage the full gallon of red.
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