This place (St Jean Pied de Port) is so darned cute it makes my teeth hurt a little.  Still on my own and waiting for my friends I am up early, coffee and breakfast (a delicious hunk of fresh, crusty bread with butter and jam)…..lets stop for a minute and talk about real French bread… The crustiness isn’t so hard that you’re afraid you’re going to make your gums bleed…just a delicate crunch and then soft, yeasty amazingness….

I am out by 8am, the sky is blue with a few white fluffy clouds, and a little nip in the air… It could not be more perfect… I actually awoke at 3:30am and my first thought was that I wish I were starting to walk today… I am raring to go!

Off to the pilgrim office to get my Credencial (pilgrim passport) that will collect stamps all along the way, allowing me to get my Compostela (certificate of completion) at the end.  Then to a quaint little store to purchase a pair of trekking poles.

As I am walking down the street, I fall in step with and start talking to a pilgrim named Robert who started walking earlier on in France and has already covered 900 kms.  Then who do I see walking towards me but Clare from last night… We laugh and hug, take a picture, and I walk her to the beginning of the trail

I then go walk about, following a beautiful meandering trail along the river (the one I thought last night was the beginning of the trail…good thing I didn’t start then 😄) I have added a few  pictures, but nothing can really do it justice…

My sense of ‘all is right with the world’ fills me with overwhelming joy…I stop for a cup of coffee at a little outdoor cafe and who should walk by but Robert…we laugh and he joins me and we pick up our conversation where we left off.  Having read about these kinds of synchronicities that the Camino is rife with, it is really wonderful to already be experiencing them on my first day.