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Day 2 Camino Francés: From Valcarlos to Roncesvalles · WCBH

• 0:25
  Hey, it's Cam from WCBH, coming to you from Valcarlos.
• 0:30
  We're just actually starting the walk on day two, heading out of Valcarlos, heading to Rosvales.
• 0:38
  We've got about 13 kilometers in front of us.
• 0:41
  We've got a fair climb as well. It's about 600 meters that we need to climb
• 0:46
  across the course of the day, and we certainly felt that in the back end of
• 0:49
  yesterday coming into Valcarlos. there's a really difficult climb.
• 0:56
  We had a good night's sleep last night. It was cold, it's about 2 degrees now
• 1:01
  and 23 years in the tropics.
• 1:05
  Certainly not used to this, but not feeling too bad at the moment.
• 1:09
  Body's woken up good, not stiff, not sore.
• 1:15
  Carrying the pack yesterday didn't seem to cause me too many dramas either, so that was good.
• 1:21
  So heading out on day two, walking with my wife and with my son.
• 1:28
  Morning, Sherilyn. How are you feeling? Feeling good this morning. Bit cold.
• 1:32
  And the legs, they're okay. I'm a bit sore from yesterday.
• 1:38
  And we are climbing a hill at the lake, mate.
• 1:42
  How much fun was that last hill coming into Val Carlos yesterday?
• 1:45
  Well, you and I have very different ideas of what fun is. That was not fun.
• 1:50
  That was like the hills from Shao.
• 1:52
  You did very well. Also walking with my son, Chan, he's eight.
• 1:57
  Chan, did you have a fun day yesterday? Yes.
• 2:01
  And how are you feeling? Like, that was a big day yesterday.
• 2:04
  We walked 12 or 13 kilometres and we had to walk up a very steep hill. How did you feel? Tired.
• 2:13
  And what's some of the amazing things that you can remember from seeing yesterday? Animals.
• 2:21
  What animals did you get to see? Horses, pigs, cows, hens.
• 2:28
  And, uh, yeah, so lots of, uh, farm animals on our adventure.
• 2:33
  Now it's the winter months here. It's actually the first of March today.
• 2:37
  So first day of spring. And last night there was a carnival in the small town
• 2:42
  of Alcalos happening right where we were staying very loud with accordions.
• 2:46
  But the path we're taking is the Alcalos path, not the Napoleon path.
• 2:52
  Now the Napoleon path goes up over the Pyrenees and that would be,
• 2:56
  I suppose, the path that most people would take if they were to walk the Camino
• 3:01
  in the summer or in the spring, etc.
• 3:04
  But in the winter, that path gets closed and it's not open yet,
• 3:08
  probably won't be open for another month.
• 3:11
  So there is an alternative path for stage one to head from St.
• 3:16
  John through to Rosvales, and that's the Valcarlos path.
• 3:19
  So that's the path that we're on today. So about 13 kilometers,
• 3:22
  about 600 meters elevation across the course of the day.
• 3:26
  Last night, meal was good. I had the fish. Sherilyn, you had the ham.
• 3:33
  How good is Spanish ham? Spanish ham is the best.
• 3:37
  I don't know what they do. It must be in the curing process, but it is just...
• 3:42
  It's something you just got to try. It was very, very good. All right.
• 3:47
  We've just stopped for a morning tea break and what a morning of walking we've had.
• 3:52
  We've been walking through a valley, so it's been a cool walk as we've been
• 3:57
  walking without the sun on us.
• 3:59
  The mountains have been blocking the sun, but we've walked alongside this beautiful river.
• 4:05
  Now, part of our walk's been on the roadside and some of it's been throughout
• 4:09
  the forest and through the bush.
• 4:10
  And beautiful, picturesque scenes of what you'd expect to see in a movie.
• 4:17
  Crystal clear water, very cold water, beautiful rock bed, lush green undergrowth,
• 4:24
  really spooky trees that don't have leaves on them because it's just coming out of winter here.
• 4:29
  High mountains, beautiful rock formations. You could put this imagery in a Lord
• 4:35
  of the Rings movie or something along those lines and it wouldn't be out of
• 4:38
  place. It's been quite beautiful.
• 4:41
  One of the things about the Camino is packing your bag and what to take and what not to take.
• 4:47
  One of the things that we do have, as most pilgrims would have, is the walking sticks.
• 4:54
  You see experienced walkers walk with these two poles and you think,
• 4:58
  well, what do you use those for?
• 5:00
  Well, on this sort of path, they're absolutely essential.
• 5:04
  They help you climb up steep inclines. They help you go down steep inclines
• 5:09
  without losing your footing and, uh.
• 5:11
  All things in between, you know, climbing over logs, it's like an extra set
• 5:15
  of hands to hold you up where the, where it's a bit slippery or a bit uneasy underneath your feet.
• 5:21
  It's like you're walking with four legs rather than two. So...
• 5:25
  Yeah, one of the essential bits of gear that we've come to learn have been these
• 5:29
  walking sticks, and probably took a little while, I suppose half a day,
• 5:32
  to feel comfortable walking with them, but now we've got our stride with them,
• 5:36
  and they're absolutely essential.
• 5:39
  Just heading up one of the steepest hills that we've faced so far today,
• 5:45
  just for you to get an indication of how steep this thing is and how long the hill is.
• 5:52
  Certainly need to do a decent pre-season before coming over.
• 5:59
  These walker sticks are certainly helping getting up the hill,
• 6:02
  but elevation must be starting to get up there as well.
• 6:06
  I wonder if that's having an impact on the oxygen level up here.
• 6:10
  Maybe ever so slightly, but we're all doing well. Short bursts getting up these hills.
• 6:17
  Take a breather and then go on to the next section.
• 6:22
  Now, just like all good sports broadcasters, you wait for full time when players
• 6:26
  are absolutely run out on the feet and you stick a microphone underneath your
• 6:30
  mouth and ask them, how do they feel? How do you feel?
• 6:34
  Not feel. Well, not even all the way up it. Powerful words. Jan, how do you feel?
• 6:40
  Tired. We're here. We've made it to the top of the mountain,
• 6:45
  end of stage one. We're in Ronsfalis.
• 6:47
  It's very cold. The wind up here is strong and it is freezing.
• 6:52
  We've had to climb up a mountain today, and as we got further up the mountain,
• 6:58
  the temperature kept dropping, but we've made it into Ronsfalis.
• 7:01
  Famous town, 1778, this is where Charlemagne's rear guard was ambushed.
• 7:08
  It's also home to the Collegiate Church of Santa Maria. We'll be celebrating
• 7:13
  Mass in about 15 minutes in there.
• 7:15
  But it has been a good day.
• 7:18
  Beautiful day full of scenery but it has
• 7:21
  been a tough day where we've just had
• 7:24
  to climb go up up up it really has
• 7:27
  been quite a physical challenge today about 13
• 7:31
  kilometers we've done but it's it's been the the elevation
• 7:34
  that we've we've climbed today that's been the most significant challenge but
• 7:39
  funny little story we got into Ronsfalis we went to find our albergue we had
• 7:45
  a private room only to discover that the albergue that we had booked in wasn't actually in this town.
• 7:53
  In fact, it was probably a good half an hour in an opposite direction.
• 7:57
  So we've had to change tact. I said before, we made plenty of mistakes on our
• 8:03
  first Camino, and I'm sure we'll make plenty on this one.
• 8:06
  So I'll put this one down as our first big mistake, booking a room in a hotel
• 8:11
  that's not in the town that you're going to.
• 8:14
  But fortunately, the albergue here had room in the inn.
• 8:19
  So we're going full albergue style tonight, dormitory, bunk beds and all.
• 8:24
  So that will be quite the experience. We've got the pilgrim meal for dinner.
• 8:28
  Looking forward to that.
• 8:29
  Hopefully it's something warm because we are sitting outside at the moment and it is freezing.
• 8:34
  So hopefully the body restores itself tonight. And so we're ready for another big day tomorrow. Ciao.