St Jean, France, the starting point for The Camino Frances to Santiago Spain.

Arrived in St. Jean from Pamplona this afternoon. My first stop was to have my Camino credential stamped and to get the latest on the weather at the top of the mountain. The weather when I arrived here was nice even with a little rain. The Camino center people told me that the path at the top had been closed today because of snow. The forecast for tomorrow is a bit like it was today. I will just have to get up early, pack and head to the Camino center to find out what the latest update is on the conditions. It will be a very long day. 

I also found out today that as completely incompetent as my Spanish is it's much better than my French which simply does not exist. It's embarrassing to say the least. I started  listening to a CD learning system called Spanish in Ten Minutes a Day. It helped, but for me I don't think 24 hours a day of listening to the CDs would have made me much better. Learning a language is for kids, us older guys just don't get it.

I had an early dinner at a small pizza place in the center of town and I met two guys who were traveling The Camino in reverse on bikes. They started in Portugal and now have more than 700 miles completed and are on their way to Switzerland. They are raising money for charity and when their trip is completed they will have covered more than 1000 miles. They are both from Vancouver and have passed through San Juan Capistrano on their bikes on the way to San Diego. I guess everyone I will meet has some connection to Capistrano. 

 This little town is crawling with people starting The Camino. I will just pick out a couple who look like they know where they are going and just follow them so that if I get lost I will have someone to blame.

It has been said that The Camino from St. Jean to Santiago is a journey of 1 million steps.  I take my first step tomorrow at 7:30.