SO...the next installment!
I´d made the decision quite some time back to break the climb thru the pass at a Alburge named Orisson. It´s only 8km away...but those are truly some of the toughest 8km I´ve ever done. Essentially, straight up. It was a slightly cloudy cool morning. The clouds kept blowing thru and exposing and revealing the path ahead. Rather a tease they were. They also kept us cool, which was also really a God send.
On the way up I spent time with other pilgrims, including an American pair, Aunt and nephew, using Mt. Bikes to make their way to SDC. It was her first real experience with both mountains and also bikes!! What a hell of a way to start. Trish is probably now about halfway or even further if all is going well for them! Buen Camio mi amiga! We parted just shy of Orisson, right when I was beginning to think I´d never find the place.
Orisson sits in a corner of the road, serving sandwiches (bocadillo) beer wine coffee etc to pilgrims wandering (staggering!) by. They also have rooms to let, dormitories and best of all (IMHO!) Tents!!
The tents sit on terraces behind the building on slabs up off the ground. They are very well teatherd, a good thing with the strong winds. They also feature full sized mattresses...so this sure as heck wasn´t roughing it. The bathrooms were also good. We got a token for 5 minutes of hot water, which when you consider where you are is great. You can get warm and wet, lather up and then rinse in five one minute intervals. You can also opt for dinner and breakfast if you like...and I liked!
Dinner was family style and again one of the best meals ever (amazing what a steep climb, fresh air and hot sun do for an appetite). After dinner everyone had to stand and introduce our selves and we had at least five languages, going yet all seemed to be able to figure out what the others where saying as someone could always make the connection to those who didn´t speak the language of the moment. Not surprisingly, there were more Germans than darn near anyone else, as it is in their back yard. Including Peter, a German living in NYC today.
I´d made the decision quite some time back to break the climb thru the pass at a Alburge named Orisson. It´s only 8km away...but those are truly some of the toughest 8km I´ve ever done. Essentially, straight up. It was a slightly cloudy cool morning. The clouds kept blowing thru and exposing and revealing the path ahead. Rather a tease they were. They also kept us cool, which was also really a God send.
On the way up I spent time with other pilgrims, including an American pair, Aunt and nephew, using Mt. Bikes to make their way to SDC. It was her first real experience with both mountains and also bikes!! What a hell of a way to start. Trish is probably now about halfway or even further if all is going well for them! Buen Camio mi amiga! We parted just shy of Orisson, right when I was beginning to think I´d never find the place.
Orisson sits in a corner of the road, serving sandwiches (bocadillo) beer wine coffee etc to pilgrims wandering (staggering!) by. They also have rooms to let, dormitories and best of all (IMHO!) Tents!!
The tents sit on terraces behind the building on slabs up off the ground. They are very well teatherd, a good thing with the strong winds. They also feature full sized mattresses...so this sure as heck wasn´t roughing it. The bathrooms were also good. We got a token for 5 minutes of hot water, which when you consider where you are is great. You can get warm and wet, lather up and then rinse in five one minute intervals. You can also opt for dinner and breakfast if you like...and I liked!
Dinner was family style and again one of the best meals ever (amazing what a steep climb, fresh air and hot sun do for an appetite). After dinner everyone had to stand and introduce our selves and we had at least five languages, going yet all seemed to be able to figure out what the others where saying as someone could always make the connection to those who didn´t speak the language of the moment. Not surprisingly, there were more Germans than darn near anyone else, as it is in their back yard. Including Peter, a German living in NYC today.
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