Day 1 - Saint Jean Pied-de-Port to Orisson

I started the day by catching to 7:50 train from Bayonne to St Jean. But before I even got on the train I met two scots; brothers (Tom & Ronnie) who were meeting up to walk part of the Camino after completing it 2 years ago. Ronnie had travelled from San Francisco and Tom, from north of Glasgow.

We chatted for the whole journey into St Jean and continued as we made our way to the main Camino office where we had our pilgrim passports stamped. The two bothers hurried off, as they were walking all the way to Roncesvalles, where as I was only walking a quarter of the way to my hostel Orisson.
A little while later, as I started walking, I met Terrance and Shelly who were from Canada. We chatted all morning as we made our way to Orisson where they stopped and shared lunch with me before leaving for their hostel, another kilometre up the road. 
I checked in to the albergue (hostel) and was shown to my room. I was sharing the night with four ex-service men from the states. As it was September the 9th, they were marking 9/11, 20 years on. 
Bob was a pastor in the army, Ted and Chris were pastors in the marines and the other Chris was a submariner. I had a really good chat with Bob.
After our pilgrim supper, I felt exhausted in my bed but hardly slept due to the snoring. It sounded like they were taking turns at it, to keep me awake!

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