Pilgrimage to Santiago de Compostela

[nicola]

Hello everyone!

I just looked at the weather forecast for next week. Originally I planned to start my camino next week in Pau together with a friend. But now that I've seen that it's possibly going to snow again I wondered if it wouldn't be cleverer to start from another point, a bit lower in altitude... Are there any references? If not, would it be a problem for us to decide spontaneously on the camino if we want to bridge over some kilometres, especially from France to Spain over the boarder?

Yours Nicola

[sillydoll]

Hi Nicola,
It must be nail biting waiting to start your walk and the snow starts falling! Pau is about 245m and Lourdes about 400m which is very low compared with all of the passes.
The problem with starting lower down is that you still have to cross the high places. The Col at Somport is 1632 m - higher than the St Jean crossing. St Jean is very low at 159m but it is the crossing over the Pyrenees that is so dangerous. If there is snow in Pau, it will be more severe in the high places. You have seen the pictures of snow at Roncesvalles and surrounding areas. Perhaps you could visit Pau - get a bus or train to Lourdes - get a train to St Jean and wait and see whether or not you can walk over.
Be safe, keep warm and let us know how you get on.

[nicola]

Thanks for the response... It's going to be a real adventure for us. We should arrive on Sunday in Pau, will inform us there about the conditions and go on to St. Jean on Monday...

How did you mean that with Lourdes? I planned to take the train to Bayonne and then on to St. Jean....