The alarm went off this morning and I quickly set it again for a later time. Matthew had planned for us to start walking at 8am, but he was fast asleep and I had been up all night feeding Indigo. He seems to eat little during the day at the moment and enjoys eating during the night. I don’t mind. We co-sleep in the same bed, so I just roll over and feed him until he falls asleep again. He doesn’t usually cry, just kicks the covers off and if I don’t hear him he will shout or make a noise to say “hello… I’m awake”. By now we have a routine and I usually wake up as soon as he starts shuffling.

This is part of the reason we decided to walk the camino de Santiago in Winter. Very few people walk the Camino in Winter and so there will be less people in the Albergues (Pilgrim Hostels) and I’m not quite sure how Indigo will handle not having his routine and sleeping in a strange place every night.

We started walking at 09.00am in the morning. We parked our car in a car park at the edge of town, and then walked back into town because Matthew wanted us to start at the beginning. Bah Humbug. Because it is winter, we have a lot of luggage with us. Two large sleeping bags, a baby sleeping bag and our winter change of clothes for when we arrive in the evenings. I brought quite a lot of clothes for Indigo, maybe too much, actually definitely too much. I didn’t want him to get cold, and wasn’t sure if we would be able to dry our clothes in the hostels in Winter.

There are two ways to walk from St Jean Peid De Port to Roncesvalles. One is over the mountain, which we were told is expressly forbidden in Winter as it is too dangerous and several people have died due to blizzards over the past 10 years. The other is around the mountain through a village called Luzaide / Valcarlos and so today we set off on our journey around the mountain towards Roncesvalles.

It poured down on us for pretty much the entire journey. I started out carrying Indigo and the bag with his clothes and Matthew carried the large rucksac with everything else. About 3 miles in, I offloaded my rucksac onto Matthew. Matthew is my partner of 8 and half years and with him I have had a lot of growth and personal development. He is constantly pushing me to the edge of my comfort zone and holding me to higher standards than I might otherwise set for myself. Together we hold each other accountable and I’m sooo glad to have him.

Walking from St Jean Pied De Port to Valcarlos

However, at 11am this morning, with the a heavy load on my back and the rain pouring down, I was having my doubts about everything.. How could I let him talk me into this. It is insane. Walking 800km carrying a 6 month old baby is insane. At least that’s what I was telling myself. Matthew on the other hand just handed me a carton of Juice and said “Drink up, you are dehydrated.” We decided to take a break, sit down quench our thirst, feed baby Indigo and let him out of the carrier to stretch his legs. In all we took about 3 breaks today and each one just seemed to keep us going until the next.

We arrived in Luzaide/Valcarlos about 13.30 and met another Pilgrim, a young woman from Korea who also arrived at the same time as us. She had taken a different route. She had a number to Buzz us into the hostel, which she got from the local supermarket and we were pleased to find that the hostel was modern, warm and cosy, had reasonable Kitchen facilities and a good shower. Matthew laid two Matresses on the floor together for us. I had been concerned about Indigo falling out of such a tiny bed and this seemed like the perfect solution.

The hostel cost €10 per person per night, which is more than we had budgeted for. Other Camino websites say it usually costs between €3-€7 Euro per person. But this was very modern and comfortable and we were grateful for a warm clean place to stay on a cold day.

P.S.We are able to take a month out to walk the camino as we earn a passive residual income online. Want to do the same? Just click below to find out more.