D day arrived and we were even escorted into the airport this time by James and Lydia-. Remember how late we were last time? I think the boys turfed us out on the kerb and sped off into the sunset. Liam and Bruce bid us farewell at home this time – I’m sure Bruce was cranky with us as he looked up at me from his new bed wondering when his next walk would be.

I don’t want to scare you but……Well an hour and a half into the flight and I was already nauseous! Food? Motion sickness? Who knows. I was thinking let’s see how this pans out….. thankfully nausea disappeared after lunch – crisis averted – must have been stress or a bit of motion sickness- all is well.

So, a short while ago my 6.15am alarm went off; for a brief moment I thought I had forgotten flight mode and someone was ringing me! The flight path on the plane says we are flying over Kazakhstan with 6091km or 7hrs 21 remaining. Been flying for around 6 hrs on this third leg I think, so not quite half way from Hong Kong to Barcelona. Imagine walking that far! Ghenghis Khan did with all his mates didn’t he? What about the silk route all the way from Europe to China? Maybe next time 😉

The bottom line is that its 9am at home on Monday now and we have already been over 24hrs in transit. We arrive Barcelona at around 8.40am local time Monday and don’t have a connecting flight until around 4pm . We had two choices of cheap Vueling flights, either am or pm, or a train and a bus and an extended day of sitting. You can see our dilemma – we wouldn’t have made the early flight anyway as our flight was late on departure. Anyway gives us time to sort out Spanish sims so we can call each other if we get lost or in case of emergency. We are due to arrive San Sebastian at 5.50pm Monday Spanish time – which will be 1.50am Tuesday Morning our time. So approximately 42 hours in transit – still another bus and train the next day before we actually arrive in St Jean- just perfect relaxation for our long walk- not!

We have a basic hotel room in San Sebastian booked for the night so we can eat pinxos and hopefully catch up on some sleep before catching a bus up to Bayonne and a train to St Jean Pied de Port on Tuesday. We plan a kickoff on Wednesday morning. Weather forecast says 31 degrees Celsius for St Jean on Wednesday! Roncesvalles is only 21! I expect Orisson and the Pyrenees will be cooler but who knows?

In addition I have reviewed the walk on day one noting it is a couple of hundred metres higher than Mt Nebo at home and a few kilometres shorter. That sounds a bit steep to me!

Anyway we are still filled with unrivalled enthusiasm and excitement! Especially given that as my beloved dressed to leave home and put on his old faithful merrell hiking shoes, he realised they actually hurt. He quickly swapped them with the new ones purchased and set aside weeks ago (previously he has only worn these once !) Then, as we walked up the terminal to check in, he mentioned these new ones were rubbing and slipping on his heels! Remember my last post? – the details on that post were on my preparation not his so this may be a very different journey! Whilst he is filled with eager enthusiasm based his non preparation and, lack of blisters in the past, just remember I am in peak condition with batteries fully charged!

Que se abra el telon!

Let’s get this show on the road!