So Dayse's first two days were filled with adventure. Dayse left around 8:30 am via Taxi from London Bridge Station to Liverpool Street Station, where she took a train to Stansted Airport, north of London.
First though, while trying to purchase a train ticket from an automat machine, she had a technical problem, i.e. the machine took her money, but did not produce the ticket. As she stood there, trying figure out the problem, a "stranger" came up and explained to her that she needed to go to the nearby ticket office for a refund. As Dayse walked over, she noticed the stranger was at the automat and that it produced her £20 note and he proceeded to walk away with it...
As ever, undaunted, Dayse runs up to the guy, and says "Is THAT my MONEY"? The man gives Dayse a puzzled and guilty look, hands it over and runs away...mulher loca...
Anyways, our traveller's journey continues. Dayse gets her ticket, makes it to Stansted Airport, and catches her Ryan Air flight to Biarritz. From the airport, where she bought a ticket from Biarritz to Saint-Jean-Pied-de-Port for €8, Dayse took a short Taxi ride to the train station, but there was a small problem; the next train left at 21:15 and she needed to be in Saint-Jean much earlier to get a room and a meal at one of the Auberges. Fortunately, Dayse met a couple who were also Pilgrims in the same predicament and for €50 they shared a taxi ride to Saint-Jean.
Once in Saint-Jean, Dayse checks in to the Pilgrim’s Office, where she gets her special Pilgrim’s Passport and notices “Stinky”; another Pilgrim in need of a bath…more about him later.
After a short meal and meeting several other Pilgrims (including a few Brazilians…) Dayse prepares for the night at her first Auberge. She is in a room with three bunk beds, and one single (seven beds in total) and, taking a top bunk, gets ready for a good sleep…but then she smells something…ah, her neighbour is Stinky!
After a while, Dayse decides to see if there is a free bed in another part of the Auberge. The proprietor is a woman, who speaks no English or Portuguese (French only), but somehow indicates that there is a free bed in another room. Dayse goes there, but it is totally full, and unable to find the proprietor again, Dayse goes back to her original bed, next to Stinky…it is now about 21:00
Shortly after Midnight she is awoken to yelling in French, which she does not understand and occasional interjected “”f*** you!” directed at her by the proprietor! A semi-sober Auberge employee, also staying in the same room, explains in broken English that Dayse must leave immediately…eventually the drunkard goes back to sleep and the crazy French lady leaves…
Dayse surmised that the woman must have thought there was a free bed, given that Dayse moved to the other room and that another Pilgrim showed up; whatever, the lady, besides being a rude disservice to her country and the sacred El Camino, obviously needs some help with her math and business management skills…
Well, suffice to say, Dayse did not sleep real well after that; between Stinky and Drunkard, she was more than a bit annoyed and disturbed. Plus, what about the rest of the jerks in the room who acted like they were asleep during this whole episode?
Dayse was up and out at 6:00, grabbed a quick baguette at the local market and began her perhaps hardest day…a 9.5 hour hike, with her 20 pound pack, uphill, over the Pyrenees Mountains. Dayse’s record to date had been a 6 hour hike, with 15 pounds, all flat terrain. Did I mention that it was pouring down rain as well? Nonetheless, the Trooper made it to Spain around 17:00, had a hot meal, met some Pilgrims (there were plenty along the way, but Dayse, who is VERY grumpy when she is tired, was in no mood for idle chit-chat) and had, I am sure a great sleep at what seems to be a much better Refugio, as Auberges are called in Spain along El Camino.
