And so it begins.... Today is the day before the hike starts. After a 4 am start to get a 6.45 flight at Stanstead (what were we thinking?!?!?) Gabe and I are now safely in St Jean after a hectic day of travelling. A last minute decision to reduce weight this morning has meant that we have left the tent behind and are going to try to stay in pilgrim 'hostels' the whole way. We are both disappointed that it had to go that way, but i'm sure our backs and knees will thank us dearly.

We arrived into St Jean at about 4pm and headed straight to the Pilgrim's office to get orientation and our first 'sello' (stamp) in our pilgrim passports. It's really happening! Tomorrow is a later start, 7am. Unfortunately the mountain pass is closed due to snow, so we have to take a slightly longer, flater road route instead. It is still a 27km trek, but at least its not straight up.

So, we will try to keep this up to date as much as we can, internet availability will probably be pretty scattered. Wanted to let you all know we have arrived and are looking forward to the next 5 weeks.