El Camino » Kocso Laszlo

Soon I am leaving

Kocso Laszlo — Tue, 24 Apr 2012 17:07:55 +0000

7th May 2012. 7:30 a.m. S. Jean Pied de Port, France

The route

Kocso Laszlo — Tue, 01 May 2012 20:39:06 +0000

The 0. Day

Kocso Laszlo — Mon, 07 May 2012 05:25:20 +0000

Kecskemét – Budapest (car)

Budapest – Paris (airplane)

Paris – Bayonne (TGV)

Bayonne – St. Jean Pied De Port (bus)

Departure 7:18

Arrival 22:56

1. Day St. Jean Pied de Port – Roncesvalles 25,3 km

Kocso Laszlo — Mon, 07 May 2012 16:09:28 +0000

Before 8 a.m. I started at the Camino office to get my Camino passport. I also got hold of a clam, because what you can see in the heading and which I got from Gábor, I left at home. Gábor is walking somewhere in Austria with his spouse, because they have set themselves not a smaller aim than to come to Camino from Budapest on foot. Here is their blog: www.gyaloglunk.hu So I started! I met the donkey, which you can see on the above picture, on the second slope which turned out later to be a real discreet one. The recognition came instantly, is donkey the jackass or me to overtake a trip like this? But the comparism between business building and the donkey came immediately. People often think in our environment, that we are jackasses, when we are heading to the top on the slopes of business building. Conclusion: Don’t be suprised on this, go ahead if your goal and why is obvious to you. The approximately 1300 meter difference in level brought out the maximum from me, or a little more. While I was crawling I was thinking about what is the tiredness that i am feeling like, and the following story came into my mind: I was about 18 years old, when me and some of my friends decided to start the well paid wagon unloading. The rule was simple, they only paid when the whole wagon was unloaded. The product which had to be unloaded was very good quality artificial fertilizer, which had to be broken with a pickaxe before it could be shoveled. Six people started our wagon but 3 of us gave up and we managed to succeed in 26 hours. I got really tired. I slept more than 24 hours in a row. I feel the same now, but now I don’t have time to sleep that much, I have to pull myself together until morning. I will delete the comments beginning with softy online business builder That’s it for today, there are other photos and videos, but the internet connection is not the best. I will share them later.

[This post contains video, click to play]

2. Day Roncesvalles – Larrasoana 29,9 km

Kocso Laszlo — Tue, 08 May 2012 15:18:46 +0000

First of all I would like to thank you all the encouragement you continuously give me, although this makes it harder for me: I can not give up. I haven’t even thought about giving up, but my legs, waist and shoulders have.

Besides the encouragement you can support me the most with the increase of your personal point value A quick announcement of competition: The person with the most personal PV in May will get my clam. If there is a demand for other Camino relics, I am waiting for the suggestionss, the qualification requirements will be decided later.

So Let’s see the second day.

The natural features of the road compared to the first day may seem an easy walk, but the it rained almost all day. The only problem with rain is that the soil became sloppy creating mud and pools. I think the light running shoe was a good decision, but not for today. By the middel of the day my sohes becames soaking wet, I had no chance to walk in dry weather, so managed to have the first two big blisters. Luckily not on my sole but on the two sides of my heel.

I got really tired, and I walked 1,5 km more, because I got lost in a little town.

I think the tiredness could be seen on me, because the pension I arrived to, the owner ask me if I could carry my backpack up to the first floor or may he help (And he didn’t ask this from the previous pelegrino).

In the next two hours I tried to pull myself together to have dinner, which was a little hard, but necessary becuase I only consumed the excellent products of DXN and two bananas all day.

[This post contains video, click to play]

3. Day Larrasoana – Cizur Menor 20,7 km

Kocso Laszlo — Wed, 09 May 2012 13:11:07 +0000

This day started fantastic for two reasons. First I could get up, which despite my positive thinking I have to admit I didn’t see a chance. The second is that the receptionist when I checked asked for my business card to check on the internet what kind of coffee I am dealing with. Maybe the spanish market will soon be launched ?!

Today’s tour seemed easy from every aspect, on the first hand is little more than 20 km, on the other hand I can not complain about the character of the ground. I had to realise, that there is no optimal weather for walking. Today the sun shined beautifully, but this isn’t good also, because I am in a muck of a sweat.

Most of the tour today went through Pamplona, where you really had to pay attention, even though the road signs were good. I only thought about something else for a second and I realised that 3 pelegrinos came from the opposite direction telling me that the direction is wrong. Fortunately it costed only an extra 200 meters for me.

I will not write about what I see or saw, the pictures should speak instead of me.

I got to Cizur Minor Maribel albergue (pilgrim accomodation) in time, so this way I got a lower bed. It’s pity, that the distance between the upper and the lower bed is not suitable for sitting only for laying, but the garden with palm trees compensates me for everything. The upload speed here is th ebest so far. I am sorry in advance for my 30 roommates, they will have a hard night, because I’ve heard I snore really loud.

Don’t worry about the gasp on the video recorded on the first day, I just wanted to increase the dramatic effect, generally I can breathe.

People say that the first three days is the most difficult, I’ll see tomorrow.

4. Day Cizur Menor – Puente la Reina 20,4 km

Kocso Laszlo — Thu, 10 May 2012 10:48:21 +0000

Unfortunately today I didn’t realise when I entered a shop the GPS signal was lost, the problem was that it didn’t come back. 30 minutes later my telephone beeped, that would I like to continue without recording the GPS signal. I had to restart my phone (it is a lob, you don’t have to comment) so part was left out, the data is not accurate.

I woke up early in the morning. I was looking at the faces trying to get some feedback about my snoring, but everyone was busy to get ready, so I didn’t get to know anything.

The weather was really fine in the early morning and the route also was not so hard. Laci, the pebbly slope was really hard, but with this type of product support (DXN) it didn’t cause me any problem (sorry I had to say that).

The day was jazzed up by the beautiful villages I passed through. Slowly I will start to actually enjoy the walking and I will not only focus on putting down the pain mentally. The winner of the competion so far is my left shoulder, I have the biggest problem with that.

More and more people are on the way now, because a lot of people start the Camino from Pamplona.

The local pilgrim accomodation is glorious, for a small overcharge I have a separate room. It clearly show that I am getting used to it, that I don’t immediately collapse physically after arriving only a littel later ;-).

Thank you for the comments, they give me a lot of strength, it feels good that you think about me.

Special thanks to Balázs, who in the background rearranges the photos and videos and translates the hungarian text to english (and corrects the spelling mistakes in the hungaraian).

[This post contains video, click to play]

5. Day Puente la Reina – Estella 24,8 km

Kocso Laszlo — Fri, 11 May 2012 12:13:40 +0000

Let the pictures talk instead of me today:

[This post contains video, click to play]

6. Day Estella – Los Arcos 20,9 km

Kocso Laszlo — Sat, 12 May 2012 11:32:13 +0000

Today in terms of walking was optimal. Beautiful weather (until I reached the half of the course the sun didn’t shine), favourable character of the ground, short distance

On this sixth day wtihout any blisters (I only have 2 very big, on the two side, which doesn’t bother me at all and probably is because my shoes let in water) I would like to say big thanks and I am gratefull for Dr. Tálas Mária, who on the Mandala training (if only for this it would have been worthy to hold) told me the certain formula: every day before leaving I should put white vaseline on my feet.I am reporting that I have done it and it works. While suffer from the blisters I have no problem. I hope there would be a solution for my shoulders as well…

Leaving Estella the first sight is the famous wine well (you just open the tap and the red wine is flowing for free). There was a little crowd here, so I didn’t stand in line to take a photo, and wine is not my drink in these early hours (in late hours also).

A little later there was a unique situation, I could choose from two routes, I chose 2km less route. It was a little suspiciou, that everyone chose the other path (maybe they have read the guide book previously), but I didn’t regret it. In the next two hours I only met one person, and the path lead me through a beautiful forest. When this path rejoined the other, there team there asked me about the other route.

This was the first day, when after the route I was totally conscious. After taking a bath, I felt like walking in this beautiful, pleasant little town. I sat down in front of the church on the main square (which unfortunately was closed because of renovation) to write this blog post.

I just started writing when an asian guy asked me if I am a pilgrim as well. It turned out that he is from Korea and 50 years old. It is good for him that he can spend 40 days on Camino. I we spoke one hour. It is strange how small the world became. It is not a suprise to meet a korean IT engineer in the main square of a basque little town. He said he already met four of his fellow countryman in the past five days.

Later my scottish „friends” came, and seeing that I am writing on my Ipad, they showed that they also have one and inquired about the Wifi password. We started the same day with the scottish brothers. They are wearing scottish skirt and are always happy.

That’s it for today. I am beginning to enjoy Camino. I am not only dealing with defeating the distance and surviving, but also enjoying the effects and messages fot the route.

[This post contains video, click to play]

7. Day Los Arcos – Logrono 29,5 km

Kocso Laszlo — Sun, 13 May 2012 11:49:29 +0000

I had a wonderful trip today as well. I think the pictures show it better, then I could share it in words.

I took some photos of route-signs, for you to see how the right way is marked.

Good luck for the organization Szabolcs, it feels good, that you think about me, but you surely know, I find this attention and the naming an exaggeration.

[This post contains video, click to play]