It is officially day three of Camino 2025 and I am with my sister Lynne for the first few days until we arrive in Pamplona.Day one started at 11:00 a.m. departing for an 18-hour journey to get to Saint Jean Pied de Port (SJPdP). A journey that could be jokingly called planes, buses and automobiles... And shuttle bus. All the transportation was as smooth as could be expected on a journey such as this. We had some bonus points taking the shuttle from Pamplona to Saint Jean Pied de Port where we have the luxury of paralleling the Camino all the way back.We took the remainder of day number two to get settled into our accommodations for the night, pick up last minute equipment that had been pre-ordered and walk around the town enjoying the beauty of SJPdP, visiting the citadel, walking along the river, venturing to the local LIDL store for a few grocery items and getting some food.Basque sausagesBasque cakeBasque ciderBasque cured meatsAnyone else seeing a pattern here?Eating all the local food specialties, because when in Rome do as the Romans do but when in France, Spain, & Portugal, eat the damn food - They are all countries known for their culinary mastery... So, anyways, yeah, exploring their culinary wonders.TodayToday, as anyone who has read about the Camino knows, today is the hardest part of the Camino Frances, hands down. It is a three hour journey from SJPdP to Orrison... The first hour and a half is a little rugged but totally fine, after the initial early walk everyone adjusted to the climb. I went into hill climbing mode and just sped up the climb........Well, until the hairpin turn... Hill climbing doesn't describe the climb... I don't know how the cars do it, but I can say they are always in low gear.The off road switchbacks didn't fail in their roughness.All that said, it was a nice climb, the suck factor amplified by the food and drizzle and very high humidity. Just standing there one could be drenched, walking just added a lovely sweat component that wasn't evaporating away. That meant overheating was a major risk so we had to break our climb into smaller portions just to let the body cool off before the next climbing bite.Luckily the extreme angles are done for now... At least for a bit.Orrison was the welcome refuge we so hoped for with hot vegetable puree soup, basque cake, and the obligatory bread. It gave us enough rest to meet some other pilgrims heading to the same place as us, Albergue Borda.A true Oasis in the Pyrenees mountains. Small, only 15 people here and managed with a very lovely and energetic host Michael (say it in a very French manner). The showers, glitching badly for whatever reason. See, they give out tokens that is good for 4 minutes of running water... Key there, RUNNING water...OnlyWellThe system messed up on ALL the showers, everyone got 15 seconds of water... Cold water.Michael did a work around but I, in traditional Camino water saving mode for wet, sudsed up and went to rinse with 4 seconds of brutally cold mountain water...Another token gave me ample time for the rinse and a quick adjustment allowed the coins to pop back out for 15 more seconds, but I got my shower done in 30 seconds of running water. Just have to adapt and go with the flow.... I mean, go with the lack of flow of water.Tonight's meal is pork, promises to be wonderful. The sound of pork suddenly turned several people into temporary vegetarians, which the remainder of us gladly offered to eat their portions with much laughter and kidding....Speaking of which, they have a beautiful small ceremony as they check in people, they pass around cups filled with either lemonade or herbal tea for the toast. Michael goes thru the rules and processes, brings everyone up to their bunks and just generally plays the warm Albergue host perfectly.So anyways, that catches everyone up with what has happened so far. Tomorrow we finish the climb over the Pyrenees, the worst behind us now. In a few days I'll catch up with good friend Charlton in Pamplona and Lynne will take a detour on the way out of town to go see a special church.