Deea Romanesco
← The arrival at St-Jean · prologue
I
Stage One

Saint-Jean-Pied-de-Port → Borda

20 June 2024 · the first day of walking

The arrows were yellow and certain. I was neither.

Do all roads lead to Santiago?

A weathered wooden Camino signpost in tall grass at the edge of a forest
An old stone house half-swallowed by ivy and tall grass on a hillside
Still standing. Still here.
A loquat tree heavy with orange fruit among glossy green leaves
Apricots! Nothing is as it seems.
A stony dirt path climbing a hill, lined with purple foxgloves under a pale sky

Ultreia et Suseia.

But upward first.

Snail, snail, tiny snail — where on earth is your shell?

Melc, melc codobelc /
Scoate coarne bourăști.

A brown slug crossing dewy grass, seen from above
Green Pyrenees ridges with low clouds drifting through the valleys under a vast cloudy sky
Pe-un picior de plai, pe-o gură de rai.
A lone tree dissolving into thick morning fog over wet grass
Fog. All around and within. Fog. Thick fog everywhere.
Clouds breaking over green mountain ridges near the summit
Above the clouds. Still under the sky.
A pale cow standing at the edge of a grassy summit as clouds spill over the ridge behind it
The cow doesn’t know… The cow doesn’t… The cow…

Borda by evening. The legs surprised. The mind, slower to arrive.