the Beginning

Lets start with introductions. I'm Jim and I live with my wife Siepi and her dog Bea, a springer spaniel. We are fairly recently retired.

The initial focus of this blog will be our adventure coming up in a few days. We are planning to spend several weeks walking in Spain doing a pilgrimage. This will be our second venture to Spain. Four years ago we did the Camino Frances pilgrimage beginning in France at St Jean Pied de Port walking to Santiago de Compostela in the Spanish province of Galicia. on the west coast about 800 km.

The path we are planning this year is a bit different. We will begin at Madrid, the capital city of Spain, walking the Camino de Madrid which leads about 300 kilometers ending at a town called Sahagun which is on the French route we had taking previously. After a few days on the Camino Frances taking us to the city of Leon we plan to veer north on a route called Camino Del Salvador to the city Oviedo.

Finally at Oviedo we would join the Camino Primitivo which will take us to Santiago again. Sounds good. But there is a problem: not enough days. Something will have to give. Perhaps we will take a bus for one the middle sections. We haven't figured this put yet.

We decided to walk another Camino last year sometime and got serious in February when we booked our airfares. More recently we have undertaken a schedule of walks around our community to get in shape. Also we have dusted off the things we took last time and have tried to come up with the items we intend to take with us. For us, the secret to a successful camino is keep the weight of our packs down. Last time it was in the neighbourhood of 12 pounds excluding drinking water. If anything this year we are trying to do even better.

One of the changes I have made this time is investing in lightweight ponchos which happen to come from  Spain. On our last trip we only had one really rainy day in 4 weeks. On that occasion we only carried disposable raincoats from the dollar store. It worked but just barely. This time I think we should be better prepared.

One of my issues is footwear. Last time I wore running shoes. It wasn't bad but not comfortable in all circumstances. This year I have been planning to wear waterproof trail running shoe with a stiffer sole than last time. Today we did our first hike of the annual Frontenac Challenge at the local provincial park. We chose to start with the most difficult one. It is 21 km plus entry and exit and took us about 8 hours in 30 degree heat and humidity. I wore proper hiking boots for this and found that my feet came through this in flying colours. This hike would be much more difficult walking than we would expect to find in Spain but not as long as some of our days there if last time is any predictor.

In the next post I'll try and give some links to the routes I've mentioned.