Walking

After a month of inactivity.  First with a bad cold, then two weeks away visiting family and right after we got home I hurt my back on the first hike.  May be I will be ready to start walking again next week.  We had been trying for 40 to 50 km a week but now we have lost all our training.  We have to start all over.

In the Bruce trail near Mississauga, Ontario

We are still planning for a start in mid to late March.  We know most people finish in somewhere around 35 days.  Trying to be realistic I think we will need at least 45 days.

We keep buying equipment little by little.  We just got our sleeping bags.  They are rated for 15C (and for a extreme of 3C).  The average temperature in Navarra in March is around 9 C with a minimum of 3C.  We do not expect to have to sleep outside so we should be fine.  The sleeping bags weight 1 kg so they will be a significant part of our load but they pack reasonably small.

I will write occasionally until we start el Camino

Backpack

I have a new backpack for the journey.  It is a 40 litres Mountain Warehouse pack.  It took me a long time to decide what I wanted.  This model comes with a lower compartment for the sleeping bag, a rain cover, facilities to add a hydration system and lots of pockets.  40 litres is not very big but that is on purpose.  We want to pack as little as possible, after all, we will have to carry the stuff for 750 km.

As for the hydration system I have been using a 2 litre bag.  It fit nicely in the new pack.  The bagpack weights one kg and the water 2 kg.  I have set as my load limit 8 kg.  So adding the sleeping bag (good for temperatures of 5C to 15C) that is one more kg.  I have used half of my load in just the basics.  It is going to be difficult to live for a month and a half with luggage that weights only 4 kg (for my friend is the USA 4 kg = 8.8 lb).

I like my new pack.  I just spent some time sawing my Canadian flag patch and a Cross of Santiago patch. It is ready to go.  Soon I will have to start hiking with the new pack loaded.

El Camino de Santiago

El Camino de Santiago

This year my wife and I walked the last 100 Km of el Camino de Santiago in a "de Luxe" mode. We booked a tour with Marly Camino who provide excellent service.  The booked places to stay, meals, side tours, transfer the luggage and every day they would drive us to the place where we ended the day before.  Easy to walk with a day pack, well fed, walking no more than 15 Km per day.    So we got our Compostela but I feel we missed the experience.

So this blog is going to follow our our plans and preparations.   We want to do it next year starting in Roncesvalles;  yes 750 Km carrying all our luggage.  I guess this is not extraordinary but for me, on my 70th year of life and with some extra weight, diabetes, high blood pressure and all those other pains that come with age, this is a real challenge.  Luckily I have a young wife in her early 60s to take care on me during the journey. 

I will be writing here until and if we get to Santiago.  Right now the proposed schedule is to start in mid April and finish in early June.