Training and waiting

Only 96 days to go.

I got obsessed with the weight of my backpack and I managed to trim one more kg.  I am down to 6 kg (without water or food).  I traded my sandals (560 grams) for ultralight shoes (New Balance minimum, 396 grams).  I traded my Columbia pants (with zippers to convert to shorts) for my one piece Merrill slacks and saved another a 160 grams.  So with a bit here and there I reduced the weight one whole kilogram.  That is almost 15%.

So we got a sunny day, a bit cool - around 0C, we loaded the backpacks and added water and food for the day bringing my pack to around 9 kg and we managed 20 Km in 5 hours.  We walked on the Hamilton to Brantford trail which is an easy trail with a gentle slope.  It was not very taxing so I think we are close to ready.  We also have to think that we are going to have to do this day after day after day.

Now that the snow is here it may get a bit more difficult to go hiking.  We may have to get the cross country skis out.

Trip preparation

Progress!!

A couple of days ago we finally figured that we have everything we need to walk in March.  So we did a trial packing.  My pack fully loaded weights 6.8 kg and the wife's 5.5 kg.  That includes only one change of clothes plus an extra t-shirt and an extra pair of socks.  That is also before we add the 2 litres of water of the hydration pack.  So the answer is, we have to try to loose 3 or 4 kg before we start walking (I can certainly afford that).  We have to keep training and with fully loaded packs.  I am pretty sure that walking in Ontario in the winter will be colder than walking in Navarra in March.  If anybody  want a complete packing list please let me know.

We also bought our flight tickets.  We are leaving on March 3 via Lufthansa.  I was surprised to see that the tickets were a lot cheaper than what we paid this year; perhaps is because we bought them so early.  We are flying overnight to Frankfurt and from there to Madrid (another surprise, there are no non-stop flights to Madrid).  We arrive in Madrid shortly before noon.  We figure we can take a bus from Terminal 4 to Pamplona leaving at 1 PM or if we miss that one there is another one at 3 PM.  Arrive in Pamplona 7 or 8 PM and next day we can take the only bus to Roncesvalles at 6 PM.  That gives us one day to recover from jet lag in Pamplona.  In Roncesvalles we arrive on time for the Pilgrim mass and we start to walk the next day.  Cannot wait!

Canadian Company of Pilgrims

Yesterday my wife and I attended a meeting of the Canadian Company of Pilgrims.  I was surprised to see over 50 people there.  There were several pilgrims to share their experiences, give advise and answer questions.  We learned a lot.

  We also decided to start our pilgrimage earlier,  instead of mid April, start in early March.  We checked the weather.  In Navarra, the high for the day averages 13 degrees Celsius and goes up to 15C  by month end.  It sounds that we can expect occasional lows of 0 C and possibility of snow.  This is fine, after all, we hike in the winter in colder days.  Bring it on, we are Canadians.

Only 4 months to go.