35 days to go

Almost a month is gone by and we have not had a chance to train any more.  We had the ice storm before Christmas that took down trees and power lines in all the region.  one half million homes without power (that means no heat) for up t 10 days.  The ice storm was followed by a mass of polar air that brought temperatures down to -25C and with windchill of -40C (or -40F).  And we got  bad cold that kept us home for a week.  Then 2 weeks in Mexico City visiting family and that bring us to today.

We finally went for a short 2 hour walk yesterday.  The temperature was up to a relative warm of -9C.  We were surprised to see the damage the ice storm left behind.  Huge trees broke in half, downed branches everywhere.  Fortunately the path has been cleared by city crews (this trail is in city of Mississauga grounds).

As for preparation we keep reading and planning, but now is time to get busy.  There is lots to do at home before we go.   We probably will not have to walk a lot, may be just 10 to 15 km twice a week if the weather permits.  After all winter has another 2 or 3 months to go.

On the spiritual side we had a chance while in Mexico to go and visit the shrine of Our Lady of Guadalupe and ask for her protection.  We need a very special favour from Her and from St. James and after all, we know that miracles happen in El Camino.

Only 60 days to go

It is hard to believe that we are now in 2014 and there are exactly 60 days  left before our flight to Madrid.

Training has become more difficult, December brought us snow, then an ice storm that created a lot of hazards and closed many trail and conservation areas and finally the last few days we had to cope with very cold weather.  We had a few 10 Km walks in -12 C (as in the pictures).  We have been walking with our day packs only, no load,  But we have accepted that it is more difficult to walk in snow and in the last walk we found a very slippery layer of ice under the snow.  Luckily this Christmas we got  spikes that we used in our last hike.   They really help.   The last time out in addition to the -14 C it was very windy.  It is the first time that I cannot drink any water because the hose of my hydration pack got frozen solid.

The last couple of days the temperature has been down.  It is -17 C going to -22 C (that is -7.6  F)  in the evening and we are expecting another 10 cm of snow during the day. Also,  I got a pretty bad cold so I have stayed home the last two days.  By Saturday the temperature is expected to go up to -5 C.  That we can handle so we may be able to get our packs and go out again.

Our luggage is pretty well ready.  We plan to go over it in detail again to see if we can eliminate a few more items.  We want to keep the weight under 7 kg for me and 6 Kg for her.

The other part of the preparation is the spiritual part.  As Roman Catholics we are going to try el Camino de Santiago a a religious pilgrimage.  How do I do this?  It is a good question.  My approach has been to start going over the readings of the mass of the day.  I found an app for my android phone ( it is called "Laudeate") that not only has the readings but also meditations and if I get more ambitious it also has the daily liturgy of the hours.

I don't think I will be writing in the blog for a while.  We are to Mexico City for a couple of weeks and our walks there will be urban walks, without a car is very difficult yo get up to the mountains.