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.