5 more days

It just happen that I almost did not make the trip.  Last Friday I had a routine exam at the Hospital. Saturday I was back in the Emergency Room with a pretty bad infection.  In the end I spent 4 days with intravenous antibiotics.  In any case they finally sent me home today.
So here I am, pretty tired trying to make a list of the things I have to do this last five days.  I have follow up doctor appointments, a postponed dental appointment, banking to do, etc, etc.
Very excited and a little scared...will I be able to do it?
If everything else goes well, a week today, at ths time we will be in Pamplona on our way to our starting point:  Roncesvalles.  The present weather here today is -7C going down to -14 C tonight.  The forecast for Roncesvalles for Tuesday and Wednesday next week is sunny with low of 2C and high of 13C for both days.  Truly T shirt, shorts and flip-flop weather.
Oh;  I am so ready for that.

Two weeks to go

Only two more weeks.  The time seems to slow down when you are waiting for something.

This weekend we had two friends over for lunch and a hike along the Credit River.  We met our friends at a the Canadian Company of Pilgrims meeting.  They are going to el Camino in May.  It is so nice to talk to people who are as obsessed with el Camino as we are.  I think the "others", family and friends, are fed up with my constant chat about the pilgrimage.  We had a really nice day.  You can see from the picture that the day was quite a bit warmer, it went all the way up to -5C and sunny.  You will notice that neither Brenda nor I were wearing our toques or balaclavas.

We discovered recently that the dates for our trip are very meaningful.  The day we arrive to Roncesvalles will be Ash Wednesday and the days we had planned to arrive at Santiago de Compostela is Easter weekend.  It could not have worked better if we had planned it that way.  Is the Holy Spirit getting into my life already?  I have not even started to walk.

I keep planning and planning.  I checked on the accommodation in Roncesvalles, it seems that when we get there the only beds available is in the winter albergue which has only 16 beds.  We will have to trust that we will not be left out in the cold.  The first day we are going to walk only 12 km.  I figure we are going to be still jet lagged so we are going to stay in Biskarret, there is a casa rural there that seems very nice, La Posada Nueva.  The next day we will walk only as far  Pamplona, another 15 km and then we will really have to start walking farther.

I also found another video that I found of interest to pilgrims like me.  It is of Pablo Coelho, the author of The Alquemist, in El Camino de Santiago.  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5lSyWAMk8LI

I really expect that El Camino will have an impact on my spiritual life.

Vaya con Dios y Buen Camino

Only two more weeks

24 days to go

Training continues to be difficult.  We were out yesterday in 20 cm of fresh snow and the white stuff kept coming.  It took us 1 hour in a stretch that we usually walk in 20 minutes.  It was also cold.  My hydration pack house  was almost plugged with ice despite the fact that I had filled it with warm water.  Still, it was very beautiful.  We are going to try a longer hike tomorrow with full packs.  We;ll see how we do.
It is amazing how wonderful the world that God has given us is.

There are more and more things to do before we go.  I had a doctor appointment today, at my age there is a lot of maintenance, she changed some of my medications for the pilgrimage.  But I still have a test at the hospital, a couple of dentist appointments, I need to arrange my financial situation to make sure that everything is paid on time while we are away, I have to prepare the tax return, it will be due when we come back, and on and on the list goes.

I am still working on backpack weight.  We unpacked everything once more and left a few more things behind.  It is incredible how you can save weight.  My flip flops (for the shower) weight 180 grams.  I found a pair of ladies flip flops (they are not very girlie) at the dollar store that weight only 75 grams.  I am going to carry them and share them with the wife.   I am taking 2 pairs of Merrel slacks but I have one more.  It occurred to me to weight the pair of slacks that was in my backpack and compare it with the one in the closet. It just happened that the one I was taking weights about 60 grams more than the one I was leaving behind.  I thought the only difference was colour (one is brown, the other one is khaki).

We are getting more and more impatient.