set back

Ugh....threw out my back 10 days ago at Pickle ball.....and got a real bad cold.....so little training going on this week. I hope to be back on track in a few days.

In the meanwhile booked a few more hostels for during our walk .

7 weeks before we go !!!!!! excited !

improvement

And......finally walked my first 10 miles  (keep in mind it's 90 degrees here) with my full backpack and new insoles. This was my first real test. My insoles thankfully indeed helped a lot as I hoped. SO HAPPY :)

The real training is starting

So Tom and I got our backpacks and I started this week walking with "the full load" .
Wow.....what a change from my usual hikes.
The loaded pack weighs around 15 lbs which seems not too bad....however when walking miles in 90 degree (30 + Celsius) weather it takes some getting used to. I feel the extra weight mostly in my feet. My knees seem ok so far.

Thankfully we have 2 months left so plenty time to train some more.

My schedule is now 4 times a week 4 miles with a 15 pound pack....and then next week I will add 1 long hike (8 to 10 miles) every week with the backpack.
Also next week I want to start walking a bit on a thread mill in the gym on a decent incline there obviously we have no hills in Florida.

I taped a short video today (not too charming but hey that is what walking in 90 degree weather will do to you ha ha )  with my phone as a trial for future video's while we are actually doing the Camino.

The backpacks are bought :) ...and I got my insoles !

So this week I flew out to Philadelphia to visit Tom and Sophie and to go to the REI store to buy our backpacks.
Tom tried on 3 different ones but decided to go with the Exos 58 and I got the Aura 50. Both packs are a bit bigger then we really need but we just figured....not to fill it all. This way we have a bigger pack for maybe future Appalachian trail hikes.

It was a very exciting shopping trip for us. We also bought all kinds of little "have to haves". Key chain flashlights, money/document belt to wear against body, some extra socks and rain gear.

I also picked up my custom made insoles before my trip to Phila and they seem to work great. We did a 5 mile hike and all felt comfy.

Sophie walked with us and would LOVE to join us for 2 weeks....who knows...she might end up doing it :)
Crazy thought.....next time I see Tom it will be in Madrid !!!!!!!!!!!

The first itinerary is done

12 weeks before we leave !!!! :)

So I figured that we do have to have some kind of itinerary to make sure we get to where we want when we want.

 I don't want to have to worry too much about finding places to stay after a long day of walking.
So I booked some hotels in the bigger towns and cities so we have always a place to stay there. This also lines up the dates in a way that all will come together to make it to Santiago June 20th.
If it happens that we are running behind due to blisters, injuries etc.....well then we may have to take a bus 1 day or so to catch up. Obviously NOT what we want to do but the option is there if we have to.

The dates for now are:
Leaving Pamplona May 26th
Arrive in Burgos June 4th
(We will take the train from Burgos to Leon due to time restrictions , once in Leon we will walk the rest again)
Arrive in Leon June 5th or 6th
Arrive in Sarria June 14th and stay till the 16th (this is where Rick and Carrie will join us)
Arrive in Santiago de Compostela the evening of June 20th.

Feet, shoes and socks!

Time to start the training more serious.
One would think it is as simple as .....just walk! Well yes and no.
I NEVER knew there was so much involved with picking the right socks and shoes....who knew?
So here a boring post about shoes, feet and socks :).

I started some more serious walks back in October and discovered lots of things I was not aware of before.
Some good some bad. A good one was that I have no problems walking 10 miles and truly enjoy it. A bad one was that I have a foot condition called Metatarsalgia !!!! I have very high arches so there is a lot of pressure on the front part of my feet....and after walking 3 or 4 miles it starts to hurt in a very annoying way.  Not in my open hiking sandals , but only in my (otherwise very comfortable) hiking shoes, which I really need/want to wear most of our walk. So after researching the Internet I bought 4 pairs of different insoles...Superfeet, Aetrex and even cheap Dr Scholl's....none of them worked ugh.....so I finally went to a Podiatrist last week and will now have custom insoles made. They will be ready by the end of the month. I SOOOOOO hope they will help. I also have one knee that bothers me a tiny bit depending what shoes or insoles I use. the Podiatrist is confident that the custom made ones will help solve this issue too :)
I just never knew how much of a difference insoles of shoes can make. But they can and do

   

So the other 2 items that are most important are your shoes and backpack.

I will visit Tom in March where we will go to the REI store in NJ to have our backpacks fitted (yep you don't just buy any random backpack) and buy the right one for us. So more about that once we get them .

I did buy my hiking shoes . After trying on like 10 different pairs I ended up with these:

 

 

 

 

 Keen hiking shoes. It takes a lot of shorter walks to break them in. The first 2 weeks I had some pretty bad blisters but now I am past that phase.  Now it's just a matter of more and more walks to really mold them to my feet. 

There are SO many horror stories on blisters during the Camino. People starting in new shoes. wearing regular cotton socks, or simply wrong shoes. I want to do whatever I can to avoid that!
So my trick is to rub my feet with Vaseline and then put on my amazing $20 per pair (thank you Santa :) ) "1000 mile socks " Boy are they awesome !!!! Again...I never knew all the choices there were in socks and was skeptical about if it would really matter...well it does!

More decisions have been made

Rick and his daughter booked their flights and will indeed join us for the last 6 days on The Camino! I'm happy they will be there to get a taste of and better understanding for what Tom and I are doing and.... be there for my Birthday :)  They will join us from Sarria to Santiago.

 This is last "100 KM stage" of the Camino is the minimum requirement to get your "Compostela" which is a kind of certificate. Pilgrims have been given "the Compostela" since the 16th century!

 We also decided that after we arrive in Santiago we will enjoy 4 days in Portugal to "deCaminoise " ( I made that word up but it sounds good to me ha ha ) before flying back to The USA and the reality of our regular lives again.
Question is what to do in 4 days Portugal? I was there 3 times as a kid but only in The Algarve. I have some thoughts but any suggestions are welcome.
 I do think we would like to stay in Central and Northern Portugal so we don't have to travel too many miles.

Getting more organized

The flights are booked !
We are leaving  (Tom from NJ and I from FL) the end of May and will meet in Madrid and then take the train to Pamplona together,

A difficult decision was what parts of the Camino shall we walk?
We "only" have 30 days but need to keep a few rest days in mind and 1 or 2 days to recover from our jet leg. So that leaves us with about 25 walking days.
We want to enjoy this trip together and are not going to rush it as if it is a race. A lot of people walk 15 to 20 miles a day (24/34 km) but we want to stick to 15 miles at the most. 
We decided to start in Pamplona and from there we will walk to Burgos (about 10 days of walking)
Then we'll take 2 rest days and take the bus  from Burgos to Leon. From Leon we will walk  to Santiago de Compostela (about 15 days of walking + 1 rest day somewhere)

The other thing we decided, is to sleep in very simple Hostels and "Rural homes" that rent out rooms for the night or in Albergues (simple lodging in farmhouses, monasteries etc.)

that have private rooms in addition to the big bunk bed rooms.... I will NOT sleep in big rooms with 20 + people snoring and coughing etc ( like most Pilgrims do)  That is where I draw the line lol!

For now I made reservations for the first 3 nights and the nights in Burgos, Leon and Santiago. We will see where we end up in between. The guide books say it is fairly easy to call ahead a few hours/day before we arrive at our next stop  to make reservations.
Most towns that you pass through offer simple "pilgrim menu's" for under 10 Euro's. This includes often a bottle of wine !!!  However now and then we will have to splurge on some good Tapas !!!

 

appetizer: Spaghetti, entree Beef stew, dessert Flan, and bread, water and wine. We can do that!

How to start prepping for this ?

After researching a lot online I made a list of all the things I needed for The Camino.
Turns out it is not a cheap adventure!
Good hiking boots, special good fitting backpack, trekking poles, "fast drying, moisture wicking, light weight clothing",(gear incl. pack cannot weigh more then 15 lbs)  travel towels, travel sleep sheet, etc etc. And last but not least.....a flight to Spain. Good thing Christmas was coming up so I got most of my gear for Christmas :) Thank you all :)
Some other things I will bring is a guidebook, journal and Kindle. That is about it !

The other part of prepping for the Camino was training for the long daily hikes (average 15 miles/24 km) day after day.
 I started out slowly in October. The loop in my community is 4 miles.(6.4 km)  I did (and still do) this about 4 to 5 times a week. Now and then I throw in a 8 mile (12.5 km)  walk to our local grocery store. Towards April I will start some longer walks with my full pack.

My biggest challenge are my feet. I have tried 3 different insoles and no matter what....the area under the balls of my feet keep hurting after a few miles while wearing my VERY comfy hiking shoes  (Keen Marshall's) No blisters....just a strange pain under the balls of my feet. When I wear my hiking sandals.....no problems at all. So I may end up walking as much as possible in these and then just the closed hiking shoes for when it's cold and rainy.

The Idea

In July of 2014 I watched the movie "The Way" about the Camino De Santiago and for some reason it just stuck with me.
After a few weeks and seeing the movie once more I decided....I AM GOING TO DO THAT !Yes a bit cliche because I know a lot of people made an attempt after seeing that movie.

I wasn't sure why I was so affected by it...Was it " Joost from Amsterdam "???? ha ha .....I guess just to do something crazy and the physical challenge, part also to be away from all routine in life and .....oh well 1 month in Spain didn't sound too bad either :) Also my brother walked all the way from Holland to Santiago 25 years ago so I always wondered.

After talking to my family, all my kids wanted to join me but 2 of them just couldn't take the time off from school/work... .however my youngest Tom could and he thought it was a great idea....

So by the October 2014 it was decided...Tom and I were going to walk, not all but at least 350 miles of the Camino in 30 days. I am super excited to do this with my son. It will be a once in a lifetime experience.
My fiance Rick and his daughter will try to join us the last week so they can get a taste of it and will be there on my Birthday when we arrive in Santiago .

It is January 2015 now so I'm backtracking a bit due to the fact I decided this week to start a blog. A lot of people are reacting : "wow!  really? Why? You're crazy ! SO awesome, I always wanted to do something like that " etc. etc. I also found myself looking for as much info and experiences from previous "Camino Pilgrims"
I'm new to blogging so bear with me :)

A bit of background information about myself and my son who will join me.

I'm 52 (as mentioned I hope to arrive on my 53rd B day in Santiago) and live in Florida with my fiance Rick. I have no real experience at all with hiking and am in average condition (hope to improve this a bit along the way) My son Tom is 19 and is attending college in NJ. He is in good shape but not a hiker. So the whole hiking thing is new to us. From what I read in guides and other blogs, walking 15 miles is not the problem....it's doing this 30 days in a row. We will see how all goes !