New sandals!

So today I squeezed in a cheeky 5 mile walk along the tow path of the river where I live
on the Herts/Essex boarder.

Parndon Mill, Harlow.

Partly the reason for the walk was to keep in the habit of putting some miles into my legs and improve my fitness. The other reason was to start wearing in the new Keen walking sandals I bought this week.

When I'm actually walking along the trail on the Camino, I plan to be wearing my hiking boots; my right ankle has never healed properly from a fracture when I was a teenager, and it requires the support offered by my boots. Once I've finished walking, however, I don't want to be weighed down by the things; I also need shower shoes, and since they are made of synthetic materials, they should dry off nice and quickly after a shower.

Starting to get into the walking habit



Hello! On Sunday 23rd March I at last started my training for the Camino Frances in earnest. Jackie is in a walking club and occasionally leads walks. In order to give the impression that she knows what she is doing and so that the walk doesn't go horribly off course, she usually goes over the walk on her own a week or two before hand. This coming Sunday, the day the clocks go forward so we all get an hour less sleep, Jackie is leading a 10 mile walk along the North Downs Way, just south of London.

So on Sunday, having negotiated the Kafkaesque experience of the British railway system (Sunday) with its "planned maintenance" and rail replacement services (a bus) we arrived at the bottom of Box Hill in darkest Surrey.

The walk started nicely, crossing a river between the road and the trail over these stepping stones, which thankfully were not too slippery.

After this we got to the base of the hill proper and started to climb. The climb was seriously steep; so steep in fact that steps had been cut into the hill - about 200 of them! Photographs cannot do justice to how energy sapping a climb it was. Needless to say, it took us both a few minutes to recover our breath when we got to the top. A reminder to me how important it is to lose some weight and get fitter between now and when I start the Camino.

Here is the view from the top of Box Hill - well worth the goldfish out of its bowl breathing experience it took to get up there!

After the climb, the trail pretty much stays at the same height for some time as it traverses the hill, skirting around the site of a former quarry, including this lime kiln.

Some downward travel was then followed by another really steep and long climb to the summit of another hill, where we eventually stopped in this rather ornate shelter for a quick rest.

Those are my Pacer Poles leaning against the front column - really glad I've got them! Soon after our restart, we passed the remains of a fort, stopped for a bite to eat and then descended back down to the railway station and home.

A bit of an update...

Hey there! It has been a couple or three weeks since I posted anything here, so I thought I'd give a little update. I'm now in possession of a pair of Pacer Poles. Haven't had a chance to do anything with them, except set them to the approximately correct length. My plans to do weekend walks have been toast due to the demands and resultant fatigue of work. But this Sunday I shall definitely be leaving all that behind me and going for a cheeky 10 miler in the North Downs. Not sure if I'll take my pack with me yet...but will definitely take the poles!


Only 9 more work day get ups until the Easter break, so I'm really looking forward to our trip to the Peak District. I really need to get some hill walking embedded into my training as on the first day in particular there are some pretty challenging climbs and descents on the Camino.


My plans to lose weight weren't going so brilliantly last week; I started to creep back up to where I started. This week all I have eaten has been muesli for breakfast, fruit, salad, and instant noodles. Haven't had any bread, alchyhole, pasta, curry, fried food, or tatties all week. If I haven't lost weight since Sunday I think I'll just give up!!


This week I've been thinking that if I enjoy and survive the Camino Frances in July/August I might just try doing the Camino Ingles in October...

Packing list

Everyone likes a list and prospective Camino de Santiago pilgrims are no different. After bedbugs and snoring, the packing list is probably the most talked about topic. Weight being an important factor, each item is weighed to the nearest gram to ensure that the magic 10% of body weight barrier is not broken. In preparing for one's Camino this race to lightness could almost overshadow the whys and wherefores of dragging one's lardy arse across Northern Spain. Not wanting to rock the boat - I live on a boat so know of the terrible consequences of rocking them - I have more or less decided on the items I shall be taking...probably...so naturally I wish to share with the hordes of people following this blog in baited breath. Here goes:


Osprey Kestral rucksack
Saloman GTX4 walking boats...did I say boats?...well they are size 12, but I meant boots.
Pacer poles
Sleeping bag
Silk sleeping bag liner
Walking sandals
Shower shoes (flipflops)
3 pairs of walking socks
2 pairs of sock liners
2 pairs of underwear
2 tee shirts
1 long sleeved shirt
1 pair shorts
1 pair convertible trousers
North Face w/proof jacket
Removable fleece from jacket
Buff
Pen knife
Tooth brush
Toothpaste
Tiger balm
Plasters
Vaseline
Ibuprofen
Antacids
Antiseptic wipes
Germoline
Soap
Spork
3 dry bags
Marmite (you can't get it over there, y'know!!)
Phone & charger
Tubular elasticated bandage (in case of knee issues)
Sunscreen/moisturiser
Travel towel
Travel clothes line
Sewing kit
Some duct tape
Toilet roll
Ear plugs
Plastic trowel (in case I need to dig a small hole...)


That's about it...probably...seems like quite a lot to me...maybe I need to prune it a bit...as long as I take the Marmite!

Kit and making training plans

So this week the sleeping bag I'm taking with me arrived. It weighs about 900g, so I'll definitely be using it! If you ask 10 different people about whether to take a sleeping bag on a summer camino, you'll probably get 11 different answers. I enjoy a good night's sleep, so if having a sleeping bag makes that more likely to happen I'm willing to carry it with me.

 

It's a rectangular affair, which for me has 2 advantages over the "mummy" style, which most sleeping bags seem to be these days. Firstly it is a lot less restrictive of movement; when I move in a mummy style bag, the bag tries to move with me, which means I often end up being tangled up and getting into a claustrophobic panic trying to untangle myself. I'm hoping that with this bag, that is less likely to happen.

 

Secondly, this bag has a zip along the side and at the bottom so that I can turn it into a double sized blanket if I need to.

 

I also got a Swiss Army knife during the week with a very important attachment - a cork screw.

 

It being the beginning of the month, I've just been paid so now I'm like a kid in a toyshop with half a crown burning a hole in my pocket. In terms of kit which is not dependent on my physical size (this week I lost nearly 1.5kg by the way) the only thing on my shopping list is a pair of poles, so I'll be investing in a pair of Pacer Poles this week. I have a bit of a dodgy knee which occasionally decides to give me gyp and I'm hoping that walking with a pair of poles will lessen the impact on my knees.

 

I've only got about another 144 get ups until I set off on this journey, so I really need to start thinking about getting into walking shape. Work is hell at the moment and I have little time to myself during the hours of daylight during the week which means I need to start using the weekends to get some miles into my legs between now and the Easter break. So every weekend for the next 4 weeks I'm intent on getting a 10 mile walk into what little spare time I have.

 

Speaking of Easter, we've just booked a couple of nights in the Derbyshire Peak District to get some serious walking done. I'm also planning to use the Easter break (I have 2 weeks off work) to get some 30km walks along the towpath of the river where I live.