Tomorrow ... tomorrow .... we're leaving tomorrow

I've been singing "My bags are packed and I'm ready to go...."
Will be in Roncesvalles on Wednesday and will start walking Thursday morning.
I have no lofty expectations of this camino. No search for the Holy Grail, no burning angst, no unresolved issues. I just want to 'be' so that (as in an ancient Hasidic prayer) I can feel the 'Holy Fire' from all that surrounds me.
I have a couple of really pleasant duties this time. I will be delivering a brag book photo albumn to Maria Theodora (Felisa Rodriguez' daughter) filled with photos of her mother taken by pilgrims before she passed away in 2002 at the age of 92.
I also have an albumn for Tomas at Manjarin as well as a wooden Tau made by a community workshop at a monastery near my home.
I have a photograph of a pilgrim taken next to a huge old tree on the way up to O'Cebreiro which he wants placed under a large rock in the photograph.
I have a memorial photograph of a special peregrino which I will be nailing to a post outside Carrion de Los Condes.
This time we will do a tour of Roncesvalles - stay at the Eunate albergue - visit Santo Domingo de Silos - climb up to the castle at Castrojeriz - stay up until mid-night when they switch the lights on inside the cathedral at Leon - visit the relics at Oviedo - and do a nocturnal tour of Santiago.
Machi - I would love to 'massage mother earth' with my bare feet but I am not brave enough to try!
Dios les bendiga,

PACKING LIGHT

Here are my tips for packing a really light backpack.

Backpackers Rule No 1: Your backpack should weigh about 10-15% of your bodyweight.

(Yeah - well, no-body listens to this one!)

My fully packed backpack weighs just under 5kg but when I start walking I will have to add another 500mls water and perhaps another 500gr for fruit, nuts, bread etc. So along the trail it will vary between 5kg and 6 kg. So, how can you keep your pack down to between 5kg and 7 kg?

The big secret is to Weigh everything! Use a digital kitchen scale to weigh everything - including the backpack you buy. You don't need a 75L backpack to walk the camino. My recommendation is a 30L backpack for women and a 35L pack for men. (OK - if you are walking in winter you might need 5L extra space to cater for warm jackets, gloves, woolen hats etc., but in summer you will need less, lightweight clothing.) My 30L Pro-lite back pack weighs about 650gr - 23 ounces. A canvas type backpack will weigh twice that much. If you carry only 5 - 7 kg you do not need a thickly padded hip belt - a comfortable strap will hold the backpack in position. Some backpacks are for short people whilst others are for people with long torsos. It is important that you try the pack on, adjust the straps in the shop, ensure that the waist belt fits comfortably.

What is in my backpack?

2 t-shirts, 1 vest top, 1 long sleeve top, 1 fleece jacket, a parachute jacket.

2 shorts, 1 long pants, parachute pants, a rain suit.

3 lycra panties, 2 bikini tops, 3 pairs socks, 2 sock liners.

Croc sandals.

Clothing:
Everything should be multi purpose - this means don't pack sleeping shorts that can't be worn for walking, or nighties that can't double up as a shirt. Ladies - black lycra pants and bra tops can double as swim wear. Choose the lightest shorts you can buy. Running shorts from a sports shop are good. Jeep make lightweight shorts that can fold up into their back pocket. Find lightweight, wicking t-shirts and if this means taking your scale into a store when buying stuff, so be it. If your t-shirts are unnecessarily long, cut them shorter. This will reduce their weight even further. Cut the labels off your clothes - I'm serious - they will only irritate you anyway. An ultra-light fleece pullover can double up as a jacket if you convert it by putting a plastic zip into it. I use a black rainsuit rather than a poncho. The trousers can be used as over trousers in the mornings if it is cold and in the evenings when I go out. The jacket can also be worn when it is cold. Parachute jackets - the ones runners wear - are an excellent chill cheater and fold up into a little ball. You can also have parachute 'sweat' trousers made of the same lightweight material - mine weigh 95gr - 3.35oz.

Sleeping bags: For spring to early summer a lightweight mummy bag will do. First Ascent have bags that weigh 340gr - 12.5oz. (Take your scale with you to the store just in case they don't have the weight listed on them). In summer you can get by with an inner liner or silk liner. Mine was from the Silk Sleeping Bag Company in the UK and weighs 230gr - 8.2oz and cost £23. So, the combined weight of my backpack and sleeping bag is 880gr - 31 oz.

Take a pair of lightweight sandals - Crocs are excellent - to wear in the shower and when relaxing in the refuge. I wear socks with my Nile Crocs and can wear them all day and they only weigh 210gr - 7.5oz.
Take a minimum of toiletries. You are going to a first world country where there are more farmacias than bars - so, take a sample bottle of shampoo, a tiny bar of soap, the smallest toothpaste you can find. You can replace everything and anything when it starts to run out.

I have miniature versions of everything. A child's toothbrush is smaller and weigh less than an adult's toothbrush; a travel nailbrush is a diddly little thing; a baby's face cloth is smaller than a normal face cloth; a camping towel weighs half of what a normal towel weighs. Those little plastic clips that hold a bread packet closed make excellent pegs. Collect a dozen or so and you won't have to take pegs. 8 nappy pins make ideal pegs to hang washing and can also be used to pin wet socks etc to your backpack whilst walking.

My best advice is - Don't believe anyone who suggests an item you should take and says, "..it doesn't weigh anything." Everything weighs something! You don't need that little black jacket for an evening out (wear your black rain jacket). You don't need those two-in-one shorts / trousers that zip off at the knee. You don't need that sarong from Bali that hardly weighs anything.

POSTING STUFF AHEAD

If you can't bear to leave out your favourite things and find that your pack is too heavy after all don’t despair because you can post stuff onto yourself Lista Correos (Poste Restante) to Santiago. You won't have to dump your excess stuff on the edge of the road! (The most common thing pilgrims dump on the side of the road are tents!) Most post offices sell special pilgrim boxes – some big enough to take a 20kg suitcase - and address labels to send stuff onto Santiago. The Post Office in Santiago will hold your parcel for up to two months. When you arrive in Santiago, take your parcel ticket and your ID or passport to the Post Office and collect your parcel. It is close to the Cathedral and is open until 7pm.

BUEN CAMINO!!!

6 1/2 WEEKS OR 45 MORE SLEEPS!

I have started dreaming that I am on the camino. Last night I was sitting at a white plastic table in the sunshine outside a cafe bar with lots of other pilgrims and we were all laughing. I was speaking fluent Spanish (which I can only do in my dreams!)

As the time draws nearer, the camino calls more strongly. I suppose it is like this when returning to any favourite place - one becomes a bit agitated, impatient to be off, withdrawing more and more from family and friends but at the same time, a little anxious about the separation from loved ones and all that is familiar. I am ready to go.

Everything has been weighed and packed into zip-lock bags. My backpack is ready and weighs a miraculous 5,5kg - with a 500ml bottle of water!

I have glued on the CSJ UK badge, the CSJ South Africa badge and a Camino Pilgrim badge onto the back of the pack. The new boots are wearing down at the heels so I have stopped training in them lest they wear away before I even set foot on Spanish soil. I photocopied the CSJ Guide to the Camino Frances and have shared out the pages between three of us. I also photocopied the Brierley Guide maps and had them enlarged. This is all we will take but I am sure that with the guide, the maps and the yellow arrows we will not get lost.

We will be carrying gifts for three special people on the camino.

I have compiled three 'brag books' with photographs for these three special people. One is for Maria Theodora - daughter of Felisa Rodrigues who, until she died at age 92, sat at a table outside her ramshackle home just outside Logrono offering a sello to passing pilgrims as well as 'Higos, Agua, Amor' - figs, love and water. Maria has continued the tradition. I have been able to source about 15 photographs of Felisa from the Internet and another dozen or so of Maria. I have also made up a brag book for Tomás Martínez de Paz of Manjarin. So many people have photos taken at the Manjarin refuge in the Irago mountains but I'm not sure that many send these to Tomas. I have got about 30 photos of Tomas and Manjarin to give to him as well as a wooden Tau cross which I bought from the Marianhill Monastery near Durban.

The final brag book is for Jesus Jato at Villafranca del Bierzo. He and his family have been caring for pilgrims for almost 30 years and he is a healer, historian and a legend on the camino Frances. I didn't meet Jesus when I stayed in the Ave Fenix in 2002 but hope to meet him this time.

Thoughts on Camino de Santiago

A few magical words about walking el camino

THIS POST IS FOR THE LADIES

Check List:
√ The airtickets have been booked and paid for.
√ The car hire has been booked and paid for. (DoYouSpain - an automatic car for 6 days for 282 euro - not bad!)
√ The 'credenciales' have arrived in England.
√ The 2007 CSJ Guide and badges have arrived.
√ Marion has bought the Whizz-freedoms.
Whaaaat??
Don't know what those are?
These are portable, reusable 'female urine directors'.
Ladies, if you don’t like the idea of squatting behind a bush to pee, or if you have an aversion to public loos there are really useful alternatives. There are a number of feminine urine directors on the market that allow you to STP (Stand To Pee). Some are solid, some are flexible. Some have extension tubes for awkward loo stops. Wonderful to use on a long journey, on a hike, and especailly useful for women in wheelchairs.
You could try an American product called a Freshette from the USA http://www.freshette.com/ or a couple of British manufactured items, the Whiz Freedom at http://www.whizproducts.co.uk/en/ or the SheWee at http://www.shewee.com/ and even a disposable one called a Magic Cone. http://www.magiccone.com/
This is what some women had to say about these products:

FRESHETTE:
“This is a device that makes it possible to urinate standing up. Very easy. Very quick. Very clean. Doesn't leak. I have one and have used it for years. I'm ordering a new one for the trip because I stepped on my old one and cracked it. I love this because not only can I pee in the bushes with my back to the traffic like guys do... I don't have to sit on nasty toilet seats or squat with aching legs. It's VERY lightweight. You will only need the Freshette and direction tube. No need for the disposal bags.

SHEWEE:
“I bought a Whiz and also a Shewee which sounded similar but which was a lot cheaper and is a slightly different design. I found the latter suited me better and I used it outside for the first time today, on a cold and very windy walk in the mountains. It was wonderful not to have to crouch and perch (I find it harder to stand up again each year) and, in today’s weather, it was even more wonderful not to have to expose the nether regions. I shall buy another now as a reserve for if I lose this one.”
STP (Stand To Pee)
And for ladies who don’t know how to STP – here is a website that tells you how to stand with your back to the wind and copy the boys! http://www.ftmguide.org/bathroom.html

5 MONTHS TO GO!!

We are thrilled that Anneliese Schapers will be joining us on the camino. Anneliese has done parts of the camino with a coach/walking group before but has always wanted to walk it. Anneliese (a Catholic sister) has been a great supporter of our local Confraternity of St James functions and get-togethers. As she has sabbatical from her parish this year she will spend 6 weeks on the camino before going home to Dusseldorf to visit with her family. When I asked her if she drank beer the answer was, "Do you know any Germans who don't drink beer?" So, Finn is thrilled because he may have found his beer drinking partner!

Last week we booked all our airtickets. Durban-Johannesburg-Pamplona-Dusseldorf for Anneliese: Durban-Johannesburg-Santiago (home ex-Pamplona) for Finn; and Durban-Johannesburg-Pamplona for Marion and me.

Marion will be back for her 'caring' work in the UK at the end of May and I am planning to hold a CSJ camino workshop soon after she returns.

ADDING NEW FOOTSTEPS ALONGSIDE OLD ONES

After walking the camino Frances from Roncesvalles in 2002 and from Sarria in 2004 many people have asked me:
“Why walk the Camino Frances again? Why not walk one of the other 20 routes to Santiago?”
I say, "Because a year or so after walking the Camino Frances for the first time in the spring of 2002 I realised that I was a rather arrogant, naïve novice and didn’t know enough about the country, the terrain, history, folklore or the architecture of the camino Frances. I thought the terrain would be a piece of old takkie. After all, I was a hiker, an ex-marathon runner and ultra-distance race walker and, in 2002 because we only had 4 weeks holiday, we based our camino on walking 28kms per day for 27 days, which of course meant 13kms one day and +40kms the next.
I didn’t want to read too much about the history, folklore, architecture etc because I thought I would pick it up along the way. I did read Coehlo and Maclaine and thought they were sufficient. Ha!
In spite of all the running, race walking and rambling, the camino has a way of knocking the stuffing out of pompous pilgrims and some days I was just too exhausted to do any detour that was more than 50m off the path.
“There are beautiful archaeological ruins just 1 ½ km down the road,” a local told us outside Atapuerca.” Three more kms – not today thank you!
We didn’t wait for a church to be opened or look for the key.
“Seen one you’ve seen them all”. I heard a pilgrim say, and I agreed.
Then a Confraternity of St James was formed in South Africa and I became our Regional contact person. At St James’ Feast Day celebrations held at my home pilgrims recalled different places, monuments, scenery, their favourite Santiago statues or albergues and I sometimes felt as though they were talking about a different camino.
Over the past five years I have learned a lot from the camino Forums; read extensively on the history, architecture, music, traditions and regions of the camino Frances and have collected over 20 books, DVDs and videos which I show at workshops and at talks given to interested organisations.
Now, I think the time has come for me to revisit the camino Frances, this time at a more humble, leisurely pace with time to include the detours to Eunate, Clavijo, Oviedo and Santo Domingo de Silas etc.
We will go in September, a different season with new landscapes. I am no longer naïve and realise that I still won’t see 1/100th of what there is to see or appreciate all that the camino has to offer. I don’t want to compare this journey with my first camino or even have déjá vu moments.
In “Journey to Portugal” Jose Saramago who was awarded the Nobel Prize in 1998, said:
'The journey is never over. Only travellers come to an end. The end of one journey is simply the start of another. You have to see what you missed the first time, see again what you already saw, see in springtime what you saw in summer, in daylight what you saw at night, see the sun shining where you saw the rain falling, see the crops growing, the fruit ripen, the stone which has moved, the shadow that was not there before. You have to go back to the footsteps already taken, to go over them again or add fresh ones alongside them. You have to start the journey anew. Always. The traveler sets out once more."
I can’t wait!

2007: PLANNING FOR THE CAMINO - BACKPACKS ETC

Although my backpack usually weighs around 7-8kg on long walks I want to carry even less this time, so I've bought a new backpack - a K-Way ProLite 30lt - that weighs about 630g from the Cape Union Mart. The old one was a 35lt pack and weighed twice as much at 1,260g. "The bigger the sack, the more you'll pack" is a favourite backpackers mantra so I'm intending to pack less this time.
My Colibri aluminium sleepingbag weighs 600g but I've decided that it is also too heavy and have ordered a new sleeping bag from the Silk Sleeping Bag Company in England that weighs 220g, is 210 x 85cm and costs £23. So, the combined weight of backpack and sleeping bag is about 850g.

WHERE TO IN 2007???

YES! YOU GUESSED IT - TO SPAIN TO FOLLOW THE FLECHAS AMARILLAS ONCE AGAIN.
It has been almost 5 years since I walked the Camino Frances from Roncesvalles and 2½ years since I walked the Via Touronensis through France and to Santiago from Sarria. In August/September Marion and I will walk the Camino Frances from Roncesvalles. Marion likes to hug trees and I know that there a couple of huge, ancient trees along the camino which she will just love to hug! I found a couple of photos of big trees on the Internet just for her! This will be a whole new experience for me. I have only walked in Spring - May, June and July - and I'm looking forward to the different landscapes of the summer and autumn. Also, a HUGE plus this time is that my darling husband, Finn, will join us to walk the last 114kms from Sarria. For the past four years I have been a camino junkie and besides the little library of books, videos, DVD, maps, brochures and posters, we have also hosted the annual St James Feast Day celebrations at our home on or about the 25th July. I am SO thrilled that he will be able share a small part of the camino experience with me.
Marion and I will fly to Pamplona and get a bus/taxi to Roncesvalles. We will walk to Sarria and Finn will join us to walk Sarria to walk to Santiago. We plan on hiring a car and will drive down to Finisterre and up the coast to Muxia and across to O'Cebreiro. Then we will take 4 or 5 days driving across the Camino Frances staying at Oviedo, Castrojeriz, Santo Domingo de Silas and another night at Roncesvalles before going back to Pamplona so that Finn can see more of the old pilgrimage trail.
In 2002 we walked from Roncesvalles to Santiago in 27 days - averaging 28km per day. This time I want to take it slowly and am planning to walk ± 20km per day. I want to stay at the little refuge close to the Eunate Church: also at San Anton refuge and at Manjarin with Tomas the Templar and other small places inbetween. Can't wait!!

2006: La Via Francigena - 700kms to Rome

www.vfpilgrims.blogspot.com

2006:
When Joy and I were in Santiago de Compostela in 2004 we visited the museum where I collected a few leaflets and brochures. I happened to pick up a map with the title: El Camino Francigeno. I presumed that it was one of the camino routes through Spain and it wasn't until I got home and opened it that I saw it was a map on the route of the pilgrimage trail to Rome through Italy. Well, of course I started to dream about it! I went onto the Association International Via Francigena website. The Via Francigena follows the route taken by Archbishop Sigeric in 990AD who wrote about his journey to Rome to collect his stole of office - the palium - when he was appointed archbishop. This document was found in the early 1990's and is now in the British Museum. Of course I started dreaming about walking to Rome and in September mentioned that I was thinking of organising a walk to Rome. A number of friends showed an interest and in the end five of us committed to walking the VF to Rome.
We joined the AIVF and I joined the VF Yahoo group. As none of us could afford the time (or the money) to walk from Canterbury to Rome, we asked pilgrims who had done the walk to recommend the best sections to walk in 30 days. We were told that the Swiss section was really beautiful; the Valle d'Aosta was stunning; the route across the north of Italy - from around Ivrea to Fidenza or Fornovo was flat, industrial with large espanses of rice paddies and could be missed. So we planned a 30 day pilgrimage starting on Lac Leman - walking to Ivrea - train to Parma. We decided to also skip a short section from Pontremoli to Lucca.

For a full account of our walk to Rome, you can visit: www.vfpilgrims.blogspot.com Suffice to say that we had the most WONDERFUL walk to Rome. The weather was amazing - almost too hot at times. The five of us got on exceptionally well and there never any quarrels or 'fish lips'.

The average age of the VF five was 55 years
We walked 684kms. With an average step length of 75cm that means they took over 912,000 steps on their way to Rome.
We walked for an average of 25km per day - 27 days and one day off.
The average cost of our 28 days accommodations was €21.50 – many included breakfast. (All accommodation was booked in advance).
Facts: We crossed two passes, the Grand St Bernard – 2473m and the Cisa Pass -1050m.
We started in Switzerland at Vevey on Lac Leman. In Italy we walked through the Valle D’Aosta, Piemont, Emilia-Romanga, Tuscany and Lazio.
Our longest day was 11 ½ hours and our longest distance was 36.3km.
We passed through over 210 villages and towns and crossed more than 150 rivers.
We crossed a variety of bridges, metal, wood, hanging, stone, Roman etc
The town with the lowest altitude was Lucca at 19m asl and the place with the highest altitude was the Gr St Bernard Pass at 2472m asl.
We climbed from 870m at La Douay to 2473m at the Gr St Bernard Pass in 25kms and 11 ½ hours.
On some days the temperatures reached +40oC.
We only had three days with some rain - walking through one violent thunderstorm.
We caught a train from Ivrea to Parma and a train from Pontremloi to Lucca.
Our backpacks weighed between 8kg and 10kg.
Dinner: We made their own dinner in 8 places: ate ‘in’ at 10 different places (hospice, convent, hotels etc) and went ‘out’ for dinner 10 times.
Bed: We stayed in a backpackers, a hospice, a campsite, a gité, a castle, on a farm, three youth hostels, nine B&B’s, two convents, six hotels (one a converted monastery) and two apartments. Mostly in 2 bed and 3 bed rooms.
Breakfast: 18 places provided breakfast – usually pre-packed long life bread, croissants, biscuits, melba toast and jam with tea or coffee. We bought yoghurt, fruit and cereal to share for breakfast.
We lost a variety of items on the route: water bottles, walking stick, cap, sunglasses, cloths, guidebook, air ticket.
Although we didn’t have an English guide book, at no time did we actually get lost – only confused a couple of times - usually when following the VF signs along the way.
We used a variety of resources to find our way:
Topofrancigena maps from www.francigena-international.org.
Itinerario a Piedi maps from the AVF -http://www.assoicazionefrancigena.com/ as well as the ‘Itinerary and Leggs’ from the same website. These were all in Italian and after being translated by Google and Babelfish, we were left with what we called their ‘Cryptic Clues’. (eg: “Salt towards the mouth of the dog” and “ask a circle” – meaning “ask around”.)

We are busy compiling a self-print coffee-table book comprising our daily blog posts, comments, resources and photographs. Val is compiling a Food Report chapter. It should be ready in 2007.