sensible advice

I found a contact in a group of Camino pilgrims, and they are meeting next Wednesday at the Spanish Club in Liverpool St - I'll certainly try to get there.

Their very sensible advice is:

- get the pilgrim passport in St Jean Pied de Port, it is easier and cheaper to do it there.

- don't try to walk over the Pyrenees from St Jean Pied de Port to Roncevalles in one day unless you are very fit. Apparently there are a lot of people who wreck their feet on the first day and can't continue for the rest of the Camino. It is better to stay at Orisson which is a village half way up the Pyrenees (ie only 6 Awaba Sts, not 12). It looks a spectacular place, from the website of the refuge there, so why rush through the Pyrenees? It is the only time in my life I will be there.

Instruments of self-improvement

I hope to be using these in my training:



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gym

Today I visited a gym and had a brief physical assessment. Apparently my knees move inwards too much when I walk, which could be a problem on a 790 km walk.

The plan is to have some strengthening exercises on my legs, shoulders and "core" (which seems to mean chest and stomach). The last 2 are intended to help with carrying a backpack.

My regime for the next 4 weeks will be:

Monday: strengthening exercises in the gym
Tuesday: 20km walk around Mosman
Wednesday: 3 Scripture classes in schools
Thursday: strengthening exercises in the gym
Friday: 15 km walk up Awaba St and down Moruben Rd
Saturday, Sunday, rest.

Questions

I have now mentioned my plan to walk the Camino to a couple of the Scripture classes I do. They all think I'm mad.

A couple of typical comments are: "why not catch the bus?", "why walk the long route, take the short one." Thankfully, they are still too young to understand mid-to-late life crises.

Then, last Wednesday, I got an unexpected comment from a girl in year 6. She said: "Will you not walk on Sundays, since that is the day of rest?"
I stonewalled, because I needed time to think of an answer. When I was at school in the Swinging Sixties, a hot topic was whether it was a sin to play football on Sunday. (This was after our unsuccessful attempts to convince the priests that it was a sin to do homework on Sunday).

The conclusion was that it was a sin to go to a professional Rugby League match on Sunday, but it was ok to play or watch school football, on the basis that this was a kind of family activity.
It all seems long ago, since most sport watching or furniture buying now occurs on Sunday. I will have to rely on the girl in year 6 to explain that to me.

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Declaration of mangos

I was in the local greengrocer's shop yesterday and overheard a customer asking about posting mangos to Britain.
First of all, I was surprised that mangos were available this soon, but I was told that they will be good and less expensive by the end of September.

This made me think that I should take some mangos to my friends in Belgium next month. I plan to buy my backpack, sleeping bag etc for the Camino walk when I get there, so I should have plenty of space in my bags.

Now I have to check whether there are any problems in taking them out of Australia or into Europe.

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A Preview of the Camino

This is a series of photos of the French Camino route to Santiago, taken by an American minister, Rev Sandy Brown. He also has some thoughts about it.

Camino blogs

A feature of the website for Wisepilgrim is that it has a feed from several blogs made by people walking the Camino at this moment.
I also added this link at the right of this page, under the heading "Camino blogs."

It is hot on Spain today, I wonder if the people writing these blogs are feeling the heat?

Camino app

Today I thought to look for an app as a Camino guide. Sure enough, there are several, and one I looked  at is by Michael from Wisepilgrim.
The wisepilgrim website and the iPhone app are made by one person, and among the reasons for doing this, Michael gives the excellent rationale:
a way to pass the time during a particularly dark winter in Reykjavík.

This contains the alarming diagram showing the altitude of the walk. For example, this is part of the traditional first stage, starting from the French village of St Jean Pied de Port:

This shows a climb of about 1,200 m. As a comparison, a steep street near me is called Awaba St and it is a climb of about 100 metres vertically. The first day of the Camino requires climbing 12 Awaba Streets.

The commentary in the wisepilgrim app for this stage is:
"Pilgrims wishing to endure a penitential pilgrimage could find no better way to begin their journey in Spain than by making their way over the Pyrenees from the French town of St Jean at the Foot of the Pass."

Quite so.

planning and comments welcomed

I have added 2 tabs on this blog, called "planning" and "packing".

The first is meant to be significant places and experiences on the Camino Frances that I have read about in various guide books. I will keep adding to this as I learn about new things. If anyone knows more information and is willing to add as a comment, I would appreciate that very much.

One immediate use of this is that I have to do two year 8 Scripture classes on August 30 and September  6, and I was thinking of using these pilgrimage experiences as a conversation starter for the class.

The other tab, "packing" is a list of items I need to take on the walk. There is already a list there which I have largely copied from a website, but I need to think more about it. This list seems too long to me and I can't see how they limited the weight to 10kg.
Again, any comments are very welcome.

Billy

This is a statue of Billy the dog in the park next to Balmoral Beach. His master was a street sweeper, and I remember seeing the two of them moving along Military Rd as his man friend swept the gutter. I can remember them once outside Mosman High school as Billy did his tricks, like jumping up high from a standing start.


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The Balmoral Tram

This is the start of the old tram route through the trees, down to Balmoral. I remember my parents taking me as a small child on this tram just before they ripped it up. It was a magical trip, through the sun and shade and trees.
We had a car, so we rarely used the tram, and of course we hardly ever swam at Balmoral. That was for a real beach with waves, like Harbord.
Unfortunately I have to be in the city this afternoon, so I'll have to stop my walk and head back home.



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