At the starting post

I'm using the free internet kindly provided by the St Jean Pied de Port information office.
The Ryanair flight was uneventful except that I booked the seat next to the emergency exit door to get more legroom. After the normal safety demonstration, the hostess told the 2 of us sitting at the exit how to open the door. She said if we had any trouble opening it, we could ask her. We assured her we would ask.

The train trip to St Jean was full of pilgrims and it is a very pretty trip along the river, with the Pyrenees in the background. The weather was rainy yesterday, but it is getting better so conditions should be good tomorrow.

I visited the local church, called Donibane Garazi in Basque. The priest was there, and if I understood him correctly, this means Notre Dame debout le pont. I plan to go to the 8.30am Mass tomorrow, though the priest warned me it will be all in Basque. He showed me the Mass book with the Mass in both Basque and French as a help

2 more hurdles passed

I'm now through checking and security check, thank God.
I forgot to take my phone out of my pocket, so I set off the metal detector. This made me a person of suspicion, so I had a pat down search, including a foot massage.
Not much can go wrong now between here and Biarritz apart from the plane crashing or my pack being sent to Oslo


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Location:Rue des Frères Wright,Charleroi,Belgium

Arrivee a Charleroi

Was sitting behind a couple from Melbourne in the bus. Thanks to twitter, I could inform them that Hawthorn is leading Sydney in the 4th quarter of the Grand Final



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Vertrek van Kontich naar Charleroi

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Location:Kontich,Belgium

Almost there

Tomorrow I fly to Biarritz, then train to StJean Pied de Port to start the Camino. Having heard stories about complications with paperwork for internal flights I'm a little nervous that something could still go wrong, but all being well I should be at the starting post 24 hours from now.

I may not be able to post on this blog for the next day or three. As the name suggests, my Proximus SIM card does not work when it is away from home. For Internet access I will be dependent on finding a "cafe con Internet" or finding a Spanish equivalent to the Proximus data-only SIM.

Hasta Luego


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A business opportunity

We passed a shop offering "tattooverwijdering", ie tattoo removal. I suspect this will become a growth industry, although the same shop offers tattoo creation as well.


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Kevin

Some of my best friends are called Kevin, but I was surprised to learn that Kevin has become a popular Belgian name. For example, this local artist, Kevin Toelen.
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Efficient communication

I seem to have stumbled on the perfect way of keeping in touch with home while traveling through several countries (assuming that is what you want to do),
I have 2 mobile phones, an iPhone 3GS and an even older Nokia slider phone, both of them out of contract and unlocked.
Before leaving, I bought a TravelSIM pre-paid card and put this in the Nokia. This can make phone calls and SMS messages, and you have the same contact number wherever you are.
I then spent a couple of hours in the centre of Antwerp tracking down a local SIM card. It turns out that there is something called an "Internet only" pre-paid card which does not provide phone calls. This cost 10 Euros for the SIM card itself and 100MB of data. You can top this up with another 500MB for 15 Euro. I put this in the iPhone, so I now have plenty of data for emails, uploading photos, using navigation and listening to local or foreign (ie Australian) news on the radio. Email is the simplest way of keeping in touch when you have it always available on a mobile device.
The test will be to find a similar Internet data SIM card in Spain. I will have to do this in the first big city, which is Pamplona.
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The perfect meal

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2,000 km to go

Bart and I outside St Jacob's church.
As the sign says, 2,000km to Santiago from here.


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Eucharistieviering bij St Jacob's

St Jacob binnen de St Jacobskerk te Antwerpen.
Bedankt voor de homily, Pastoor Luc Donckers, based on today's Gospel:

Luke chapter 9: "take nothing for the journey, neither walking stick nor food nor money"
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The Lace Woman

When my parents stayed with me for 4 months in Antwerp in 1983, they used to spend a lot of time exploring the city. They found a good shop in the Handschoenmarkt selling things made of lace, from souvenir handkerchiefs to clothes and tablecloths. They went there often to buy small gifts and my Mother used to talk about "the lace woman" she met there.
When Mum and Dad were getting ready to go home, they went there one last time to get some lace to take back. Mum told me that when they came to pay, the lace woman absolutely refused to take any money.
Yesterday Bart and I walked around the town, and I found the lace shop is still there, in the same place near the cathedral.
The young woman in the shop told me lace woman would be her Grandmother, who died a few years ago. She showed me a postcard which had a photo of her, which I copied above. May she rest in peace.
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THIS is a bicycle path

This is what a real bicycle path looks like. Australian planners take note.
(a) there is a complete absence of hills.
(b) no cyclist wears Lycra because they never break into a sweat. See (a) above and the low temperatures.


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Location:Cellebroedersstraat,Antwerpen,Belgium

At last

An odd combination perhaps, but 0.5 kg of Belgian chocolates for the princely sum of 11.70 Euro, plus a Bolleke to drink.


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Some things do change

I used to have chicken meals at the "kip aan't friet" shop. This was considered an old fashioned Flemish shop 20 years ago. Now look what has replaced it!


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Some things don't change

McDonalds used to up sell beer. They still do.



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Brussels

Have just landed at Brussels airport  after a long but not too tiring trip. There are many more electronic diversions on the plane these days to pass the time.
I am about to travel to Antwerp to stay with my friends and acclimatise myself to Belgian beers before proceeding to the Pyrenees.

The only minor hitch so far was that security at Sydney airport confiscated my tube of toothpaste because it was bigger than 100ml.

Singapore

So far so good. I am now in Changi airport, waiting for them to vacuum and refuel my plane before continuing to London. Had  good company on the plane and watched action movies on the entertainment screens. These movies are a good way to pass the time.

first step

The start is almost here.
This is a prayer to St James, based on one by Pope John Paul II when he visited Santiago in 1989:

We come to you in eager pilgrimage.
We come as part of a great throng of pilgrims
who through the centuries have come to this place,
where you are pilgrim and host, apostle and patron.
We come to you today
because we are on a common journey.
Place yourself, patron of pilgrims,
at the head of our pilgrimage.
Teach us, apostle and friend of the Lord,
the WAY which leads to him.
Open us, preacher of the Gospel,
to the TRUTH you learned from your Master’s lips.
Give us, witness of the faith,
the strength always to love the LIFE Christ gives.
We pray in Jesus’ name. Amen.

Weight

I walked up to the shops via Awaba St and weighed my backpack - it is 5.5kg, though there are some things I need to add, and I think it will end up being nearer 10kg:

What I already have in the backpack:

T-shirt

pullover

waterproof coat

3 pairs of socks

1 spare pair of underwear

handkerchiefs

sandals to use in the shower

sleeping bag

medicines, cream

wallet, 

glasses

phone, camera, with chargers

towel

waterproof cover for backpack

What I need to add to the backpack:

pair of shorts

spare pair of underwear and warm leggings. (these were drying, so I couldn't put them in the backpack today).

water, snacks

suntan lotion

toothbrush and comb

needle and thread, scissors, tweezers

tissues

pillow slip

guidebook

hooks to hang up washing

soap for washing clothes and myself

RIP Ken

This morning I did a trial packing of my backpack and it looks ok.
Then I phoned an old work colleague and learned the shocking news that another former colleague, Ken just died of a heart attack.
Ken is a lovely and inventive person and I was talking to him over the phone a couple of weeks ago.

First crisis

I thought things were going smoothly with my boots, since I have been walking regularly in them, including 20km walks, over the last 4 months. These boots (in the foreground above) are very comfortable and almost feel like slippers when I have been walking along footpaths and some local bush tracks. I have had no problems with blisters.
Then some danger signs. I was told by a couple of experienced bushwalkers  that they get their boots a little large to allow for feet swelling on long walks. I also wore some socks that were a bit large this week and my feet felt very cramped.
I spoke with Jamie in a Kent St store and he described my boots as "light walking boots" and pointed out that the soles are soft and can be twisted in a torsion motion, whereas other boots have firmer soles so that my legs don't have to control this looseness. I also remember the podiatrist where I got my orthotics looked unenthusiastic about my boots.
Jamie didn't push new boots on me and said the ones I had would probably do, but I tried on several types and sizes and I have bought the ones in the background above. These are size 44.5 (European sizes) while my original boots are 43. When Jamie measured my feet, they were 43, with my left foot slightly longer than 43.
The problem I have now is that I have new boots that I haven't worn in. I think "worn in" applies to both the boots and my feet. I can wear the boots around the house for a week and still return them to the shop if they are uncomfortable. I'll wear them around the house and then go for a long walk next Monday.

useful information

I just added links to 2 web sites I heard about.
One is a Spanish commercial site which has useful information about accommodation etc.

The other is tourist information about Santiago. As well as information about the city, it has some about accommodation and the Camino in general.

what to take

Most people I talk to about undertaking a long walk like the Camino recommend taking as little as possible. This is an obviously practical suggestion and I suspect is a learning experience to unburden yourself from worries.
Having said that, the various books I have seen suggest many things that seem unnecessary to me.
For example, this is a suggested list I have seen for medicines and first aid items:

• Prescription medicines (Flixotide and Ventolin for asthma, in my case) OK
• tennis ball for massaging muscles OK
• Antifungal cream (eg Lamasil) as preventative in showers OK
• Hydrozole anti-fungal and anti-inflammatory OK
• Sunscreen OK
• Antiseptic cream or ointment OK
• Stemetil anti-nausea medicine X
• Panadol X
• Anti-inflammatories X
• Voltaren cream for relief of soft tissue injuries such as sprains X
• Moisturiser, lip salve OK
• Friars Balsam to dry the skin before applying bandages X
• Needle to pierce blisters OK
• Bandages and gauze eg Elastoplast. OK
• Scissors, small OK
• Tweezers OK
• Anti-chafing cream, eg Silic 15 Cream by Ego OK
• Compeed to protect damaged skin X
• Anti-diarrhoea X
• Toothbrush and toothpaste OK
• Dental floss X
• Shampoo X
• comb OK
• soap OK
• deodorant X
• shaving gear X
• travel towel OK
• toilet paper X
• wet or dry tissues OK
• prescription antibiotic such as Maxamox. Apparently Australian doctors will give you a prescription for some antibiotics to take in case they are needed. OK

At the moment, my idea is to take the items marked OK but not the others.

Getting closer: More advice

Yesterday I went to a meeting of people who have walked or will walk the Camino de Santiago, and received some good advice:

For the first day from St Jean Pied de Port, there are lots of options. If the weather is good, one woman managed to walk over the Pyrenees and get to Roncevalles on the first day. SJPP is big and there should be accommodation without booking, but Orisson, halfway up the mountain is small (about 50 places) and could be booked out. However, even if Orisson is full, one suggestion is to leave the pack in St J, walk up to Orisson, catch a taxi back down and the next morning take the taxi back up to Orisson and walk from there. Sounds practical even if it is a compromise.

If the weather is bad, the police tell people not to walk over the mountain, but there is another path  through the valley to Roncevalles. Must be a new route, otherwise why did Napoleon and Hannibal take the high road?

On the high path, just before Roncevalles, there are 2 routes, the main one is very steep, and another one which is 2km longer, but not so steep. They warn bicycle riders not to take the steep path, but it would be a good idea for walkers as well.  Later in the walk, there is another long steep downhill walk and one person took the bus down the hill to save her knees.

They say the last 100km to Santiago is not so interesting. Lots of tourists and school students walking the path. This makes the walk feel more like a tourist outing than a pilgrimage.  They also heard something about young offenders from Belgium being sent to walk the last 100km. I will have to check if there is any truth in that.

Some recommended places:

St Julian, just before Ponteferra.

Foncebadan, Manjarin and Rabinal are good places to see - pilgrims are asked to read at the Mass at Rabinal.

Architecture by Gaudi in Estorga and Leon

Melide and Lorca

On practical things,

make sure you walk at your own pace.

take off the rubber tips on your stocks when walking on the unpaved paths.

there is a water fountain at the top of the Pyrenees.

take 2m of muslin cloth to use as a towel, it dries quickly.

it costs about $A50 per day for food and accommodation, so keep about $A150 (in Euro of course) in cash for the next 3 days. They gave me a list of places with banks and internet cafes along the route. 

Keep sending messages back home to tell people where you are. (Of course each hotel which stamps the pilgrim passport also records the names of people who stayed the night)

If you use gaiters, use them with velcro, not elastic because that hurts your leg.

Use separate plastic "ziplock" bags to store underpants, shirts, money etc. This keeps everything dry and clean at the refugios.

Don't take a pillow, but take a pillowslip. Put this over the pillow if they give you one, otherwise stuff it with clothes to use as a pillow.

The only thing that worried me was a woman who does a lot of walking said that her boots became tight. She said that with walking every day, her feet swelled, and now she gets boots a bit bigger. I don't think I can do anything about this, my boots feel good now and I don't want to buy another pair now.

Meanwhile, the strengthening exercises on my knees seem to be working and I am feeling stronger walking up and down stairs, but I have to be careful not to overdo it before starting the walk.