Passport is in my hand

Through the haze of travel today, everything came into focus when I looked at my freshly stamped pilgrims passport. I'm still not really sure why I am doing this Camino, I'm not overly religious however I do think it will be good for me, I get too comfortable in ruts and need take a big jump to see the life outside. After flying over Spain today without a cloud in the sky I started to get a understanding of the distance I'm undertaken. Coming from jersey its strange to see endless land without sea or an ocean bordering it.

One day at a time will be my mantra, today was full of worries and doubts, for the most part it was if I was going to see my rucksack again. Perhaps my concern was inflated as the pack contained every thing i needed, or at least what I thought i needed. There was a more relaxed me, saying well "you have money, and your national passport", I could fit myself out with sleeping bag a change of clothes and a few odds and ends for under 100 euros, okay i would not have a camera, and the sundry other gadgets i´ve stuffed my bag with. But I could still do the camino, and without 13.5 kg on my back which was a pleasing thought, then I reminded myself it was my little ladie´s camera so was ultimatly glad to see my bag emerge from the baggage reclaim.

Twitters aside, I would expect Leon will be the next time I will definately post to the site, that´s 177 km away, i should have some interesting things to say by them, aww, ahhh and an Apocalypes Now "The horror !" spring to mind.

Clock is ticking!

What with packing and repacking, it's gotten too late to sleep, so started watching Martin Sheen's "The Way" again. The film that started this hair-brain scheme of mine to walk the Camino. Great film, it will be interesting to see how the Hollywood view of the Camino de Santiago will differ from reality.

So at 4am I'll make my final preparations and start walking to the airport, for those that have read previous posts I really was in two minds about using planes on this, what swung it in the end was I'll have to loss two days in St Malo not a bad place to spend two days but time is precious for me on this camino, it's taken a lot of effort to have three weeks. I digress as I mentioned the flights could not be avoided without significant impact on my Camino, so I'm going to walk to the airport, start as I mean to continue I guess.

This is the first time since I turned 21 that I've taken three weeks off work, the last time I've taken this much time was for my overseas aid project back in '91 I was in Kenya for 4 weeks actually had my 21 birthday out there, was that really 20 years. I wonder if this as much of a life changing experience. Word of advice kids if you want to remember a special birthday then travel, I have no memory of my 18th, not in that way, I just assume we just did the normal Saturday night stuff drinks club etc, so it's just blended into the theme of my life at that time. But Kenya and my 21st that's crystal clear.

My Pilgrim passport

--> Great news got a reply back from the Camino association of Burgos, these lovely people have informed me that I can get my pilgrims passport from the municipal hostel in Burgos, 28 Fernán González street.

The Albergue/hostal is open from 2pm till 10pm and so I should be able to grab a passport or credencial as they are also know. This will allow me to start early on Sunday, which is handy as I have 20 miles to cover that first day.

I should mention that without a pilgrims passport, then I wouldn't be able to get accommodation at the pilgrims hostels, nor would I be able to obtain a compostela at journeys end in Santiago de Compostela.

Last day task

On my list now, is only get a hair cut and buy some Croc's. I am going to pack, repack and repack my bag tonight, really have to be careful with the weight. I like to be prepared so have a tendency to over pack, so going to have to make some difficult choices  tonight.

Slight blog redesign

Previous visitors may have noticed that I've shuffled this blog around again a tad. The map is now at the bottom of the page, scroll down to view. Previously the first thing I would do when opening the blog was to scroll down the page which if my mouse happened to be over the map would just zoom in, just too annoying. 

I've also moved the twitter on to the side panel, looked a little untidy at the top. My boys will be checking the site every morning when they get up so I will try and send a message at least once a day, with an update of my location, so they can follow me on the map.

Last chance for Gas

Okay did my last shopping run today, still outstanding on my wish list is now only a pair of Croc's. They sell a cheap version of them at the beach here, so I'll have to nip down the St. Brelade's bay and pick up some. My almost final purchases today, were a second pair of shorts and another technical t-shirt. With three sets of clothes, I'll have one dirty, one ready to put on and one drying. Hopefully means I won't have to wash clothes every night. I also grabbed a European socket adaptor and a great product from LifeSystems, universal soap, Lifesystems All Purpose Soap 200ml

I have been toying with the idea of a large dry back inside my rucksack but just does not seem worth the bother for one or two time I might be caught out. My paper work and valuables will be in a waterproof bags. The clothes, sleeping bag, liner and bivvy bag can all dry out with no long term ill effects.

My sleeping bag liner and rucksack are drying out today after a thorough soaking with skitostop, one less thing to worry about.

No training so far this week, can't do much tonight either as I'm hosting a games night for my lads and a couple of their friends, running the usual table top wargame loosely based on the Stalker computer games. Tonights mission will be “deliver the package”, what they don't know yet is the package is in fact priest and the local bandit lord, has put a price on the priests head, he dosen't want god getting in the way of business. Can the squad get the package through the zone to the freedom faction training base.

Throw in some zombies and some other random mutants, with a stalker cloth badges for the bravest or most selfless player action at the end of the game (usually about 2-3hrs later) and you have four very happy boys.

Another year skulks by, like a half-acquaintance on the bus trying to avoid eye contact

Another year older, what have I learnt? I've learnt its takes about 3 years for a son to notice his father in the shadows of his Mother. This last couple of months I've really bonded with my youngest, the boy's coming on strong and I'm very proud of him, swimming without armbands at 3 years old. I've also learnt that love can be expressed in an extra squeezy hug, constant demands for me to finish levels on the DSi or even in an extra special meringue desert.

After a rather turbulent year, my last birthday being the closing date for voluntary redundancy applications and we are still undergoing restructures. I've learnt that loyalty and duty means very little in the corporate world. Actually I watched a film called, “Buried”, spoiler alert by the way! A man is buried, held hostage in Iraq, not a special ops man or super-spy just a contract truck driver, in one scene the company lawyer is on the phone to him, telling the man he was sacked that morning over some minor infringement and so his family won't get any insurance money if/when he inevitability dies. 5 years ago I would not have believe that a company would be so callous, today my reaction was “that's just bloody typical”. All I can say is they'll reap what they sow, I'm a firm believer in karma.

My next career move will most likely be to work for myself, what's that saying “no boss, no loss”. I have plans, well more in the way of pipe dreams right now, but every journey has beginning. I'd like to do work I'm proud of, feel I'm actually achieving something worthy, rather than just working to pay the mortgage. I'm reminded of Douglas Adam's Little green pieces of paper comments.

 

Far out in the uncharted backwaters of the unfashionable end of the Western spiral arm of the galaxy lies a small unregarded yellow sun. Orbiting this, at a distance of roughly ninety million miles is an utterly insignificant little blue-green planet, whose ape descended life forms are so amazingly primitive that they still think digital watches are a pretty neat idea.

This planet has, or had, a problem, which was this. Most of the people living on it were unhappy for pretty much of the time. Many solutions were suggested for this problem, but most of these were largely concerned with the movements of small, green pieces of paper, which is odd, because on the whole, it wasn't the small, green pieces of paper which were unhappy.

And so the problem remained, and lots of the people were mean, and most of them were miserable, even the ones with digital watches. Many were increasingly of the opinion that they'd all made a big mistake coming down from the trees in the first place, and some said that even the trees had been a bad move, and that no-one should ever have left the oceans. 

From the radio script for The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy by the late, great Douglas Adams: 

Anyway whatever I do, wherever I go, when I look at my kids, I know I've done something right.

Sunday lunch

Great lunch, very friendly atmosphere, also Grandpa got to teach the grandchildren ages 3 -10, how to shoot pool. Which was made interesting as he has a broken arm at the moment. All the kids adore him its lovely to watch.

Lunch was at Pontac House, I'm very happy to recommend the place, food was great, superb friendly and quick service.

On a totally different note, tonight I've finally found/settle on my bed bug solution, but I hope it arrives in time, as I have to treat my bedding and rucksack and allow to dry before use. If it's not here by Thursday I'll have to run the risk of being lunch myself. The product I bought was Nikwax Skitostop for fabrics from Amazon.

Last weekend before my camino

Did 2.5 hours today, with hills, cliff paths and stairs so pretty varied terrain, with about 8 Kilos, taxing but not murderous. Still no blisters which is good, I'm starting to I think I'll be okay on Camino. Tried it again without sticks, missed them a little on the hills but not enough to carry them. On the Itex walk my sticks were great, they took some of the weight but also helped a lot with balance, particularly going down hill when my knees were shot.

It was an almost 50 mile endurance hike so I needed that support. With the camino I may appreciate the use of a stave on the slopes but I guess I can pick one up as required. The First few days will be flat as a witch tit, as I'll be going across the Mesata, so no real need for sticks until I'm well into my camino perhaps after Leon.

Anyway we're all off out for a family lunch today, should be nice.

Friday night walk, 14 Kilos on my back

Here are a few pictures from my walk home tonight.

A good 3 hour hike tonight, feet are good no blisters, I feel a little more confident abour the camino next week. Tonight i had 14 kilos on my back, if i get it down to 10 kilos for the camino, I think I will survive it. Also walked without sticks, it was good so I'm now considering leaving them behind!

Less than 10 days now...

Finished the doors in the lounge, they look great. The lighter colour makes the room feel larger. The older doors also seemed to age the room. She's now planning on getting new carpets while I'm away I wouldn't be surprised to come back and find the locks changed, just kidding.

Anyway lunchtime today I popped into town and bought a larger first aid pouch from trek plus. I know I have way too much to carry. I will find time next week to pack & weight, then repeat until I can get as close to the magic 10 kilos target with 2 litres of water as my “be prepared” scouting background will allow me.

On the phone front she suggested a wind up charger, not a bad idea and as it happens a mate at work has one so I'll try that out. It should save me having to beg borrow or steal power time at various auburges along the way.

Scouts

Just added a link to the Jersey and Guernsey Scouts Jamboree blog. looks like they had a good time,  I also spotted this picture on the Austrian's blog.
http://austria.simplyscouting.se/files/2011/08/LOTJamboreen8162726014864796627.jpg
Certainly gives an idea of the scale of the event, patience it may take a while to download.

Training worries

Training at a standstill again, this is starting to worry me. On the brighter side I did manage to hang one door last night but the next one needs quite a bit of planing down, so deferred the work till tonight.

So no training yesterday or today going into work as I'm meeting my new CEO today so made the effort an put on a shirt and tie. Also I need to pick up some new locks for the doors, so no training after work today again.

Starting to worry that I could fail this task due to injuries, I'm sure I have the willpower but with so little training I might just do too much damage to my feet and lose too much time. After I finish getting the doors done tonight and if it's not too late, I may don the rucksack and walk to town and back, perhaps going via the sea as a little salt water is good for toughening up the feet.

Tomorrow is definitely a training day, I'll take the long way there and back from work with breakfast and tea on the trail. Movie night on Friday with the kids but will do at least 3 hours to and from work again as well. 

 

I should be upping may pack weight a little too, get it to around 7 or 8 kilo through to Sunday. I'm fixing my mother router on Saturday and installing some lights for a friend in the afternoon, so Saturday evening need to do 3 hour at least, and then another 4 hours on Sunday. Going out for a big family lunch on Sunday, 6 adults and 5 kids so will split training before and after. That would leave the evening for me to put my feet up drain my blisters and enjoy a decent movie.

Today’s Spanish word is “la puerta“ which means door, well there you go surfing the net, it's an education.

Work pressure and communications

I think perhaps my family and friends are starting to realise that I'm going for 3 whole weeks. I seem to be beset by requests for help. In much the same way as at work on my last day before any kind of leave I usually end up working quite late, tying off all the loose ends that my substitute would not notice.

Requests range from fitting lights, installing routers and hanging doors. Could not do any training today, the kids wanted breakfast and then I realised that I need the car go buy a decent set of wood chisels to hang the new doors.

I still have an array of thing to do for the camino, trivial things like source a bigger first aid bag to more important items like make sure I have sufficient medical insurance in place. 

 

One tip I picked up from various forums was to take an small album and fill it pictures of your family and friends, it has the duel purpose of being a source of comfort and also being a nice “show and tell” item when getting to know new people on the camino. 

 

The jury is still out on the communication front, options are

• Use this blog as my communication method, assume that not much will happen at home in the next month, and accept that if something did there would be little I could do about it.
• Take a PAYG phone and get a Spanish sim card, use the cheap Spanish SMS to communicate, this makes me contactable in case of emergency.
• Accept a blackberry from work, upside it would be free to me and I could email posts to the blog, downside work often would intrude on my camino.
• Finally set up a contract phone with a decent smart phone that I could use to blog and communicate with family only, take pictures etc.

I'm inclined to get a Spanish €10 sim card, more for the peace of mind of my partner than myself.

 

A good tip, add an In Case of Emergency number under the name ICE into your contact list, if your found unconscious ambulance services would check your phone and call the ICE number.

I've replaced the “starting point last poll” with a list of good blogs, its a mix of literature, bush-craft, hiking and camino blogs that I've found interesting, I'm sure the I'll adding to that list. I may be somewhat late to the party, but I'm getting quite into blogs and blogging.

Hmm plane tickets, this just got real.

Okay flights and coaches are booked, no backing out now. Is it time to start panic?

No that's not me, but it is time to at least to make some effort towards training. So I've been doing at least 10 km each day since Friday with some weight in the pack, I had a nice walk into work today via the coast of Jersey with about 6.5 Kilos on my back. I'll increment the training up to 10 kilos and 20 km a day, then take a day or two break before the camino starts.

Already had my first blister from Saturday morning, so much for "1000 miles" socks. Initially used blister plasters but found it better to use the needle and thread method. Essentially you pass a sterile needle and thread through the blister, leaving the thread in place which then acts as a taper to drain the fluid out from the blister.

In case you were bored by the sunrise selection I've snapped a few shots of my view on my hike to work this morning, it's so easy to forget how beautiful the Island is when your stuck in rush hour traffic. I hope you like them, I'm really not sure how often I'll get to upload pictures to the site when I'm actually on camino, but I'll try my best.

I know in a previous post I was keen to go via land. Ultimately I decided it was too complicated to synchronise ferries, trains & coaches. It would only take one delay to mess it all up. I think the more parts there is to a plan the greater the possibility of failure. The land route would also have required overnight stays in France at start and finish which was the last straw really. My goal is the walk the camino not explore France and its rail network.

With the flights plus a coach I can get to Burgos on the same day I leave Jersey and then when returning I take an overnight coach from Santiago de Compostela to Madrid saving the cost of accommodation on my last day and also allowing a few hours to explore Madrid, then back home to Jersey just in time to see the kids before bedtime.

Ah Burgos you say! Yes I've decided to start at Burgos, after some thought I felt that I wanted to see more of the Camino Frances, to see the Meseta and also I wanted to feel I've put some work in before I get to Cruz de Ferro. I still hope to get to Fisterre and perhaps even Muxia but it may be by coach at the end as a tourist rather than on foot as a peregrino.

Two thing I have not organised yet is my Pilgrims passport, I hope to obtain one from the official albergue (pilgrim hostel) in Burgos, or if no joy then I'll try the Cathedral office. Also accommodation in Burgos, is a little tenuous, if I can get a Passport then I could stay the night at the albergue if they have room, else I'll have to find a guest house near the cathedral, but it looks like there is plenty of accommodation around the area. After consideration I'll think I'll go the guest house route as I would not want to take a pilgrims bed before I've walked any, it seems a little unfair.

Leant a new Spanish word for today “Ultraya” apparently it means “onward”, often used as encouragement for flagging pilgrims. I expect to hear it a lot!

What's a 100km between friends.

Bugger, just checked the distance for traveling from Burgos looks like it would add another 100km to the journey even if jumped on a coach back to Santiago from Muxia. Got my first vote on the poll, swine voted for Burgos...I know who you are !

On a brighter note, I'm loving the Groove Shark music app, scroll to bottom of the page and hit play you may have to give it a 20 seconds to start to stream the music but very soon you'll be enjoying a selection of my musical taste. I've spend most of the night exploring their database of music.

I still haven't sorted out travelling to the start line, options are fly to UK and then to Madrid, then coach up to Leon or Burgos. Or boat to France train to Rennes, TGV to Bayonne, then coach/train/taxi or combination to Burgos or Leon.

While flights would be simple to organise, I'd start my trip traveling in the wrong direction. I have this nagging feeling that planes should not be part of a pilgrimage, and that my journey should start from home. It feels like I'd be cheating if I flew and also I would be missing out on a part of my journey.

On the flip side I don't speak french or spanish, I have no firm idea of how to get into the heart of Spain from France and at the moment I don't even know where I'll get my first stamp in my pilgrims passport.

My partner would be having kittens if this was her holiday but to me this is fun!

The 21st Century Pilgrim

Well here I am, making my first post on my first blog. My plan is to post updates here so that I can keep my family informed of my progress on my first Camino. Lots of firsts happening!

If you're a friend or one of my family members that I've already bored stupid with my plans, then feel free to skip forward a few paragraphs.  If you happen to have stumbled onto this blog, then perhaps I should explain.

What's a Camino, well I think the word Camino is actually Spanish for Path, but in this context it's a pilgrimage to Santiago de Compostela in Spain. I have enough time to complete about 500 km, I'm still undecided if I should start in Leon, walk to Santiago and then on to Fisterre and Muxia then back to Santiago, or start from Burgos and walk to Santiago and Fisterre and Muxia then bus is back to Santiago.

Feel free to vote on the poll to the right, I'm not saying I will comply with the Poll results, but I would be interested in people views. If you ask my Mum she would say that I would definitely go against the poll results but hey what do mothers know?

I'm a 21st century Pilgrim, with a trade of electrician and a career as a technical designer. My mind set is fairly aligned with science and logic. I'm not really the religious type, but as a father the loving bonds my son's have given me have fostered a spiritual side.

Why do I walk, I'm not sure, I joined a days organised walk of 48.2 miles, around the island last year, and I was amazed at the walkers sense of community and generosity of spirit. I'd like to reconnect to that mindset, where everyone you meet along the journey is not an enemy or competion but a potentual supporter or walking buddy. So that's my reason for now but it will probably change as I walk.

I'm hoping that my Camino will be the same just on a greater scale, the Camino Frances had a 1/4 of a million people finish in last year, 27,000 of which were september 2010, I intend to be to one of that number in september 2011.  


Anyway there's plenty of information out there about Camino's, look it up and perhaps start walking yourself.

Finally this year I will set out on this journey alone, it will be my first reccy of the camino, in 2020 I will walk with my sons.