Equipment

1200km is a long way; and since your feet are the things that get you there you have to take good care of them, both when you´re training and on the Camino itself. This means choosing the right footwear, knowing about footcare, what causes blisters, how to avoid them and how to treat them if you get them as well as making sure that the weight you carry is as light as possible without compromising your comfort, safety and health along the way.

As you can imagine I´ve checked a lot of websites and read a fair number of books on The Camino itself as well as distance walking in general and I´ve come up with a list of equipment and clothing to wear as well as to take along in or attached to my rucsack.

Here are pictures of my stuff with some explanations of what they are and why I chose them.

The rucsack is a Berghaus `[model] 65 + 10 litre which, when fully packed, weighs 10 -11 kg. It has a built-in waterproof cover and a metal frame which rests on the hips and, with the chest strap across the sternum the weight is well taken with minimum strain on the arms, shoulders and back.

I have two sets of footwear: Qechua walking sandals from Decathlon which double as my non-walking shoes but are very good for level, smooth surface walking and very comfortable offering plenty of ventilation; and Qechua lightweight boots which provide plenty of ankle support and are best suited for uneven terrain in with lots of uphill and downhill.

The contents of the rucsack are as follows:

• Spare (long) trousers
• Spare (longsleeve) shirt
• Spare walking socks (3 pairs)
  
• Clean underpants (1 pair)
• Spare lycra training shorts
  
• Silk longjohns
• Silk undershirt
• Thermal polartec gloves
• Polartec Karrimor Fleece
• Sigg 1 litre aluminium waterbottle with Source drinking tube attachment.
• Spare Interlaken 1 litre aluminium waterbottle
  
• 3-season Ultimate sleeping bag
• Plastic poncho
• 
  
• 
  

Fun on the Camino - These Peregrinos rock!!

Sunday Telegraph Article on The Camino

My brother-in-law, Eric, sent me this article. not sure if you will be able to read it unless your browser can zoom in on the pictures. Update: yes you can. Just single left click with the mouse and the picture comes up with a magnifier.

Eating the Elephant a Bit at a Time

Today I am walking a total of 4 hours = 20km but this time in 3 separate outings of 1h20m each. So far I've done 2 - the first setting off at 06:30 and the second at 13:00. What a difference breaking the walking into short sections makes! No tired feet or aching limbs. Next one is in an hour's time at 19:00 and let's see if I feel the same way. If so, this could be the strategy for the whole walk.

Yep, number 3 was good too so this looks like it will be the game plan, other variables permitting (weather, shelter, shade, interesting things to see etc).

Tomorrow 2h40min = 13.3km.

PS Bruised toe seems OK.

Back on the road



Back to training after a day's rest. Left the house in Chite at 06:30 and walked on the road round the Embalse de Beznar via Melegis, Restabal, Pinos del Valle, across the dam, up to Beznar, then on to Talara and back to Chite at 10:25. Total distance covered 19.6km at an average speed of 5.0km/h, a bit slower than Friday when I did the same walk the other way round. This could have been because I had added a few more things to the rucsack and also washed the sleeping bag yesterday so it may still have been a little damp and therefore heavier.

Sleeping bag has been put out to air so hope it's lighter tomorrow. Just noticed I have a bruised 2nd toe on my right foot. Don't think it's the walking. Maybe I stubbed it.

Tomorrow 3 walks of 1h20m each. One will have to be in the heat of the day (about 1 pm) which I'm not looking forward to. Will have to work aout a route which has a downhill return leg!


Charity

Today is a day off from training and it's great not to have to get up and go out in the dark at 06:30 for a 3-4 hour walk. Back to the grind tomorrow though.

Apart from the "spiritual" experience one is supposed to have, and the weight I expect to lose I am also using the walk to collect money for the charity "Cancer Research UK".

If you would like to support me in this and make a donation you can do so online by using your credit or debit card at this link ...

http://www.justgiving.com/Perry-Rees

Thanks in anticipation for your generosity.

Training

I've been in training for the 1,200km walk from Granada to Santiago de Compostela for 9 weeks now. I started off walking 5 days a week and having 2 days off but recently upped the frequency with 3 days walking followed by 1 day off. The number of hours and number of walks each day varies with not more than 3 walks a day. So far I am up to 4 hours a day and am walking at a pace of 5.1 km per hour with a backpack weighing 9-10kg. My target at the end of training is to reach 6 hours walking with the backpack. My plan for the walk itself shows I will exceed this on some days (38km max) and will be walking 6 days a week with 1 day's rest but I hope I will be fit enough to handle those occasions when it is needed.

I will leave home here in Chite, Granada, for Granada Capital on 22nd September 2010 and plan to reach Santiago on 11 November.