Amazon.com rocks!

Just received my new books on the Camino!  Yayyyyy!!!

I wasn't too sure which books to order since Amazon's not like a physical book store, you can't really flip through the book and put it back on the shelf if it's not the one you want (well, I guess you could return it if you really wanted to).

So much to go thru, lots and lots of pictures to come!!!

Camino Pilgrim app

Today I found an app that will help me plan my route and I'm fascinated with it!

I'm a very technical person and this app just FEEDS my inner geek.

The app is great because it has preset hiking itineraries based on the number of days I want to complete the Camino.  It calculates the milage every day and shows a list of cities that I will encounter along the way, as well as a list of amenities available at each point. Definitely a real eye opener.

Up to this point I was thinking "400 miles, 10 miles a day = 40 days to complete"….

ummm….. no.

I was wrong about that.

Not every stop has pilgrim (hiker) accommodations.  That means that the milage for the day has to be shuffled around accordingly --some days will be longer and some days will be shorter.  Either way, the milage needs to be more than 10 miles a day…. And then there's the mountains.  Oh god.

Adjustments must be made. lol

Welcome to my blog!

Hi! Or as they say in Spain.... !Hola¡

This blog is to share with all my friends (and strangers) my progress as I get ready to hike the Camino de Santiago in Spain.

This is no small feat.  The Camino de Santiago is an ancient pilgrimage that people have walked for hundreds of years. The route covers the entire upper section of Spain from its eastern border with France to the city of Santiago de Compostela in the west.

While there are many ways to do the Camino (bike, horse, taxi, etc....), I will be doing the traditional method.... walk.

Did I say walk? I meant.... walk.... walk.... walk....walk.... WALK.

400 miles.

400 miles through villages and cities....

400 miles through fields and forests....

400 miles through mountains and rivers....

400 miles through the thick and thin....

400 miles.

I've been told to expect all kinds of things from blisters, bed bugs, heat stroke, communal facilities, lack of communal facilities, wild dogs, etc., not to mention the mental and physical fatigue and pure exhaustion.  And then there's always expect the unexpected.

Oh god, I hope I'm ready for this.