Walking, Walking and More Walking!

Things have moved along quite nicely over the past month. As indicated in Annemarie’s last post, her knee has almost fully healed and she has returned to training. This is very good news as she has sufficient time to reestablish her endurance and build up to walking with a full pack. While it will understandably be a bit disconcerting for her, the decision to meet me on the Spanish side of the Pyrenees is probably wise. I’ve long wanted to hike in the Pyrenees...sure hope we get a nice couple of days....no doubt Annemarie will feel much better about missing this part if I set off in the rain!!

We have finally managed to accumulate just about all the gear…a surprisingly long process. The walking poles I ordered from the UK arrived, and I have being trying to figure them out on various types of terrain. They do provide a nice boost on hill climbs and seem to help control descents over difficult terrain. My pack ‘dry’ weight should be maximum 16.2 lbs (7.3 kg) depending on weather conditions. Adding food and water to the mix increases the maximum weight to about 18.5lbs (8.4 kg), which is just slightly over 10% of my body weight (rule of thumb goal for this sort of thing). Of course, a nice feature about food and water is that the pack slowly gets lighter through the day as you consume both (gotta look for the positives)...as long as I keep very well hydrated.

For the present its walk, walk and walk again, finding hills whenever possible. At this point and until we depart, its all about the length of time spent walking with the pack. I’m presently walking with 17lbs, and this will increase to the full weight by the end of the month leaving about 5-6 weeks to train fully loaded. We have planned a couple of back to back 20-25km weekends to get a sense of things...with the first one this weekend. I recently experienced some left heal blister problems and have been busy trying to resolve the problem...I hope I have this right or its going to be a very, very long weekend!!

Less than 2 months until we begin…time does fly past. It may finally be appropriate to start distributing this blog to those who may wish to follow our journey. On the other hand, while I don't want to over think this…I may not want to send it out too soon or there might be a few awkward moments when we return…”So when are you going on that walking thing anyway?”

Few people know how to take a walk. The qualifications are endurance, plain clothes, old shoes, an eye for nature, good humor, vast curiosity, good speech, good silence and nothing too much....Ralph Waldo Emerson, Country Life, 1858

---- I like his message and would only add that a smile with a pleasant greeting to others along the way is also just as important...as is a good supply of Band-Aids.