A Mini Camino Weekend

Geoff has often said that our Camino started at the time we made the decision to do it...Several months back, Geoff read a post on the forum he follows that suggested practicing everything is a good idea; including if at all possible a two day walk that mirrors the conditions of the Camino. Put these two things together and you have our Mini Camino weekend.

Several weeks ago, we phoned Geoff’s cousin Jim (and Cherry) who live in Sooke to see if they would be up for an overnight visit from us, with the thought that we would walk most of the way to and from their place. When my knee injury got in the way, they graciously delayed our visit for a week (turns out it worked out better for them as well, so everyone was happy). Given the knee situation we cut back a bit on the distance, walking just over 21k on the way there and around 24k on the way back (thanks Caitlin, for dropping us early on Saturday, and Jim for picking us up and dropping us at the agreed rendezvous point).

Some differences between our mini Camino and the real thing:

• Geoff had his full pack weight, but I didn’t
• people were going both ways on the trail and they all spoke English
• the company and the accommodations at Jim and Cherry’s will likely not be matched on the Camino
• we came back to our own home after only two days of walking
• we had a big breakfast each day before starting out
• the bus ride at the end of the day today - required to get us home

Some similarities with the Camino (I’m guessing here...)

• long sections of trail with no amenities (food or washrooms)
• the sun behind us most of the way, and temperatures in the low twenties (if we’re lucky that’s what we’ll get in September
• early morning start (at least the first morning)
• our gear...we’ve pretty much got it sorted now
• A few blisters

Probably the best news for me was how my knee held up - unfortunately I don’t have the blister thing dealt with yet, but I did learn that changing to sandals later in the walk makes a huge difference.

All in all it was a great weekend which left us a little weary, but with a pleasant sense of accomplishment.