Time Moves Onwards...

As I walked in the dark this morning and eventually found myself up on the top of my favorite sunrise spot it dawned on me yet again how time moves steadily along.  When I first started these early morning walks the sky was very light and the sun was rising around 5am far to the north of Mt. Baker. Now its transited well south of the mountain and it doesn't break the horizon until 6:30am. I guess this makes some sense, as we approach the fall equinox in about 3 weeks time.  With tomatoes and cucumbers abundant in the garden and everything still flowering under our 22C days, it still feels like summer has some legs left in it. However, as I walked along this morning I noticed the first fall leaves on the ground...the maple leaves are always first. Initially I thought these were dropping early given the very hot, dry summer we have enjoyed on the West Coast  this year. But as I hiked along in my light windbreaker I noticed for the first time that there was a touch of coolness in the air.

Perhaps we can prolong our summer if the weather in Spain cooperates. Two weeks to go...time moves onwards.

 

 

Footnote: Annemarie tells me that we have too many sunrise shots in this blog. My reply...there can never be too many sunrise shots! :)

Getting Ready

Less than three weeks to go, anticipatory and anxious thoughts swirl in my head

Sometimes causing turmoil as I lie in my bed

Have we prepared enough, have we over-prepared?

Is this something we really should have dared?

Will it be a life changing event?

At the end of each day will we be totally spent?

Ken asked for a summary of what we’ve done to get ready

A synthesis of all that we’ve written in our blog already

We’ve attended the symposium,

Monitored the forum

We’ve extracted nuggets, Camino thoughts to discuss more

As we tried to figure out really what is in store

We’ve walked of course, and experienced a range of related pain

We adjusted our gear or our approach and then tried again

We sought professional help – physio and massage

We wanted to take them with us as our entourage

To prepare us for the mountains, we’ve started our drills

By climbing the up and down the local hills

We’ve carefully chosen our clothing, including mismatched shoes

 Shirts, shorts, gaiters, ponchos, and underwear too

We’ve weighed our equipment to ensure we‘re not carrying extra weight

For each little item the pro’s and con’s have been the subject of debate

We’ve taken Spanish lessons with minimal result

We hope our pronunciation will not cause insult

We’ve studied the maps, the routes, and the places to stay

All of this to allow us to be able to take it as it comes day by day

We’re feeling strong and as prepared as we can be

What our Camino will truly bring, we have yet to see.

"Buen Camino"

While walking this morning we were passed by an old fellow peddling along the trail coming towards us. As he passed by he called out "Buen Camino!". It was a pretty special moment as this is what local Spaniards call out to passing pilgrims. Clearly this gentleman had walked a Camino at some point in his life, and he caught us completely by surprise. Very cool!

We had an enjoyable walk today with the weather a bit on the cooler side after so many hot sunny days recently. We also managed three long walks after work this week and I can see the improved fitness in Annemarie. Tonight, no plans except to veg out and rest ourselves for tomorrow morning when we will visit the gym before another training walk. Only two weeks of serious training left before we rest...almost time to begin for real!

Testing, Testing!

So here I am trying to figure out how to use the iPad Mini to post an entry. So far so good, but it has taken me a while to locate the blog and then to get things sorted out. Now beginning to get the hang of it and I'll see if I can figure out how to attach a photo from our weekend wanderings...after I've figured out how to e-transfer photos from my camera to the iPad...nice, but a bit of a production! However, I will get better with practice.

We had a pretty good training weekend. Annemarie has her spiffy new knee brace which will hopefully do its job. While Annemarie continues to work on bringing her conditioning back up to a good level (she is coming along nicely) I'm at the stage where I can try out a few things to see how I do, and that's just what I did this past weekend. In the afternoon I walked 20kms carrying a full pack (pace 6kms/hr - each kilometer is posted on the lake route). The next morning I was up too early and walked a hilly 9km route before breakfast, after which Annemarie and I headed off for a 24km hike with full packs and the new knee brace. We enjoyed a route which we hope was fairly representative of Spain complete with a steep hill climb (where Annemarie originally hurt her knee - no issue this time) a long trial walk and lunch along the way. After 53kms within 24 hours I was certainly tired, but no pain and just one tiny blister (using my substitute boots). Good to find out now as we will have a number of days that are over 30kms...and I needed to understand my response when already tired. Still some work to do with hydration, but I'm getting much better about this.

Less than three weeks of training (and sorting out electronics) to go. Annemarie is away on business for much of the last week, but we will have pretty much slowed things down by then anyway to allow our bodies some good rest before we depart. Time to complete some domestic things, clean up the garden and just chill out. I also have to break in a new left boot...don't ask.

Now I need to sort out how to load photos onto the iPad then into the blog...if you see photos then you'll know I had success!

Carry On

Funny how we sometimes worry about something only to discover that there was really nothing to worry about after all...life's like that sometimes. Case in point, I have been concerned that I might be forced to check my pack through together with our poles as the pack is 1" to long (according to Air Canada's website) and the central airport security website states that poles must be checked. I know...it seems like a small thing, but if we were to lose any of our gear in transit this could prove very problematic as we begin walking the day after we arrive. Lost luggage, if ever found, would be hard pressed to find us.

So on our way to meet friends for a bike ride and lunch today, we stopped by the airport where we discovered that the pack does fit very easily into the defining rectangular "carry-on frame" in front of the Air Canada check-in. Success! Now onwards to chat with the security folks who completely put our minds at ease when they told us that it is no problem to carry on the poles we've selected. They will complete a visual check of our gear, a small time price given the options. Two happy hikers!! Perhaps one day I'll learn that sometimes things just take care of themselves...

So all the gear is ready and can be carried on. My pack weighs in at 17.2lbs, and with water and food about 19.5lbs...Annemarie's about 17lbs all in. I've been training with this weight for about a month and it seems pretty comfortable on walks of up to 28kms. Annemarie will increase to 15lbs tomorrow as she continues to recover. She will get her new knee brace fitted this week and she can then begin to hill train again. We are taking things very carefully to make sure that she is fit in 5 weeks when we depart.

Bike ride today was excellent. Good company, great cycling route and a very good lunch!

I'm still rising early for 'sun rise training' sessions and the views continue to justify the early risings...the bunnies and deer are pretty cool too!

44 Days!

Just thinking yesterday...its 44 days until we depart and then we will have 44 days to travel to/from Spain with a walk in between before we return home. It's going to be an amazing 88 days! Lots to finish up and then we can just take it all in...living in the moment and having a bit of fun!