Time Passes

With under 3 weeks until departure things are beginning to shape up nicely. To be sure, that nasty so and so "Anxiety" is hovering in the background, but I'm working hard to put it away by focusing on many of the good things to come; the pleasure of the walk, meeting new people from all over the world, discovering new places, the amazing tapas in Sevilla, opportunities to write and also the photography.

I've just returned from seeing one of my physios and he figures my right ankle is shaping up well and will be fit to make the journey. I injured the tendon about 5 weeks ago and have been under the amazing care of Kim, Mark and Natasha ever since. I'm back to training with a full pack and have walked up to 30kms a couple of times, and I'm finally beginning to increase the hill climbing. I probably won't be able to start the journey quite as fit as last fall, but I don't have a serious climb until the very end of Stage 3, a very sharp, steep up and down finish to a 29km stage. Assuming there is no re-occurrence of the ankle problem then I will be fully fit long before I hit the mountain stages in the second half of the route, some 550-600kms down the road.

I finally have everything accounted for in my pack and it weighs in at 19.8lbs/9kgs dry (no water or food). This is a bit heavier than I'd prefer (1.3lbs heavier than I carried across the Camino Frances) however, I'll be carrying a light sleeping bag and silk sheet this time plus a couple of other new items. In the early stages I'll also be carrying an additional 1-2 liters of water and some food until I get further north where it should be cooler and there will be more food and water sources available. The temperatures in Sevilla have been in the very high 20's the past 10 days, but look to be dropping a bit by the end of the week. Hard to know where things will be in three weeks.
Addendum: I wasn't very happy with my pack weight so once again I went through everything and made some little adjustments and voila...I got rid of a full pound! 18.8lbs dry. Add a full 2 liters of water and food I'll potentially max out at about 23.5lbs. Much better. There are ways to lighten my pack on the trail...eg., zip-on my pant legs, wear my bandana, and tie my jacket around my waist which would reduce my pack by over a half pound. If its really hot I'll also have my long sleeve solar shirt on and I'll be shedding paper reference material as I go, so chances that I'll ever have to carry much over 23 lbs is slim...hopefully. Feeling much happier with my pack.

Still things to be done as there is before any trip, but much of the grunt work has been managed. Time to complete the training and then ease back the throttle as there is no value in achieving exhaustion before departure. Our pal Ken who we happily connected with last fall just reminded me about how tired and strained he was by the end of the Camino (me too). In a round about way, he encouraged me to take enough rest days along the way...as usual, very good advice. I start walking on May 8th!!

A couple of spring type pictures from training.