Oh my gosh-this has been the hardest trip I have had to pack for. I know that those of you who hike know this golden rule-that every single thing that you pack is something that has to be essential-otherwise you might be carrying extra weight around. The same for theCamino. The recommendation is ideally my pack should be no more than 10% of my weight. Well, my pack as it stands right now is at 24 lbs! However, before I start my walk, I will be leaving at least half of that with Virginia and Francis in Porto. More about them later.
Which takes me to really how amazing it has been preparing mentally and physically for this trip. I have had many people who have helped and encouraged me just when I thought this was beyond me. A few of them literally strangers yet they have prayed and given me practical advice as well as words of courage when this idea of walking was really starting to not go away. At work, I also had two wonderful teachers, who graciously invited me to train with them afterschool. Michelle Conner and Julie Timm-you rock and thanks for always waiting for me on that mile long hill as I would fall behind. It was sort of comical since they are so much taller than I am and then I had an 18lb bag that I was carrying to boot! I knew that I had made it one day when I went and ran the course by myself. I also was fortunate to have Carl be my technical advisor. It took me a while to find both the pack(Deuter) and the shoes (Asolos) that I have for this trip. This is what many people talk about when they say that the Camino starts way before you set one foot on the actual trail.
So this takes me to the question people always ask-What is this Camino de Portugues? "The Camino de Santiago de Compostela, also known in English as The Way of St James, is a collection of old pilgrimage routes which cover all Europe. They all have Santiago de Compostela in north west Spain as their final destination. For more than 1000 years pilgrims have been walking along the Camino de Santiago."
Well my friends, I leave today!!!!! I will blog more as I get to Portugal. Until then....Bom Caminho!
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