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First pilgrimage

Very light, comfortable and compressible poncho. Specially designed for protection against water for any activity.

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Planning to begin our first pilgrimage in August/September 2014. Bought our packs and boots today, so exciting....
I loved all the planning and preparing and learning that went into my Camino. This forum has provided so much help. You'll find all kinds of information, and a group of wonderful people who really want to help you learn from their experiences. I am truly grateful for finding this forum. Buen Camino!
 
Get a spanish phone number with Airalo. eSim, so no physical SIM card. Easy to use app to add more funds if needed.
Feeling excited but also rather nervous as to how we will manage some of the hills. We are reasonably fit (we both do bootcamps 3-4 times a week, my husband does at least one long bike ride a week and swims twice a week and I do the occasional ride!), both in our mid fifties and feeling still quite young. We are doing the pilgrimage with a focus each day on a friend or family member who is in need of some prayer or support, and so that we can stay young for our 2, almost 3, grandchildren. Please any advice or hints will be very appreciated. Bought our packs yesterday, plan to fill them and walk around our house for a while to make sure they fit well and feel comfortable, ditto with our boots.

Love reading all the posts, wish I was as addicted to housework as I am to this forum!!!

Buen Camino! and roll on August 2014....
 
Just keep walking with your packs. Get in some hills if possible. You sound like you will do fine.

Your fitness will be fine tuned in the first week on the Camino. ;)

Actually, many of us are in our high 70's (and higher)....
you are 20 years younger than many.
 
The focus is on reducing the risk of failure through being well prepared. 2nd ed.
Sounds to me that you are way fitter than I've ever been! I think now you need to do some other training for Spain - try some of the La Rioja reds, maybe cook a paella, watch "St Jacque Le Mecque", read "The Sun Also Rises". All the Good Stuff....
 
Kanga, sounds like a lot of fun. Are you planning to walk again, what an amazing lot of stories you must have from all the walks you have done!
 
Very light, comfortable and compressible poncho. Specially designed for protection against water for any activity.

Our Atmospheric H30 poncho offers lightness and waterproofness. Easily compressible and made with our Waterproof fabric, its heat-sealed interior seams guarantee its waterproofness. Includes carrying bag.

€60,-
Kanga, sounds like a lot of fun. Are you planning to walk again, what an amazing lot of stories you must have from all the walks you have done!

I start planning the next Camino on the flight home! It doesn't always come off; last year and this year we haven't left Australia due to family commitments. Being on this forum is a bit of a giveaway for me - if I'm walking, I'm not talking about it! It is a bit of a "fix" between Camino's. Next year looks much more likely.
 
I start planning the next Camino on the flight home! It doesn't always come off; last year and this year we haven't left Australia due to family commitments. Being on this forum is a bit of a giveaway for me - if I'm walking, I'm not talking about it! It is a bit of a "fix" between Camino's. Next year looks much more likely.
Oh, I am sorry that we won't have the possibility of running in to you somewhere on the road.
 
St James' Way - Self-guided 4-7 day Walking Packages, Reading to Southampton, 110 kms
With your fitness level you will have no problems at all. You can really stop your worries on that front. You will be fine. Unfortunately this does not mean you'll be blister free (bit o f course i hope you willl). Fitness level has nothing to do with getting foot problems like that.
Get good shoes that you feel comfortable with and make sure, especially in hot months like august/sept that you change your socks now and then for dry socks during the day and let the feet airdry on your coffee breaks. Wet or moist feet (from sweat probably) are killing for the feet. They are like blister heaven. But who knows, maybe you are one of the lucky ones who will have no feet problems at all :) i would be jealous!
Some do, some don't.

But If you do the above, your going to have a great walk with fantastic weather (sometimes too hot) and chances of blister will be minimized. And if you do feel a hotspot, stop asap and take care of it. Do not let it linger untill the next cafe con leche or untill hou reach the albergue.
 
keep you backpack as light as possible is my best advice. Last year when I was buying stuff it got weighed at home and a lot of stuff got taken back to the shop for a refund if it was too heavy. I found that a 35 Ltd pack was plenty big enough. The total weight I carried including water was only 15lbs. OK so all the lightweight stuff I got was expensive, but turned out to be worth every penny ( or cent in your case ) In my opinion if you cannot take your backpack onto the plane as hand luggage you are carrying too much. Last year I did Sjpp to Burgos in Sept' this year I am doing Burgos to Santiago starting Sept 7th, so looking forward to it. Last year I loved every minute. Goods luck it really is the trip of a life time.
 
Thanks Mike1, strong possibility we will be on the walk at the same time as you! Plan has changed a bit as we have heard that August is still school holidays in Spain and can be very busy, so just last night decided to do some travel in Europe first and begin our pilgrimage early September. Then off to the UK for 2-3 weeks before home. We will begin at around the halfway mark between SJPP and Santiago.
Thanks for the encouragement re the weather, too!
 
Very light, comfortable and compressible poncho. Specially designed for protection against water for any activity.

Our Atmospheric H30 poncho offers lightness and waterproofness. Easily compressible and made with our Waterproof fabric, its heat-sealed interior seams guarantee its waterproofness. Includes carrying bag.

€60,-
With your fitness level you will have no problems at all. You can really stop your worries on that front. You will be fine. Unfortunately this does not mean you'll be blister free (bit o f course i hope you willl). Fitness level has nothing to do with getting foot problems like that.

All the very best for the start of your walk tomorrow!
 
Hi all, last time I wrote we had just purchased our packs and boots. Have now worn them lots and doing hikes every second day with full packs. Increasing our distance by 500m each walk and have hit the 8km point. Every other day we do an hour long boot camp and I am finding that I am not so resistant to walking to the shops, work etc. (Only took 53 years for me to work out that exercise is actually OK!!!) Both of us are still feeling twinges in our hips but we are finding that every walk feels just that little bit easier. Any comments on our regime would be gratefully accepted, feeling very new to the idea of walking so far but so very excited as well..... I am loving reading other peoples experiences of their personal journey on the Camino Frances, very inspiring.
 
Get a spanish phone number with Airalo. eSim, so no physical SIM card. Easy to use app to add more funds if needed.
Just keep walking as nothing will prepare you properly for the Camino - and check your weight if you think you need it leave it if you do need it you can buy it cheaply on the walk - there is nothing we have not been able to find in the last 6 days since
We left SJPDP


Sent from my iPhone using Camino de Santiago Forum mobile app
 
We have finally set the date that we begin our Pilgrimage-15 September 2014. We will leave Australia on the 17th of August and have a holiday in Europe before we begin the walk and arrive in Burgos (where we plan to start) the weekend before the 15th. Still need to pack our bags and attach our Camino patches alongside a small Australian flag, but feel confident we have broken in our boots. Still getting in an average of 3 hikes a week, with distance being around 12km each time, and plan to do at least one long one before we leave Aus.
All feels a bit daunting, but so very exciting. Must admit though for the first time ever feeling just a bit nervous about flying. Will just put our lives in Gods hands and leave it at that!

Buen Camino
 
We have finally set the date that we begin our Pilgrimage-15 September 2014. We will leave Australia on the 17th of August and have a holiday in Europe before we begin the walk and arrive in Burgos (where we plan to start) the weekend before the 15th. Still need to pack our bags and attach our Camino patches alongside a small Australian flag, but feel confident we have broken in our boots. Still getting in an average of 3 hikes a week, with distance being around 12km each time, and plan to do at least one long one before we leave Aus.
All feels a bit daunting, but so very exciting. Must admit though for the first time ever feeling just a bit nervous about flying. Will just put our lives in Gods hands and leave it at that!

Buen Camino
We will be a bit behind you. If all goes well we should be in Burgos around the 20th September. Our Australian "flag" is a bag made out of material with an Australian flag and kangaroo pattern on it that, hopefully, we will be able to put some fruit/vegies in to eat as we walk along. You would have freezing weather at the moment in Ballarat! Like you we are excited but also wondering what on Earth we are doing at our age attempting to walk such a distance, but that is the magnet that is called the Camino de Santiago. Best wishes to you. Buen Camino.
 
€2,-/day will present your project to thousands of visitors each day. All interested in the Camino de Santiago.
Buen Camino mates! Adopt the slogan of Alcoholics Anonymous - "One Day at a Time" meaning stick to your own day to your own time and six weeks later you will be in Santiago and beyond! No Worries!
 
We will be a bit behind you. If all goes well we should be in Burgos around the 20th September. Our Australian "flag" is a bag made out of material with an Australian flag and kangaroo pattern on it that, hopefully, we will be able to put some fruit/vegies in to eat as we walk along. You would have freezing weather at the moment in Ballarat! Like you we are excited but also wondering what on Earth we are doing at our age attempting to walk such a distance, but that is the magnet that is called the Camino de Santiago. Best wishes to you. Buen Camino.
Hello sriyantra, yes we are a bit cold at the moment, but have just returned from the Western Tiers in Tasmania where we saw snow!! Really hope we may cross paths at some point, are you beginning in SJPDP? Are you flying straight to Spain? We will look for your vegie.fruit bag to identify you. Does feel a bit mad to be doing such a walk for the first time, in our fifties but actually feel fitter and healthier than we have since....umm....don't know when really!
 
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Hello sriyantra, yes we are a bit cold at the moment, but have just returned from the Western Tiers in Tasmania where we saw snow!! Really hope we may cross paths at some point, are you beginning in SJPDP? Are you flying straight to Spain? We will look for your vegie.fruit bag to identify you. Does feel a bit mad to be doing such a walk for the first time, in our fifties but actually feel fitter and healthier than we have since....umm....don't know when really!
We fly from Brisbane to Madrid, have a couple of nights there then train to Pamplona and taxi to SJPDP on the 4th September. We have the 5th to have a look around and will walk from SJPDP to Orisson on the 6th, then back to SJPDP for the night, and then up on the shuttle bus to Orisson on the 7th and on to Roncesvalles. We are in our sixties but, like you, find we are feeling really good after quite a bit of training. It is so much about trust and faith though. Keep in touch. Buen Camino
 
Feeling excited but also rather nervous as to how we will manage some of the hills. We are reasonably fit (we both do bootcamps 3-4 times a week, my husband does at least one long bike ride a week and swims twice a week and I do the occasional ride!), both in our mid fifties and feeling still quite young.


I wasn't that fit either and I found it ok but I would highly recommend staying the first night in Orrison and break up that first climb. Also using walking poles didn't feel comfortable at first but on the long haul I was glad I used them. I think you are going to have a fantastic time and really enjoy this and many in this discussion forum have. After 1 year I really miss it and my goal is to go back and try the Norte in 2016.

Buen Camino!
 

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