BobM
Veteran Member
- Time of past OR future Camino
- V Frances; V Podensis; V Francigena; V Portugues; V Francigena del Sud; Jakobsweg. Jaffa - Jerusalem
I should thank everyone on the forum who has been helpful to me as I have planned this walk.
newfydog has helped a great deal with GPS navigation.
Numerous people helped with towed cart ideas when that seemed like an option for me. In the end I opted not to take a cart because of the logistic hassles getting it to/from Australia - plus my brief experience of the effort required to lug the beast up rough hilly tracks.
Paul Chinn has been remarkably helpful via email and has responded to many questions about his (and Babette Gallard's) guidebook. So has Alison Raju on her guidebook.
In the end I opted to take Paul/Babette's guide because the layout suits my personal navigating preferences. But Alison's guide is much better for including small snippets of information on the VF other than purely practical stuff like navigation and accommodation.
I customised Paul/Babette's guide in several ways to make it more useful:
1. I had it spiral-bound at a local printer for only A$3.05 - remarkable inexpensive. Now I can use it far more easily in the field - even in a plastic bag if it rains.
2. I scaled all the maps, because they all vary in scale to fit the page, but Edition 3 does not show scales. Paul told me that Edition 4 does.
3. I made extra notes where appropriate on historical stuff, tips about food/water. It would have been nice to have a blank page or two for notes at the end of each "stage" - like the Brierley guides do for the CF and VP routes.
At the moment I am culling my pack load. It's down to 6.5kg (no water/food), but I want to trim another kg if I can, because some stages are difficult for food/water & I may have to carry extra. I am taking a set of IGN maps (!:100 TOP10 series) and they weigh 500gm. Also, the phone, camera & GPS unit with chargers weigh 1.5kg. That's the real pain.
It's that bloody Higgs Boson that is causing all the trouble. Can we turn it off?
Rgds
Bob M
newfydog has helped a great deal with GPS navigation.
Numerous people helped with towed cart ideas when that seemed like an option for me. In the end I opted not to take a cart because of the logistic hassles getting it to/from Australia - plus my brief experience of the effort required to lug the beast up rough hilly tracks.
Paul Chinn has been remarkably helpful via email and has responded to many questions about his (and Babette Gallard's) guidebook. So has Alison Raju on her guidebook.
In the end I opted to take Paul/Babette's guide because the layout suits my personal navigating preferences. But Alison's guide is much better for including small snippets of information on the VF other than purely practical stuff like navigation and accommodation.
I customised Paul/Babette's guide in several ways to make it more useful:
1. I had it spiral-bound at a local printer for only A$3.05 - remarkable inexpensive. Now I can use it far more easily in the field - even in a plastic bag if it rains.
2. I scaled all the maps, because they all vary in scale to fit the page, but Edition 3 does not show scales. Paul told me that Edition 4 does.
3. I made extra notes where appropriate on historical stuff, tips about food/water. It would have been nice to have a blank page or two for notes at the end of each "stage" - like the Brierley guides do for the CF and VP routes.
At the moment I am culling my pack load. It's down to 6.5kg (no water/food), but I want to trim another kg if I can, because some stages are difficult for food/water & I may have to carry extra. I am taking a set of IGN maps (!:100 TOP10 series) and they weigh 500gm. Also, the phone, camera & GPS unit with chargers weigh 1.5kg. That's the real pain.
It's that bloody Higgs Boson that is causing all the trouble. Can we turn it off?
Rgds
Bob M