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  1. barbaravan

    Trekking Poles Selection

    Another note on trekking poles.. I just completed 450 miles on the southwest coast path of England -- a route with steep up hills and downhills that puts quite a demand on trekking poles.. I used my old black diamond trekking poles which brings their total mileage up to about 3000 miles. I have...
  2. barbaravan

    Trekking Poles Selection

    Yes I have contacted REI many times. I have sent them pictures of the way the packaging hides the message. I have written a review which they have refused to post. I have explained that I have spent a year recovering from my concussion. I wish in their on-line product description they simply...
  3. barbaravan

    Trekking Poles Selection

    Yes. I suppose having completed two 600 miles hikes and three 200 mile hikes plus lots and lots of day hikes with another set of poles without problems, I did not think these new poles would collapse in the first two hundred miles. I posted this because I thought that others also might not know...
  4. barbaravan

    Trekking Poles Selection

    I wish my REI person had warned me. He did not. I wish the packaging had not hid this information but it does. Foolish as it sounds since my Black Diamond poles had always been so dependable, I never considered the REI poles loosening up after 150 or so miles.
  5. barbaravan

    Trekking Poles Selection

    Please be aware that the REI Carbon Power Lock Women's Trekking Poles are packaged with a message hidden under the rubber basket that says that the locking mechanism must be tightened with a screwdriver and re-tighted over time. Since the message is unreadable (hidden) and since my Black Diamond...
  6. barbaravan

    Starting Arles route beginning September

    You will not be lonely on the Arles route. There are other pilgrims, not in the grand scale of the le puy route but there are other walkers. You also cross other GRs so you will meet long distance walkers on other routes. I walked the route in a very wet May and April but this year seems to be...
  7. barbaravan

    Solo walking precautions

    For any of you that happen to be following this thread, I finally after two months have been given permission to fly home. I leave for the US tomorrow. What an unusual time this has been. Reconnected with people at gites where I stayed and people that I met on previous walks, visited new places...
  8. barbaravan

    Buy Miam Miam guide in Arles?

    Having found guide books easily available in Le Puy en Velay for that route, I assumed it would be just as easy to find all I needed in Arles when I began that route. Every bookstore was sold out that particular year/month. I eventually picked up a guide at my third stop. A good idea to call...
  9. barbaravan

    Safety on the Le Puy

    Thank you. I just received permission from the doctors to fly home. It has been an interesting and educational experience to not be allowed to walk (or drive or bicycle) and not be able to fly home. So it has been two months of a very different "pilgrimage" -- of visiting people and places and...
  10. barbaravan

    Dealingwith the heat

    I do not want to give medical opinions...it is important to know your own body's reaction to heat. You can, and I have, washed all the salts out of my body by drinking too much water without consuming adequate salts. I now carry and consume salty nuts, chocolate, dried fruits and saltines (yes...
  11. barbaravan

    Safety on the Le Puy

    I am staying in Figeac (having been stopped from walking this year's chemin on the Voie de Vezelay because of a concussion). The placement of the refugees in Figeac was discussed at a dinner party of locals, more from a concern of what work they would have since work is scarce in this part of...
  12. barbaravan

    Safety on the Le Puy

    I just heard yesterday that 1500 refugees will be placed in Figeac. These are the refugees Europe is accepting and distributing. I do not know how many others will be placed in deep France or where. These would not be refugees that are being "hunted". Don't know of this helps...
  13. barbaravan

    Solo walking precautions

    This would have been my third camino and i have solo walked throughout n america and britain. No problems -- until now. There is a sufi story; There was once a man who was on his way back home from market with his camel and, as he’d had a good day, he decided to stop at a mosque along the road...
  14. barbaravan

    Solo walking precautions

    My family sent me this link to a NYTimes article on tracking apps as a major hint...but hopefully someone else has more definitive suggestions... http://mobile.nytimes.com/2015/05/24/travel/smartphone-apps-to-map-your-meanderings.html
  15. barbaravan

    Solo walking precautions

    i should have said i knocked myself unconscious..just a silly fall. I made it worse by continuing to walk for two days before I admitted something was seriously wrong. Have been to emergency room and specialist here in France. I doubt I will be able to return to the chemin this year. In the...
  16. barbaravan

    Solo walking precautions

    I love walking alone. Over the past five years I have gone long distance walking every year. As much as I love walking alone I believe in taking precautions. I do not believe in "counting on" someone else to rescue me. In fact to be honest I am a bit annoyed every time someone assures a solo...
  17. barbaravan

    Doing Arles Route to Santiago but want to stop in Pamplona

    When i walked Arles route i happened to be in Puenta la reina exactly for the festival of san fermin. Caught a bus from puenta la reina (or you could make a day's walk) to pamplona and stayed in a small hotel just by the park and outside of the city center. If you are there for the festival many...
  18. barbaravan

    Route from Oloron-Ste Marie

    You will be walking a very beautiful stretch. Do obtain the miammiam dodo though. It is one expense that is really worth it. I stayed only in inexpensive gites though i do not have the names with me as i am currently walking. I spent between 9 E and 16 E in 2013 without demi pension but often I...
  19. barbaravan

    A Few Questions about Le Puy - Conques

    Reb, i walked the le puy route alone in 2012 and the arles route alone in 2013. I also walked alone in England and Scotland. Mostly in France cows are on one side of the barbed wire and you on the other -- less walking straight through land full of cows as in England. I am not saying it never...
  20. barbaravan

    Experiences from Le Puy to SJPdP?

    I concur. Le Puy to Conques is beautiful and interesting. I encourage you to sleep in gites, eat the demi-pension when it is offered, and visit all the small open churches. Be sure to give yourself a day to appreciate Le Puy and its history of building churches on top of pre-historic dolmens and...

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