My Name is Maria, and I have been reading the forum for a few weeks now and I have found many useful topics covered on this forum for my pilgrim walk, from shoes, saftey for women, travelling alone, socks, insoles, feet, rain gear, backpacks, ect.. I have covered off on all the essentials and have been preparing with local walks on my days off. However I am aware that I am not as fit as I would like to be only making the big decision to finally go 10 weeks ago. Therefore I will be arriving in Leon to commence my Camino on the 11th September 2009. Having a limited time to complete the journey I had a look at the altitude from Leon I got frightend at the attempt, I then changed my mind to start from Ponferrada only to find I have a bigger mountain to climb!! I have 20days to complete the walk and I am still debating whether to start at this point or in Leon given my limited time and fitness level, any suggestions would help. Thank you to all forum members for providing useful information.