Hoping to walk from St Jean Pied de Port 15 April 2014

[Jackie Wilkinson]

Hello, I'm Jackie and this is my first post. I have been "lurking" on here a while to get as much info as possible. I met a girl last year at Remagen when I was cycling, she was doing her Camino and I became totally enthralled and called to do the same.
I am feeling very very nervous, mainly because I weigh 105kg. I am 65 yrs old, and do walk with my friend with her dogs, but am not really 100% walking fit as in long hikes. I was going to delay the trip, but there is something on the rest of the year, and I would like to tackle this while I still can. I have till May 27th to get to Santiago! Is this possible? Or should I just aim for part of the way?
Thank you!

 

[mspath]

Hello, I'm Jackie and this is my first post. I have been "lurking" on here a while to get as much info as possible. I met a girl last year at Remagen when I was cycling, she was doing her Camino and I became totally enthralled and called to do the same.
I am feeling very very nervous, mainly because I weigh 105kg. I am 65 yrs old, and do walk with my friend with her dogs, but am not really 100% walking fit as in long hikes. I was going to delay the trip, but there is something on the rest of the year, and I would like to tackle this while I still can. I have till May 27th to get to Santiago! Is this possible? Or should I just aim for part of the way?
Thank you!

Hi Jackie,

Welcome to the Forum!

I trust that while 'lurking' you have already read several Forum topics to help with your plans.

In cast you missed it check the 60 and over thread especially compiled for us older pilgrims as well as this thread for various suggestions on how to train. Training is VERY important.

Remember this is NOT a walk in the park! Just because so many pilgrims have been successful does not guarantee that all will be. Anybody any moment can fall or pull or break anything. The most common injury is the result of trying to walk too far too quickly carrying too much! Start walking slowly and very easy for the first week. Daily distances cited in the guidebooks are not sacred; do not attempt 40 km the first day! Easy does it. Be a snail; slow but, determined. Consider the topography and the weather plus your health and pack weight as well as personal strength and ability to endure.

Once you are walking on the camino for a few weeks you will gain a good idea of your ability and as well as your personal satisfaction with the journey. Perhaps then would be an appropriate time to decide to continue straight on or to stop and possibly continue at some future time. The choice is your's!

Happy planning and Buen Camino,

Margaret Meredith

 

[Jackie Wilkinson]

Thank you so much Margaret! I will maybe stop at Valcarlos then the first day, depending on how I feel, and, as you say, the weather... Hopefully, the accommodation wont be full in mid April.

 

[Kanga]

15th April to 27th May is 6 weeks and that is a good time to allow to get from SJPDP to Santiago de Compostela. As Margaret has said (I tips my lid to you Margaret; love your work) no-one can guarantee you will make it because it is not a walk in the park, and sometimes stuff just happens anyway.
But to give you courage, when I walked my first Camino 14 years ago I was very, very overweight (Rebekah Scott can attest to that) and not very fit. My training consisted of a one hour suburban walk every morning and a few sessions on a cross trainer at the gym.
I started out with the knowledge that I had plenty of time (as you do) and I would walk at my own pace and distance. Theoretically. In those days there were less albergues so sometimes my days were longer than I wished. The beginning of my Camino was about penance - for the sin of overindulgence.
About two weeks into the walk I remember calling my brother at the end of a long difficult day (he was a mountaineer) and wailing into the phone "this is just so hard, I can't do it"! He very sternly told me that all I had to do was put one foot in front of the other, not look too far ahead, and that if I gave in now I would never forgive myself. He was right.
So I just kept plodding along. Sometimes I needed to take a painkiller at night but I also started to learn things, and to enjoy meeting my fellow pilgrims and to see the extraordinary beauty around. It slowly dawned on me that no matter how exhausted and dispirited I was at the end of the day's walk, I always woke up fresh and eager to get out the door the next day. And Spain was passing below my feet - gradually but surely I was eating up that line across my map.
I made it to a Santiago. It was a very emotional event.
Since then I have walked many Caminos. I have never regained the weight I lost on that first Camino and each year I've lost a bit more. My baseline health is so much better (pity about the aging process). The unexpected still happens. I've seen young fit people who develop tendinitis and have to stop walking. I've seen Caminos stopped by broken bones and sprained ankles and bleeding feet. I've also seen miracles - the spina bifida sufferer who limped into the albergue each night, long after the others had arrived (she was always kept a bed), the 80 plus Dutchman more sprightly than me, it goes on.
So just do it.
The worst you have to fear is fear.

 

[Jackie Wilkinson]

Thank you so very much Kanga and Margaret! I so appreciate your wise words. I have been most of my life on my feet (a nurse) but after my dear husband got leukaemia I resigned to nurse him through his chemo. Unfortunately he passed on June 2012. I did a cycling "pilgrimage" for him down the Rhine April last year Katwijk aan Zee to Karlsruhe, and that was where I met the lovely pilgrim at Remagen who was doing her Camino in stages from Aachen. She had the Brierley book with her and I was HOOKED! Just had to try. So, here I am. I will do as you say, just take it easy in the beginning and as my condition improves and the weight??? comes off I will walk further. Wow, a spina bifida sufferer! Amazing..