Just Two More Weeks . . .

Just two more weeks until I leave for Madrid and Pamplona. 
I'm getting excited!

I'm doing some things differently this trip. 

For one thing, it's been YEARS since I walked the entire Camino Frances from front to back. I usually walk the middle section for 3 weeks then pick up a group. I take the group from SJPP to Logroño, where we jump to Burgos, Leon, then Astorga. Then they walk the last section.  But it's chopped up for me. Middle, Front, Back. 

This year, I'm doing "almost" the entire section straight through. However, since I've walked from SJPP so many times, and since this will be a busy time for pilgrims, I decided to skip that stage and will be walking right out of Pamplona. 

In a group, I often use backpack transport.  This trip, I am carrying my pack - at least to start, and have the weight down to 12/13 pounds. 

To save weight, I've changed some of the things I usually carry. One thing I changed is I bought a Sea to Summit AirLite Towel - I'll try it out at home first. I love my Aquis towels, but this one is quite a bit lighter in weight. Microfiber towels, in my experience, just spread the water around and are not absorbant but this one has good reviews. We'll see.

I am carrying a headlamp or flashlight (haven't yet decided) which I don't usually need. Since I am staying MOSTLY in albergues, both private and parroquial, I'll need to be able to get to the toilets in the middle of the night without waking people up. We'll see how that goes. At this point, the only thing that may change my mind will be the heat.  If I can get a bed near a window that I can open it won't be so bad.

I'm walking half stages instead of full stages- taking a full two months - so I should arrive early enough to have my choice of beds in places where beds are not assigned. Keeping my fingers crossed. 

I will be walking in September (which is HOT) and October (which is COLD) so taking my sleeping bag or a sleep sack was a conundrum. I have decided to take my sleeping bag for sure and will wait until Pamplona to maybe pick up a sleep sack if it's still hot when I arrive. Or I may make one. I found an old blog post from 2012 where I made a "bedbug sheet" from an old curtain. I may go to Goodwill today and pick up a curtain and just make something that I can toss if I don't need it. 

I can no longer find my New Balance trail runners - they stopped making trail runners on the SL-2 shoe last. So this year I'm wearing zero-drop Altra shoes. They seem comfortable but I have to admit I'm a little worried. Not so much about the zero drop as I go barefoot a lot, but just the change in shoe. 

I've signed up for Cloisters Ignatian Prayer retreat and am hoping I can charge my phone enough times to be able to use it each morning before I walk, or even while I'm waiting for albergues to open.

https://cloistersignatianprayer.org/dashboard

I've packed and unpacked about a kazillion times. 

I'll probably do it again today.

If I can, I'll post photos as I go - it will just depend on the internet connections. I'm having my son sign me up for international calling for the two months I'm gone. I'm deleting extra apps on my phone to try to make more space on it. I'm not sure if that works, but I don't understand the internet/computers enough to know so it seems logical to me. 

Ok.. that's it for today.

Stay tuned!

Love,

Annie