For these two feet, much thanks

(Shout out to my friends at the KOEB)

I read somewhere recently that you should start walking 5 kms/day (3 & change miles) to get your feet used to all the walking you will do on the Camino. So, this past Sunday, I made myself get up & walk that distance. There is a school nearby that takes up an entire block, & so one lap around it is 1/2 mile. Yesterday, I added an extra lap, & on Sunday, I'll be up to 4 miles. (I can't get to the paper that has that converted into kms because Misty is sitting on it. Cats.)

My body really protested this course of action for about 3 days, but I've noticed that the complaints are subsiding. Since I plan to add 1/2 mile every 3 days, I should be up to 10 miles/day by the time I leave. And yes, I'll be training with my backpack on too.

Speaking of which, I've decided that since I'm taking a walking stick, I might as well check something. I don't want to have the TSA think I'm a terrorist because I have a collapsable Eddie Bauer walking pole on my person. Of course, now I can also take a Swiss Army knife, shampoo, sunscreen, & insect repellent as well, all in the checked bag. I found a cheap duffel bag to put all this stuff in, which I will either mail to my hotel in Madrid or fold up & carry with me. Yes, I made sure I got a duffle bag that folds up quite nicely.

Speaking of my hotel in Madrid, I got the bright idea to look in my Lonely Planet: Madrid for hotel suggestions. After looking up several hotels, to no avail (either no availability or too expensive), I gave it on last try on the Hotel Ateneo in the Puerto Sol district. When I saw the pictures on the website, I thought "No way is this hotel in my price range." I then pretended to make a reservation & almost fell over: a double room for single use? 85 Euro! Then I knew it was too good to be true, so I looked up the hotel on www.tripadvisor.com . It scores a 4 out of 5! The candid pics look great! So, may I introduce the hotel I will stay at in Madrid:
http://www.hotel-ateneo.com/ Look up the reviews on Trip Advisor as well. (Use this forum for your travel needs; I don't book a hotel without checking here first.)

While I'm in Madrid, I think I'll stop by this place on Saturday: http://www.medinamayrit.com/ Take a nice hot "bath" & get a massage to wind down from the Camino. Mmmmmmm. Yes, I'm spoiled.

My horoscope for today

"You need more physical exercise." LOL! I am not making that up! Since Sunday, I've followed someone's suggestion to walk at least 5km (a bit over 3 miles) a day, increasing each week until shortly before I leave for the Camino. The plan right now is to increase by 1 mile each week before I go, so I will be up to 6 miles a day before I leave. Also at some point, I need to add on my back pack to get used to lugging that around.

I looked at some pictures of the Camino Frances on the Santiago Today forum yesterday and started crying. I don't know why.

My plan for my Camino

I had already developed a planned itenerary for my Camino, when I noticed that I had overlooked two places I wanted to visit. So, Someone is still having fun with my plans, wouldn't you say?

Given that I haven't put in much walking practice as I had initially planned, I've decided to average about 20 kms per day (about 13 miles). Thus, my itenerary looks like this:

May 4: SJPdP to Orisson 8 km; straight uphill
May 5: Orisson to Roncevalles 16 km; uphill, then downhill
May 6: Roncevalles to Zubiri 22 km
May 7: Zubiri to Pamplona 21.9 km
May 8: Pamplona to Eunate 23.9 km
May 9: Eunate to Estella 23.6 km
May 10: Estella to Los Arcos 21.7 km
May 11: Los Arcos to Viana 19.0 km
May 12: Viana to Navarette 22.8 km
May 13: Navarette to Azofra 22.2 km
May 14: Azofra to Granon 22.2 km
May 15: Granon to Tosantos 12.0 km
May 16: Tosantos to Ages 22.3 km
May 17: Ages to Burgos 20 km

Since I don't need to be in Madrid until May 19, I have an extra day in case I want to linger in one place or not go so far on another.

The Mundicamino website has a great graphic breakdown of the Camino Frances, as well as the alburgues along the route: http://www.mundicamino.com/ On this website, the Camino Frances is called "The Way of St. James." Click on the British flag to get the website in English, then on "The Way of St. James." Then, click on the "SJPdP to Roncevalles" button & go from there!

Man plans & God laughs

If the above is true, then He is certainly laughing up a storm over my bold announcement last year that I was taking a whole month off to walk the entire Camino Frances in May 2007. Many things have intervened, and one even threatened to end my dream of even attempting a part of the Camino this year. I put off training for the Camino because the prospect was so dim (thanks to a really bad case, which has now been resolved). Other things, however, had to be taken into account & were not negotiable, so instead of a month, I will only have about 3 weeks. Thus, I will walk from St. Jean Pied du Port (hereinafter SJPdP) to Burgos, the start of the "meseta."

My current plans are to leave home on May 1, arriving in Paris on May 2. To get over jet lag, I will stay there overnight, visiting a museum or two & just enjoying a day in Paris, before flying out to Biarritz & catching the train to SJPdP. If I miss the 3pm train, I will have a couple of hours in Bayonne to buy "contraband" such as sunscreen, toothpaste, & shampoo, which are lethal & can bring down airplanes.

May 4, then, is the first day for my Camino. May 18 is the when I should be stumbling into Burgos.

Here's the outline:

SJPdP is 774 km or 480.94 miles from Santiago de Compostela
Burgos is 488 km or 303.23 miles from Santiago de Compostela

Therefore, I have 14 days to cover 268 km or 167 miles! Have I mentioned that I will be doing this on foot? Carrying a backpack? I need to average about 20 km/day in order to meet this goal.

I now need to go back & work on my itnenrary, since the one I had already developed left out a stop in Eunate to see the Templar church.