Buenos Dias amigos, after a growing interest from friends I thought I would provide you with a rough idea of how we are preparing for our second Camino Frances.

Or more specifically, how “I” am preparing given my history of pain when walking. As most of you will recall (from reading the earlier posts) I was struck down with a serious flu for weeks before we left Australia for our first camino.

Then, upon arriving in St Jean, some not too insignificant stomach upsets occurred resulting in the need to ingest gastro stop tablets and high dose travel antibiotics just to make it through the first two days. Fast forward a few days and my feet were in agony with every step heading into Pamplona. (Apparently illness and antibiotics can play havoc with tendons and fascia). We made it to Santiago but you can revisit the earlier posts for an understanding of the journey and the resulting injuries.

In view of the difficulties encountered, I have had this desire to walk the Camino again, and hopefully gain more enjoyment with less of the excruciating pain. My beloved had also been looking forward to another grand adventure on the camino and so the planning began!

We hope to keep the budget lower and stay in more donativo and municipal hostels (usually 5 to 10 euro per night last time) and we hope to be able to carry our gear all the way. This is not a prophecy – it is a flexible plan – we can change our minds if discomfort or injury intervene. We did send our packs a few times last time and we were caught in a heat wave and, although we wanted to stop, we had to walk on 20kms to our packs!

Furthermore, it is my hope that I only endure the sort of aches and pains worthy of the well prepared folk (whatever that means). To that end it became obvious that I needed a serious training regime in order to ensure I was in peak condition!

Those who know me well must be either rolling around laughing or shaking their heads and asking their neighbours “what on earth is she talking about?” “Has she been possessed?”

I’ve had the good fortune to share the joy of morning walks and talks with Mrs D a number of days a week (keeps one motivated and in shape) ; I have also joined a couple of camino training walks and, for the last couple of months, every week my wildlife expert has accompanied me up and down mountains (and into the odd coffee shop). On weekends others have braved the chill of the winter mornings to scale extreme peaks and risk exhaustion as I improved my performance! This has been a great way to catch up with friends while searching for koalas and monitoring bird populations and, as a bonus, we get to enjoy local surroundings ! This has enabled me to do multi day hikes and test out my gear without wearing out my friends. I might add that this penchant for walking up and down hills with no particular place to go has been rubbing off on one or two people and I do look forward to continuing this habit on my return!

I’ve visited the podiatrist and the physiotherapist a few times (even managed to drag my beloved to the Physio for a tune up). Also, experience tells me, you cant buy all preferred medical supplies when needed as the stops are usually tiny villages stocking limited supplies. So, I’m packing my usual strapping tape and other medical kit items I missed last time. Extra weight but necessary.

I have participated in pilates a couple of times a week and, just to mix it up, I’ve popped in to the local pool for the odd swim.

Yep you must all be thinking “She is in peak condition!” I might chuckle at the thought …….. I’m not sure anyone can really be that prepared for such a grand adventure (although some extreme athletes sail through) but it should be clearly noted that it’s the unexpected events that will make it special. I am merely being sensible!

Anyway see below for some pics to give you an idea of how the training goes…

I can honestly say I enjoy my local walks and look forward to new adventures back home on our return ~!

Did I mention my beloved in the training regime? Did I miss something? Well he has participated once or twice and here’s proof! (Although I think he was having a little nap when we stopped here !)

Can’t wait! Takeoff is this weekend so stay tuned for tales from afar.