It’s less than 10 hours now until my flight leaves Sydney, and I’m starting to wonder exactly what I’ve gotten myself into here. Maybe I’ve just done too much stalking of the long-range weather forecasting websites for various northern Spanish towns while gazing out the window to see yet another gorgeous Sydney day. But still, I’m just so excited to be getting back there and boarding that dinky little train at Bayonne for the spur line down to St Jean Pied de Port. I just hope it’s air-conditioned this time.
In terms of preparation, I’ve completed some solid practice walks with the new Merrell boots and the backpack (usually full of books) over the last few weeks. They ranged from a few laps of the Bay Run walking track in the inner west of Sydney, to a 30 kilometre hike along the coast track in Sydney’s Royal National Park (where I lost my trusty pedometer - got a fitbit now), to last week's incredible 20 kilometre trek through volcanoes on New Zealand’s Tongariro Alpine Crossing. It’s reputedly the best one day walk in the world, and I’m not about to disagree. Simply amazing. I’ve done these walks alongside the final weeks of training for the Auckland half marathon (which didn’t go as well as I’d hoped, but that’s another story) so after all that, I’m feeling in reasonable shape.
Through it all, the feet held up remarkably well and the new boots have performed brilliantly. The only minor concern is a twinge in the left knee but I’ll leave it until the walking starts in earnest in Spain to work out whether I need to do anything more about it.
Packing is almost complete with not too many changes from my summer Camino. After some prolonged debate with myself, I’ve decided to leave the sleeping bag at home and just go with the liner I used last time, the blanket I’ll borrow from Etihad airlines at the end of my flight over, and whatever blankets happen to be at the albergues I stop at. I thought that the sleeping bag was just too heavy and bulky and the blankets look efficient enough. And I’m just going to have to learn to deal with cold.
The key additions to my summer packing list are a full poncho, a couple of fleece tops, shaving gear, a hair brush (I decided not to shave my head this time), and a pair of long walking trousers. I took quite a few colder and wetter weather items in July which I never used, but I expect to be seeing a whole lot more of them this time around.
So there it is. I’ll let you know how it all went.
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