Nature’s Therapy

The week leading up to leaving for the Camino was one of anxiety and planning. How does one prepare to be gone for 45 days?

The short answer. You don’t. You just hope for the best!

An overview of my travel itinerary.

I took the red eye out of San Diego on Monday leaving at 8:40PM. Landed in London around 2pm Tuesday. After a 4 hour layover, I traveled on to Barcelona.

Arriving at 10:00 PM, collecting my bags, and clearing Customs, I arrived at my hotel around 11:15. Only to get a few hours sleep and head back to the airport at 5:15AM for a 6:45AM flight to San Sebastián. Unbeknownst to me, the San Sebastián Airport is only a few kilometers from Irun. I was under the assumption it was significantly further.

I arrived at my hotel around 9AM and promptly allowed to check in.

Since then, I have been organizing my back pack and getting ready to start the Camino Norte tomorrow. After reading more about the northern route, it was an easy decision. It is a little more physically demanding, but the scenery and the food more than make up for the added physical challenge.

My pack. Oh my pack. You would think I have no experience with the Camino. The phrase over prepared comes to mind. In reality, my pack weight will be right around 25 pounds.

My starting pack weight for the Camino Frances was around 23 pounds. I culled that down to 18 pounds within the first week.

This time around, I brought a few more luxuries, all with a purpose of course.

Luxury items this time around include. Instant coffee. Ice tea bags, a small collapsible tea kettle. And additional clothes. I’m sure you are thinking, “Ice tea and coffee are luxury items?”

Yes, as a matter of fact they are! I couldn’t find a glass of ice tea in Spain to save my life last time I was hear. Occasionally a little bit of home goes a long way. And for me, that’s ice tea. I drink ice tea every day. It was something I missed, EVERY. SINGLE. DAY!

Coffee. The coffee in Spain is as good as any coffee I have ever had. However, I generally start hiking between 6 and 7 am. And you simply cant find anything open at that hour.

Fortunately both of those items are consumable, so the weight of them will diminish over my trek.

As for additional clothing. Previously, I had literally only the clothes I wore to hike in every day, and a pair of basketball shorts and T-shirt for the evening. While it worked well. I occasionally felt under dressed when going out for dinner. Additionally, on the Northern route the opportunity to swim in the ocean presents itself frequently. I can think of nothing better than a dip in the sea as a refreshing break.

My additional clothing items this trip are a pair of jeans (which I’m already planning to ditch. They are heavy!), a pair of swimming shorts, a polo shirt and a nicer pair of shorts. I also brought along a pair of light tennis shoes instead of flip flops. In theory, flip flops are great. But after walking all day, day after day, your feet become extremely fatigued. In the evening, while walking around town, the simple act of keeping them on your feet is a chore.

The remaining additional weight in my pack, are the cremated remains of my Father. Part of my pilgrimage is bringing him along on my adventure, and spreading his ashes across Spain.

Over the years, he shared with many people, reading and hearing about my adventures always brought a smile to his face. We never experienced one of my longer trek adventures together, although we talked about it on occasion. I thought he would enjoy coming along for the ride, posthumously, as it might be. It will also allow me time to make peace with his passing.

Tomorrow begins my newest Camino. The remainder of today will be spent catching up on sleep, as I am running on 8 hours in the last 48 hours.

Buen Camino!

*For photos of my adventure, please visit instagram. @diverja

Greetings!!!

It has been quite sometime since I have taken to the keyboard for mylittlenaturewalk.com. I apologize for my absence. Given the commitments of daily life; career, family, social activities, I am not frequently in the headspace to write.

Today, I am announcing a new adventure.

On 27 August, I will be leaving the comforts of daily life to experience the Camino de Santiago for a second time. In 2015, I walked the Camino Frances, from St Jean Pied De Port to Santiago and then on Finisterre.

This adventure may have me taking the same route, or, under consideration is hiking the Los Caminos del Norte. As I understand, the Camino Del Norte became the pilgrimage route in the 9th century due to the invasion of the Moorish armies. Islamic influence made the Camino Frances increasingly dangerous for Christians to walk. King Alfonso the II established Oviedo as the new capital of his kingdom. Due to the increased threat of persecution, those on pilgrimage, took a northernly route through Oviedo for safer passage. This route is also commonly referred to as the, “Ruta de la Costa”, as it follows along the northern coast of Spain.

With the Reconquest of Spain in the 11th Century the French Way became less dangerous and thus began to grow in popularity for pilgrims coming from France, re-establishing the Camino Frances. During the 12th Century after the death of King Alfonso III the royal court moved to Leon from Oviedo and slowly over the years Oviedo’s importance waned and this also impacted on the number of pilgrims taking this route to Santiago.

Both of these routes conclude in Santiago.

Originally my intent was to walk the Camino Frances again. Within the last few days, I learned of the Run de la Costa, and have been considering it. Both routes have similar mileage requirements, however the Camino Frances has considerably less elevation changes. The Camino Norte, following along the northern coast has significantly more climbs and descents.

In the coming days, I will fill you in on which route I intend to take, and the reasoning as to why I chose to embark on another adventure across Spain.

Welcome back, and thank you for taking the time to follow along my adventure.

Buen Camino.