LIVE from the Camino Camino home to home, 2019, 2021, 2022, 2023, 2024

[JabbaPapa]

Well, the Camino project that I described in this post : https://www.caminodesantiago.me/community/threads/my-full-camino-2019.58161/ is now officially on !!

Out of the blue, I have a huge 9-10 month window of opportunity that has opened up for me, just this Friday. And my legs are getting stronger almost daily.

The Camino is calling, and the time of it is upon me again ...

The route I'm following will be Chemin Provençal from home to Arles ; a bit along the Arles Way probably to Revel ; then down through Foix to Andorra ; then down the Camí d'Andorra through Urgell to Lleida ; up the Camí Catalán to a bit further than Zaragoza ; then a bit of the Camino Castellano-Aragonès 'til I finally leave it behind and head to Valladolid and beyond along the Duero river valley ; then down Via de la Plata a revès through Salamanca then via whichever variant to wherever turns out best, maybe via Cáceres, and then West to Fátima ; Camiño Portugues to Compostela ; Camino Francès to SJPP ; Voie du Piémont through Lourdes, maybe back to Foix ; then up back through Revel, Arles, to home again on the Arles Way and the Provençal.

Phew !!

The heart of my Camino, as likely will be the case in any Camino that I will ever walk, will be the Francès.

I'm thinking it might take me maybe seven months ? Possibly six, which would be good.

My most likely starting date will be in the beginning of December of 2018, to be back home by July, but hopefully June, or even May of 2019.

Much to organise and suddenly !! Though my basic kit is done, and has been for years ... Some necessaries I will be able to get along the Way too, so that's a good.

The biggies are passport, "new" second-hand phone, new pair of hiking gloves (I'll need them LOL). My godfather is helping me with the size 14 army boots. I bought a good military sleeping bag a couple of years ago, and a new inflatable mattress at about the same time. Backpack's solid. Rest is just cheap easily found ordinary clothes plus my big black Pilgrim Cape (which I'll need LOL).

Thinking I'll need about eight credenciales for this one, and anyway if that's an underestimate, I'll be able to replenish at Lourdes on the Way back. I'll stick them together, as usual, into a giant-sized version.

It'll be really very hard, I'll be dealing with the cold, and the boredom, and the solitude, and a thousand other things beside -- I'll curse it and decide never again !! as we always do ...

But then, all these years after, here we are.

 

[lovingkindness]

Fantastic! Your plans are exciting...
Bon Chemin!

 

[mspath]

What a great journey you have planned. Looking forward with envy to reading all your new posts.

Buen camino and, as always,
Ultreia!

 

[LTfit]

What an adventure and opportunity @JabbaPapa!
Enjoy the thrill of planning.
Ultreia!

 

[Bala]

Way to go, @JabbaPapa . I do hope you blog or post. That is the kind of journey I most love to follow. Wishing you all the best!

 

[JabbaPapa]

It's still looming very large, despite this sudden shift from the scale of dream, then vague project, now material planning.

I need to follow a carnivore diet, and I've been wondering how to manage that once I begin to be far away from my magical Portuguese butcher shop, which will be on the morning of Day One ...

Might be in el cheapo sausages that I'll find the solution ; my diet might suddenly become very chorizo and cheese-like once I'm out beyond my front door ...

Meanwhile, I'll have to start getting into a bit more of a routine of several walks a week -- I'm walking faster than I have been anyway since 2014, possibly even starting to approach, maybe even exceed the pace that I had when I started on that 2014 ?

I anyway also need to work to extend my max daily walking distance, still too low.

Though I'm still quite unsure of my carrying capacity stamina-wise (and speed-wise), here and now at least

It's a Winter Camino anyway, and apart from the quick local crossings of the Alps which even on the extremely rare occasions of snow here involve centimetres not metres, that'll be four serious winter crossings of mountain ranges ; Pyrenees twice.

In a dream Camino I'd have a pair of Altai skis for those purposes ...

heh -- onward and forward

 

[JabbaPapa]

This project still seems entirely crazy to me.

 

[JabbaPapa]

It's still quite possible that I might need to delay my departure to January -- but we'll see.

Good news is that the religious book that I plan to organise this Camino around, having arrived in the Post, turns out to be smaller and lighter than I feared

 

[JabbaPapa]

I am more and more likely to delay this to the beginning of January.

I'll be getting in touch with the Santiago Pilgrims Office at Lourdes this coming week for the eight Credenciales I'll need to start with (they close for Winter after October) ... a good enough number to start with, because even should I end up needing a couple more at the end, I should just be able to pick those up when I arrive there, if needed for the final 1000 K to home.

I'm still amazed at how better my walking has become since starting this carnivore diet !!

I'm walking faster and easier than I was at the start of my 2014 which was when I consigned my knee braces to the collection of "useless stuff I should have left at home" in my backpack, very few stages after my day of prayers at Lourdes ...

Before the diet, I thought I'd need 8-9 months -- now, I'm thinking I can manage it within six. I've not really lost much weight, yet, from abandoning cereals and veg (though strangely, barley beers seem not to have any negative effects against the diet, which is most strange) -- but I have lost flab and gained muscle, and regained stamina and strength.

NOT to recommend the carnivore diet to anyone else

(I've actually been wanting to follow it for about ten years or so, but it is only very recently that it has become affordable on a daily basis -- but I realise there's a certain fashion for it that has arisen in the past 6 months or so, and it's not something that should be followed just for fashion "reasons" ; except as a limited duration pure elimination diet that can do no harm for those having some weight-loss and/or detoxification/convalescence purposes and needs) --- it would seem that only a minority of people would need to to follow the diet for basic health reasons, though it seems quite clearly that I'm in this minority group.

Rule of thumb -- if you do not suffer from uncontrollable weight gains and/or autoimmune diseases, or if your routine hiking regimen etc is enough to keep you fit with what you're eating now, then it's probably not the diet plan for you.

--

whooops, off-topic I suppose, but hey ; MY Camino, MY Way !!

 

[JabbaPapa]

I'm homing in on the 8 credenciales that I'll need

 

[JabbaPapa]

I'm homing in on the 8 credenciales that I'll need

They've been ordered.

 

[JabbaPapa]

It simply is not possible that I'll be starting this in either December, or in 2018.

It'll be in the beginning of January.

And this is still a very daunting prospect, but OTOH I'm walking faster and more comfortably (if also more shortly) than at the start of my 2014 from Lourdes -- but the more important difference is that, same as before my 1994 & 2005, I trust the project in the same way.

Especially, this will be THE most solitary Camino that I have ever, nor will ever be likely, to do.

That is its most unappealing aspect.

In a way, it's hard for me emotionally to even contemplate the possibility that any others might be found to accompany me on this path for even a short section of it. Especially in that season !!

 

[hecate105]

I am more and more likely to delay this to the beginning of January.

I'll be getting in touch with the Santiago Pilgrims Office at Lourdes this coming week for the eight Credenciales I'll need to start with (they close for Winter after October) ... a good enough number to start with, because even should I end up needing a couple more at the end, I should just be able to pick those up when I arrive there, if needed for the final 1000 K to home.

I'm still amazed at how better my walking has become since starting this carnivore diet !!

I'm walking faster and easier than I was at the start of my 2014 which was when I consigned my knee braces to the collection of "useless stuff I should have left at home" in my backpack, very few stages after my day of prayers at Lourdes ...

Before the diet, I thought I'd need 8-9 months -- now, I'm thinking I can manage it within six. I've not really lost much weight, yet, from abandoning cereals and veg (though strangely, barley beers seem not to have any negative effects against the diet, which is most strange) -- but I have lost flab and gained muscle, and regained stamina and strength.

NOT to recommend the carnivore diet to anyone else

(I've actually been wanting to follow it for about ten years or so, but it is only very recently that it has become affordable on a daily basis -- but I realise there's a certain fashion for it that has arisen in the past 6 months or so, and it's not something that should be followed just for fashion "reasons" ; except as a limited duration pure elimination diet that can do no harm for those having some weight-loss and/or detoxification/convalescence purposes and needs) --- it would seem that only a minority of people would need to to follow the diet for basic health reasons, though it seems quite clearly that I'm in this minority group.

Rule of thumb -- if you do not suffer from uncontrollable weight gains and/or autoimmune diseases, or if your routine hiking regimen etc is enough to keep you fit with what you're eating now, then it's probably not the diet plan for you.

--

whooops, off-topic I suppose, but hey ; MY Camino, MY Way !!

You seem to be following a really low carb diet.... which is what i have done since being diagnosed as type2 diabetic - that was a shock - it was even more of a shock giving up bread, beer and chips... but it WORKS!!! in 3 and a half months I lost 2 stone and i am no longer diabetic!!! But I will continue to follow the diet about 80% - just toast on sunday with my boiled egg and an occasional gin or vino tinto....!
If you can't find enough/good meat how about carrying nuts... or nut butter...?
I never thought my idea of heaven would be hazelnut butter on an apple slice or in a bowl of natural yoghurt - but there we go...
Another thing would be to have some jerky or similar in your backpack. You've got a long, long walk ahead - you need snacks!!!! and in Spain - the roasted fava beans...yum
Have an amazing adventure -
I will be doing the opposite - cycling in the backlands of Thailand/Cambodia/Laos, in humid heat beating off mosquitos.... But back on Camino next summer......yay!

 

[JabbaPapa]

Nuts are bad on this diet -- and beans in general (major exceptions being the cocoa and coffee ones) are ghastly for it.

Strangely, low alcohol traditional European barley beer seems to be mostly neutral (within limits), and whilst I'm discovering that some small amount of some veg seems to be necessary each week (fruit, I've already worked out, needs to be eaten sparsely, and most preferably fresh and in season), it's proving to be a lengthy process of trial and error which ones yes, and which no.

Wheat absolutely not, beetroot artichoke ditto, greens pfah !! -- cereals basically and all veg oil except olive (and I believe avocado) bad too -- OTOH the odd few potatoes, some tomato (though it's theoretically off-limits), avocado I strongly suspect (though I've yet to properly test that one) are OK, and raw spinach might be a weird outlier due to its massive minerals & nutrients content.

Really though, I am mostly just eating meat and fat.

It's not really a low-carb diet as such, it's more of an extreme elimination one that just resembles some versions of one.

Jerky is a very American thing -- here, we eat sausages. And cheese.
I'm actually liable to fill up my pack with chorizos, good ratio of meat to fat in those ...

Good to hear the diet is helping with the diabetes, my brother has been dealing with his through regular fasting.

 

[caminka]

this sounds like a fantastic camino, @JabbaPapa, just something I would like to do some day. (will join my ever lenghthening list of caminos.)
hope you start in january and bypass all the heavy snowfalls.

why didn't you make your own big long customised credencial?

 

[JabbaPapa]

why didn't you make your own big long customised credencial?

I like the small cream-coloured French one, but I stick them all together into a single mega-credencial.

http://papypik.a.p.f.unblog.fr/files/2010/02/credenti1.jpg

 

[caminka]

I like the small cream-coloured French one, but I stick them all together into a single mega-credencial.

it does look lovely (lots of text, though). the stick-together version must look very impressive when you bring it out and open it up and it doesn't fit onto a single table, no?

 

[JabbaPapa]

it does look lovely (lots of text, though)

No, that image has been shopped to remove most of the blank pages. Also, the other side is basically just blank pages plus the cover.

 

[Davey Boyd]

This sounds so wonderful!

Just something I have noticed to share. For three years I walked 5-6 months non stop and noticed this.
Week 1-2 I hurt, am very sore and tired. Week 2 just about getting my camino legs.
Week 5-6 Just about feeling fit and healthy. Spend most of my time pondering and thinking instead of worrying. My weight stabilizes, I stop shedding kilo's.
Two months - Seem to reach peak fitness, terrain/weather no longer an issue. (At least not worried about it).
Three months onwards - What I call Zen. The Zen of walking. In the zone. In the moment. It is during this stage I learn the most. Walking is like breathing. It feels odd NOT wearing my 16 kilo's strapped to my body!

Then your boots fall apart, clothes rot, equipment fails. Don't forget to include this in your plans and budget!

Buen Camino! And please keep us informed!
Davey

 

[JabbaPapa]

Davey, thanks for the insights.

On my last 1200 K one in 2014, the "I hurt, am very sore and tired" stage that you refer to lasted probably 3-4 weeks rather than 1-2. But yes, I did find that when I was getting towards week 6 or so, I was beginning to feel healthier and fitter -- sadly, that Camino didn't last much longer beyond that point, so I never really hit that "zone" that you talk about.

Conversely, I did the one from Paris in 1994 ultra fast, but hey I was 25 years younger (!!) and really, I had the Camino legs pretty much on day 1. Hit the "zone" after the 3rd week.

Boots should be solid, but clothes will rot and will need replacing, yeah I know.

 

[JabbaPapa]

I've found an app for Windows that has basically all of the trail routes that I'll need along the way, and small enough detail that I'll be able to find my way off-trail.

It seems that I will reach the Portugues at Minde, about 13K south of Fatima.

This app will be very helpful !!

 

[JabbaPapa]

Well, my godfather made a bit of a mix-up, as he is wont to in these sorts of matters (though to be at least 50% fair my habitual ambiguity in speech probably contributed too ) , so that for the time being I have only one of the 8 credenciales that I'll need, and the other 7 will be in my letter box later this week, looks like ---

BUT : I have a Credencial !!!

Ultreia e sus eia, my friends, getting my hands on my credencial is always my point of no return between the sedentary life and the pilgrim one ... it's starting.

It's the Paris Association model, and it's been updated from the material perspective since the last time I had some (only needed 6 that time LOL) in 2005.

The design has changed, so that instead of the reproduction of an ancient wood engraved print of a pilgrim in beautiful red ink (an ink that is still used BTW for the text elements of the credencial), there is an image of the physical tomb of the Apostle.

The text on page 2 describing what a credencial is, in French and Spanish, is unchanged, but it now includes the logos of the Santiago Cathedral and the Compostela Pilgrims Office, clearly as a certification that this model of credencial is one of the officially approved ones.

The rather indifferent content of the back page, finally, has been replaced with a prayer cited by Aimery Picaud in his seminal Codex Calixtinus ("Ad honorem"), given in both the Latin original and in French translation ; I am in love with Latin, so from my POV this is a massive improvement.

Otherwise, the credencial is substantially the same -- blank on both sides, for maximum sello space, and without the printed grid pattern of the French model that members in here will be most familiar with, as that's the one provided at SJPP.

This model is smaller in size than that one.

Finally, the Parisian Association has changed paper stock, from the original strong cream-coloured paper to this new lighter colour -- but the paper quality is significantly improved, and at first glance it seems both more resistant to rain and as having a clearly better inking surface for better quality imprinting of sellos.

Despite all of these changes though, for the better (although I'll miss my friendly neighbourhood woodcut red ink pilgrim friend), fundamentally it's still the same credencial as it's always been, since I think the 1990s.

Still (IMO) the best official credencial I've ever seen, though the old Spanish one and the French one most people get at SJPP are quite excellent as well ...

 

[JabbaPapa]

I now have my full credencial.

Completely glued together, it's over 3 metres long -- should probably measure it LOL

yep, 3m40 -- 11' 2""

Fairly imperfectly glued together as usual, but it's the real deal.

It's still pretty crazy that this mad project is actually happening for real ...

 

[JabbaPapa]

Another threshold crossed today -- and even though I'll be walking from home, my new super-discount railcard means I'll be able to get myself properly to Marseilles for the measuring then making of my next massive pair of egregiously sized army boots ; and then come back to the start of the adventure.

 

[JabbaPapa]

Made my pre-Camino Confession today, and was given a surprisingly forthright and practical written note from the priest for my credencial rather than the generously intended and gratefully received sentiment and hope that I've sometimes had in the past.

I see this as further confirmation that, this time, I'm truly being called back to the Way, and for good reason, not just wishful thinking and a bit of addiction or whatever ...

---

And well, it would seem that I am now, most officially LOL a Pilgrim.

Still a month to go though before starting to walk -- but well, time to start hanging the scallop shell from my neck, though what's surprising me this go, is that it would seem that I need to carry the key that I have a right to as well from my 2000 Pilgrimage to Rome, and that's a bit unexpected.

Still ...

Nox praecessit, dies autem appropinquavit
abjiciamus ergo opera tenebrarum,
& induamur arma lucis :
sicut in die, honeste ambulemus

 

[JabbaPapa]

Need to find a couple of good safety pins to get my crazy big yellow arrow re-attached to the hat ...

 

[J Willhaus]

Ultreia y Suseia, JabbaPapa!

 

[nycwalking]

Buen camino.

 

[VNwalking]

This project still seems entirely crazy to me.

Ha! Yeah, I can well imagine. But one step at a time is just that one step. And that's not so crazy.

And well, it would seem that I am now, most officially LOL a Pilgrim.

As if you haven't been all this time?

Ultreia et suseia, @JabbaPapa !
Heartfelt buen camino to you.

 

[Suzanne S.]

Buen Camino, @JabbaPapa ! I'm impressed and you make me laugh...not a bad combination!!!

 

[JabbaPapa]

Thank you all for the kind words -- of course, the cold hard reality of it is facing me at present.

We all know how difficult these sorts of undertakings really are ...

 

[JabbaPapa]

Ultreia y Suseia, JabbaPapa!

Gracias y sentidas, hospitalera !!!

 

[JabbaPapa]

First real big test today -- went to Marseilles and back by train for my new pair of army boots for the Camino, a mere size 14 pair, which took me only 20 hours nearly exactly home-to-home about 4:20 AM to 24:20 AM ...

And yeah I'm wrecked, but NOT destroyed, and still capable of typing stuff into the interwebs rather than just crashing like a wreck into bed ...

It's really nice to have boots that don't pinch my feet from being too "small" (yah-boo size 13s !!) ; these ones are the **real** army boots, got them from a French Army camp ; the leather's just lovely, accordingly, not cheapo knock-off ; AND they were on sale !!!

Good stuff !!

It keeps on coming together

 

[JabbaPapa]

Basically, I've got all of my kit now (though socks are still evading me), and things are starting to get scary close !!!

It's weeks 'til start now, not some vague future ... hope I can start around 10th January

The only real delay would be if the passport gets in much later than expected, which of course it could, but really, it just doesn't "feel" as though it will ... anyway, that would be just days, no big deal, it's not as if I have made any transport arrangements for walking out from my front door ...

VERY annoying of course to have to have re-purchased a backpack and swiss army knife after I lost the ones I had, and a perfectly horrid extra expense, but I'm still more glad to have the new ones than I was dismayed by the loss of the others.

The glass is always half full.

Still, it's going to be cold -- especially on the stretch through the Var through Aix on to Arles. Got a good hint of that on my train and hiking trip to Marseilles on Thursday (yeah, there was about 4-5 hours of hiking involved in getting my boots, forgot to mention that).

---

Anyway, I've pinned my crazy giant big yellow arrow back onto the hat, it's a fun and delightful anti-serious counterpoint to my whole "great big beardo true pilgrim in black with a huge cape and crazy big army boots" shtick, that seems somehow to have gathered onto me --- well, someone has to do it, I guess ?

 

[JabbaPapa]

dammit, my old 2005 Compañero Anton has had a heart attack -- pray for him please -- we Pilgrims are not magic perfect creatures, but we suffer all manner of slings and arrows

In other news, cripes knows what'll be my start date !!!

 

[JabbaPapa]

I'm finding that a degree of anger is building up around me and this (admittedly completely insane) project -- most annoyingly and unjustifiedly obviously, but I can't help but feel that some might be deeply hostile in their philosophy against these things.

I do not doubt that the more caring of our family and friends might be disappointed, even hurt, by these decisions that we make to wander off into the unknown for weeks or months at a time.

This makes it no less, however, frustrating in our pilgrimages to be subjected to such judgment.

Whatever.

I'll start walking soon.

 

[JabbaPapa]

I have spoken this evening with my old Compañero Anton, after his heart attack, and tried to impress upon him not to try any longer Caminos than from, say, Ponferrada or Salamanca and so on.

I do hope he listens !!

We can't ALL be as reckless as I am !!!

 

[lovingkindness]

...We can't ALL be as reckless as I am !!!

Yes we can!

 

[lovingkindness]

ps...keep on writing!

 

[JabbaPapa]

Passport was delivered today -- socks are still an issue, that I might need to solve on the Way by making a detour to an army surplus supply shop, and there's a couple of French administrative things to do in the beginning of January, but basically I'm pretty much set for a start on about 10th January or so.

First 45 days or so are likely to be brutal to a degree, then it should get progressively easier, at least physically (and climatically !!), though I doubt I'll start encountering many pilgrims before Fatima, and the loneliness will be a struggle probably from start to finish -- for even though I am by temperament a loner, my preference is still to be alone within a familiar crowd, and this Camino will radically force me out of that.

Keeping up my carnivore diet + some small veg every week or so (as I've found I seem to have negative effects from not eating a small quantity of potatoes about once a week) is something I'll have to work out in the first few weeks ... but at least my lack of lactose-intolerance means I can eat such stuff as greek yoghurt, French fromage blanc, shunning the awful 0% fat junk of course, but also the occasional litre of milk and so on.

But the other day, I worked out the full list of foods that do NOT make me ill, and it is almost caricaturally short. Apart from the potatoes, basically only olives, olive oil, berries, and fresh-picked fruits (NOT oranges) are OK in the vegetable domain. And, bizarrely, low alcohol simple non-wheat beers (no chemical additives) and pure spirits. That's going to be an effort to manage, obviously, though the hiking energy expenditure will give me some leeway I suspect.

Starting to think about packing, though knowing me, it'll be the usual last-minute rush job ...

 

[C clearly]

I just had a read through this thread, realizing how close your departure is, and how big a journey you have planned. I expect it will be a relief (of sorts) once you step out the door. I seem to remember that you have said you won't be posting here, or at least regularly, when you are on your pilgrimage, but I would love to read about it if you did!

 

[lovingkindness]

-- socks are still an issue, ...

..You may have my socks, si tu veux...Joyeux Nöel!

 

[JabbaPapa]

hmmmm -- I've been looking through my projected route in detail ; and what I'm seeing is that my easiest route would actually be not through Andorra at all, but through Perpignan, then the Spanish enclave of Llivia (or Catalan enclave if thence lay your politics, or both at the same time as do mine), then to Puigcerda, thence down to the Catalan Way.

Going through Andorra just seems bloody difficult, from the geography, and I am most certainly NOT a mountain hiker. (but it would be nice to walk through that microstate)

Looking at things from this detail perspective, I'd say Andorra looks more like a barrier than a passage way ; though it still seems to be quite excellent as a starting point. It's just hiking to Andorra from within flatland France not as a mountaineer but as a pilgrim that seems to be overly difficult.

The traditional Camino route does go through there, and I'm sure it was fine before the only truly practicable route became an asphalt road transport one ... a problem I'm sure familiar to those who have hiked up to the Somport, except that the route to Andorra seems to have a lot less wiggle room.

The issue isn't at all that I couldn't do it, the issue is that I need a quicker rather than slower route, because even six months is a limitation versus The Full Camino (™) ...

Crikey, thinking through the problem as I type ...

huh !! heck yeah, it's just much MUCH more sensible !!

Andorra abandoned !!!

And I like Perpignan ...

 

[JabbaPapa]

Credencial and starting point :

https://www.caminodesantiago.me/com...he-pilgrims-essentials.8799/full?d=1546262468

(can't really tell from the photo, but the document is 11 ft long !! (3m40) )

 

[JabbaPapa]

Good chance I'm starting next week.

 

[JabbaPapa]

Yeah, next week -- likely to be either on Wednesday or Thursday -- Thursday is the more likely.

Going to have to start packing !!

 

[Rhun Leeding]

This looks like such a fantastic adventure for you Jabbapapa, the preparations are all in place. Best of luck for the next week, and make the most of your home comforts while they last!

 

[JabbaPapa]

Thank you Rhun for the kind words.

OK, so technically I'll be starting on Wednesday at the evening weekday Mass at our Parish church. The curé will give me a pilgrimage blessing after that Mass, which might be just a general ad hoc blessing rather than anything more Camino-specific, but his choice, he's the priest not me.

My pilgrimage both starts and finishes before the Altar at St Joseph's. That's BTW where I started my 2005 one.

I'll actually start the walking as such (apart from the very short first quick evening stage from church to home) on Thursday, and because the canteen where I eat 25% to 33% of my meals decided to make that Thursday one of their occasional (and quite lovely) couscous days, I'll be walking down there to start with to get my first "official" el cheapo 2019 menu del peregrino (it's €2.50)

Then back up home, last nice, friendly home shower, pick up the backpack, groan at the weight, probably make some last-minute "that's too heavy, do I really need it ?" item dumps, then out the door and start uphill to Laghet (on the Provençal/Aurelia Way) where some yellow arrows are to be found ... (but I'll be on the historic but non-be-arrowed Camino before then, that's just 1-2 K from here)

It's such a relief that all the pre-Camino prep is finally finishing (still have one ghastly French administration day to get through on Monday), and I've been smiling since realising this morning that I can start on Thursday.

Going to be hell on my knee(s) and so slow for the first 6 weeks probably, and it can get pretty cold inland in the Var in this season, but my hiking should get stronger and the weather warmer towards Spring after that.

As always, I'll start hating the Camino after about two weeks in (the usual mindgame fake news to myself LOL).

---

Copying something I've just written elsewhere :

---

I'll be ticking two empty boxes that I've had since the 1990s -- 1) to do a Winter Pilgrimage 2) to do the full "there and back again" one

This will actually be my third very long pilgrimage, and also the longest of them by about a 2:1 ratio.

For those of you with an interest in the American thru-hikes, it's very unlike all of them, because rather than actively seeking the wilderness, instead you seek to travel as much as possible from village to village, parish to parish. Now, to do it properly is overall just as equal as a challenge, not from the physical difficulty nor the need for wilderness survival skills as on, say, the Pacific Crest Trail, both elements far more materially testing than anything you'll ever encounter on the Way of St James, but because the Camino has a way of getting into your head space that no sportsman's prep could ever ready you for, and because unlike even the PCT, it involves being quite radically not just apart from, but sometimes directly and aggressively opposite and contrary to even the normal hiker community.

I'm convinced BTW that most PCT thru-hikers who have expressed disappointment with or disdain for the Camino, simply didn't walk it properly and with the proper degree of challenge for them -- any serious PCT thru-hiker wanting to walk the Camino really should, IMO, walk from their front door to the most convenient cargo Port ; take passage on a cargo ship to Le Havre or Bordeaux or Genova as the case may be (OK airports can be a good enough substitute) ; walk from there to Santiago. Texan PCTers for example, walk to Houston, cargo ship from Houston to Le Havre. Walk from Le Havre to Compostela.

The True Camino is as radical and extreme as the PCT, even though it isn't a mountain, nor a wilderness, nor a survival trail.

The real challenge is the same : to face yourself, alone, except the Witness of God and the eyes of strangers.

----

Now that's just advice to the crazy American thru-hiker types, and it means nothing at all about most of we pilgrims, who are happy to make our own Way as we will !!! As extremist as I might be myself, or as simple as a friendly Sarria pilgrim might choose to make it instead.

Thank heavens that we're not all as crazy as I am !!!

 

[JabbaPapa]

The final absolute Camino pre-necessaries got finished yesterday -- I do still need to get a new pair of el cheapo Chinese -made trousers (I had been hoping that the current pair would last at least 'til next month, but they won't), and socks are still a problem looking for a solution.

OTOH I'm starting to pack ; and as much religiously as symbolically, I'm starting tomorrow evening after Holy Mass and a Pilgrim Blessing. (short first stage up home, and sleep, then day after tomorrow down to have a last meal (couscous !!) at the canteen, then up and close house & pick up my pack, and start)

My trusty Stetson hiking hat was and is dying, but a very good friend has just gifted me with a Tilly-style khaki cotton/canvas hiking hat, amazingly my size, narrower brim than I'd normally like, but this is a winter Camino and so it's pretty much perfectly fine !!

I've started picking up stamps on my ultra-massive Credencial, and at the church where I was baptised in 2005 a very nice gentleman (manning the desk) offered spontaneously to provide a copy of my Certificate of Baptism to stick into it, which is lovely, and tomorrow I'll start picking the further stamps up with date and signature.

Just tested my basic backpack (mostly empty) weight and balance with inflatable mattress and sleeping bag attached, and it's great !!

The hat is awesome !!!

My ridiculously huge yellow arrow found on the way up to O Cebreiro back in 2014 looks fricking amazing on this one !!

Blimey, tomorrow I'm a simple Pilgrim again !!!

 

[lovingkindness]

One more sleep to go..
Fais de beaux rêves, pèlerin!

 

[JabbaPapa]

Well, I've started ... (though first stage was just from church to home)

The Mass at the Parish was beautiful, small group and ad orientem at the main Altar, before which the priest gave me the Pilgrim's Blessing after the Holy Eucharist. And so I became a Pilgrim again.

Earlier, my Godfather (a year younger than I am, old school friend) had given me his own Layman's blessing.

Rough day though, had to make an unplanned go through town to replace my dying trousers ... I had been hoping to defer needing to do that 'til next month. Still, always nice to start off on one's Camino with a new pair ... they are nice and BLACK like everything else LOL

eh, first 4 to 6 weeks will probably be blue screaming murder ...

 

[JabbaPapa]

Well, home for the last time hopefully 'til summer.

Did manage to find my "second pair" of very unsuitable socks (they'd be a blisters magnet if I hiked in them -- but they were a good pair 'til my feet suddenly spread out into the beyond size 12), and they'll help until I can manage to find some better pair(s) along the road when the good and trusty ones I've been using for I don't know how many years are still damp from washing. It is not easy to find good size 12/14 100% military or comparable quality woollen socks, long and strong enough for army boots usage -- and I had to learn the hard way that internet-purchased ones cannot be trusted.

One of the good things about starting from home is that there's no rupture as such with ordinary daily routine. No anxious departure to the airport or bus or train station, just an easy step out onto a road you've walked dozens of times, and into the familiar and the friendly.

Pack is still of good weight for me even with my large and heavy Latin Breviary. I'd have preferred using the post-Vatican II one, which is far better, but that would have required carrying three thick hardbound volumes, sooooo, eh, no not really.

---

Starting NOW.

Ultreia e Sus Eia

 

[Rhun Leeding]

It's a dangerous business, JP, going out your door. You step on to the road, and if you don't keep your feet, there's no knowing where you might be swept off to!

Buen Camino

 

[JabbaPapa]

Day 11 ...

I'm somewhere in the middle of the Var, and sleeping mostly in churches. Gets down to about 0°C at night, so I'm abandoning all my precious principles and phoning ahead

Still hovering at about the 15K mark, and it's week 2 so the Camino pain is kicking in -- we'll see how long it takes me this time to move past it and get towards the 20K mark

 

[David Tallan]

Day 11 ...

I'm somewhere in the middle of the Var, and sleeping mostly in churches. Gets down to about 0°C at night, so I'm abandoning all my precious principles and phoning ahead

Still hovering at about the 15K mark, and it's week 2 so the Camino pain is kicking in -- we'll see how long it takes me this time to move past it and get towards the 20K mark

Thanks for the update.

 

[Bala]

Ultreia! Keep us posted when you're able.

 

[JabbaPapa]

Well I'm close to Aix-en-Provence, but some sort of nonsense has developed in my thigh, so I can neither walk today nor stay here -- so that means I guess that today's the day I finally become a "True Busgrino".

The Provençal Way is beautiful indeed though. And despite the overall geographical beauty of the Alpes Maritimes, the Camino here really only comes into its own once you reach Saint Raphaël & Fréjus. (or in the other direction after you reach Laghet)

The GR has its usual combination of genuine excellence and crazy mountain and forest excursions and diversions put down for hikers rather than pilgrims.

Don't know how long this thigh nonsense will keep me, but OTOH it's starkly clear that I need to dump some weight from out of my pack. Overall I am getting stronger and more used to the weight, which is too-many-kilos-as-usual, but my poor damaged knees are not.

I've still months ahead of me though, so that whatever shakes out of this is good. I hope I won't need a rest at home then head back here, but we'll see -- this Camino is anyway very much its own beastie ; in several ways it's as a combination of my 1994 and 2005, but it also has a mind and a will of its own, urging me into more simplicity than my "purism" should really accept.

But we'll see --- Ultreia !!!

 

[JabbaPapa]

Day 21 BTW

 

[Rhun Leeding]

Hey JP,

Good to hear from you. I guess the curse of needing to get rid of equipment hits even the best of us!

Buen Camino!

 

[JabbaPapa]

I am going to have to make a to-and-fro between Aix and home to give a week or so rest to my thigh -- annoying, but that's how it seems to be, and at least the start from home makes this extremely easy, and also it's therefore by no means any end to this Camino, which is indeed unlike any of my previouses.

I've needed a couple of forced rest stops before, but never this badly.

 

[JabbaPapa]

It's hard to get nice Camino photos in this winter light, but I do like this one that I took as I was entering into the Estérel (but still in the Alpes-Maritimes), not that much further than Théoule-sur-Mer :

 

[JabbaPapa]

I'm stuck at home for healing until the beginning of March at least (I really hope it won't need to be longer than that).

One piece of great news is that once I'm past Arles, I'll probably get in a day of walking with my first 1993 Camino compañera !! (she's the one who introduced me originally to all of this Camino madness)

Anyway, apart from that, Aix to Salon is short ; Salon to Arles ditto ; and really there will be not many terrain difficulties to speak of from Aix onwards, through Arles, Montpellier, Perpignan, and really 'til I'm bang on top of the Pyrenees at Puigcerdà (there's some mountainous terrain on the Spanish side that I'll have to navigate carefully, even though I'll basically be following a river valley downhill).

Another thing -- given that I'm now forced by medical issues to do this Camino in stages (even though the time gap between them is short), it does mean that if I run out of time after say SJPP to Lourdes, I really can just make a quick round trip back home if I've any administrative stuff to do, then get back to Lourdes and continue back towards home -- so that's liberating. It's not a "purist" Camino anyway, which surprised me !!

 

[Camino Chrissy]

Hi Jabba,
So sorry to hear of your injury that has caused you to change your plans. It does sound like you are keeping a positive attitude, so that's half the battle. Wishing you a speedy recovery and March is just around the corner!

 

[Rhun Leeding]

Hey man,

Sorry to hear of the physical woes. I'm currently giving my right ankle free reign to get to know the nearest bag of frozen peas, due to a sprain, and I won't be doing any walking this weekend either. As long as you have the freedom and time to do so, nothing wrong with grabbing some home comforts as you recover, plus I guess the costs of going home outweigh accommodation etc. Best of luck once you're back on the road!

 

[JabbaPapa]

Maybe next weekend or thereabouts to start again ?

 

[Former member 49149]

Hey man,

Sorry to hear of the physical woes. I'm currently giving my right ankle free reign to get to know the nearest bag of frozen peas, due to a sprain, and I won't be doing any walking this weekend either. As long as you have the freedom and time to do so, nothing wrong with grabbing some home comforts as you recover, plus I guess the costs of going home outweigh accommodation etc. Best of luck once you're back on the road!

Lidl has great hot/cold packs with wraps, about 5 euro each.

 

[JabbaPapa]

Had to walk a few K yesterday evening & last night, and my thigh is not screaming blue murder this morning -- a very positive sign.

 

[JabbaPapa]

... but was hurting a lot more today

pffffffffffff

 

[Rhun Leeding]

... but was hurting a lot more today

pffffffffffff

My brother messaged me two days ago to tell me he was so proud he'd had a day where he'd been over 30k steps. As we are both office workers, that is a seriously big deal. The next day he could barely walk, and he's not beaten 3k since! It's natural for it to hurt when you've not been doing it every day is my message!!!

 

[JabbaPapa]

My brother messaged me two days ago to tell me he was so proud he'd had a day where he'd been over 30k steps. As we are both office workers, that is a seriously big deal. The next day he could barely walk, and he's not beaten 3k since! It's natural for it to hurt when you've not been doing it every day is my message!!!

But this is an injury -- I've walked for three weeks so far on this Camino, and half way to the Pyrenees

It's a very specific pain in a precise location from muscle damage that's slowly healing, not the more general source of pain from the knees and ankles that I've learned to live with over 7-8 years, and have already walked an entire Camino upon.

It needs to heal well enough that walking won't reopen it.

 

[nycwalking]

Do recover and keep going. Make image come true.

Walk on and well.

 

[VNwalking]

May you have an abundance of patience, @JabbaPapa, and rest well until that thigh is healed and you can walk on. And may that be soon.
Buen camino, peregrino...

 

[JabbaPapa]

May you have an abundance of patience, @JabbaPapa, and rest well until that thigh is healed and you can walk on. And may that be soon.
Buen camino, peregrino...

Thank you, and I can reassure you that the Camino is still 100% ongoing -- we are Pilgrims, not tourists.

 

[JabbaPapa]

It's still healing -- walked a bit more today, not really by choice, but it still mostly behaved ; starting to see the light at the end of the tunnel (and I have actually been in that absolute pitch black situation in a 2-3K old railway one -- that was a memorable training hike).

 

[J Willhaus]

Good to hear you may be on your way again soon. Glad you had the humility to admit you needed to heal and the patience to let your body do so.

 

[JabbaPapa]

Good to hear you may be on your way again soon. Glad you had the humility to admit you needed to heal and the patience to let your body do so.

Thanks, but as for "soon", if I'm stuck for another week at least (and I will be), then for simple financial reasons I'd need to await the beginning of April.

That's a LOT longer than I had initially hoped for, and it might push the end of this Camino back as far as August or September. But that's OK -- it doesn't complicate anything much (it's one of the huge advantages of walking from home), just shakes up my scheduling -- though it's very likely now that I'll have to take a second break in midsummer, though that's not a certainty.

But I'm not at all depressed or frustrated by this unexpected delay -- and that's actually one of the major positives already of this Camino, that the mainly carnivorous diet I've been following since September (lots of sausages on the Camino itself) is really helping to quell the effects of my chronic depression ; without this diet, I'd have been completely devastated by this injury, and would likely have given up. This gives me hope for the future beyond just this Camino itself, though it's clear that I absolutely need to get back into and through and past the Camino to start materialising that hope.

It's complicated ...

But hey, it looks like my 25-year-old habit of being a pilgrim in August is getting the better of me yet again !!!

 

[JabbaPapa]

Still, being able to leave all the winter gear at home *will* lighten my pack !!!

 

[JabbaPapa]

Not sure how far I'll be able to get to after I restart, given this very rethunk schedule, but maybe from Fatima and Santiago to Logroño might be both feasible and workable either way ?

Including because that's from where I started walking on my very first Camino in 1993, but also because I love that city, and accessorily because that would let me score two visits rather than just the one to my favourite Spanish wine shop LOL

 

[J Willhaus]

Do be sure you are getting the vitamins and nutrients you need to heal properly or at least take a multi-vit. You may not get some nutrients which promote healing of tissues such as Vit. C with a diet of sausages. Waiting until early April is reasonable and better than setting off again before your body is ready.

We found out this week that Phil may need another surgery, but this time for a shoulder so we are having to be patient and flexible with our summer plans. We may be hospitaleros again or possibly just take a month of language school staying in one place or maybe he will have to be among those who forwards his pack with a service. It is too soon to tell.

 

[JabbaPapa]

I'm not eating (many) sausages at home, and anyway the main function of vitamin C is for the digestion of the veg and cereals that my diet prohibits anyway. Meat alone provides enough vitamin C for a carnivore diet, but I can cheat a little bit (as I don't have actual allergies or lupus or anything) and so I do, for the exact reasons you suggest.

Hope that Phil gets better !!

 

[JabbaPapa]

The thigh is substantially better today -- but I'm still waiting 'til April before starting again.

 

[C clearly]

The thigh is substantially better today -- but I'm still waiting 'til April before starting again.

Good plan!

 

[Rhun Leeding]

Hi JP,

Great to hear you're close to getting back on the road! Must admit its one of my worries for a longer Camino (for me 4 weeks rather that 2 weeks!). If I need to turn back, losing flights etc. Its in my nature to be anxious about just about everything.

My advice, much as what I passed on to you is to try and worry as little as possible. Any tips on this, let me know!

 

[JabbaPapa]

I'll probably head back in on around April 8th -- I can very likely manage at least Aix to Arles, and then I'll see how the thigh feels at that point.

It still hurts, but it's not really hindering my walking now, as it was.

 

[J Willhaus]

Good to hear you are being cautious. You may also need to take some shorter days in the beginning or even throughout. Sounds like you know your own physical limits.

 

[JabbaPapa]

The thigh did not hurt at Mass today (and standing still is the most difficult stance for me), so it's clearly pretty much sorted -- sure there's some residual pain, but that's not the same thing as the very serious pain that halted me at Aix, then kept me convalescent at home in February and March.

I'm starting again either on Tuesday 9th or Wednesday 10th, depending on whether I can get my "thing" done here on either the Monday or the Tuesday (the lady I need to see is still working half time for reasons of her recent lovely maternity).

But I've started thinking more about my backpack and how to reorganise it post-winter, and which very early morning train to Marseilles I'll need to catch, than my thigh.

I'll prep too at the weekday Masses ad orientem and at the high altar that our PP gives evenings (it's so great to belong to a Latinate and Faithfully Orthodox Parish, filled with families -- the current small children that we have now are particularly amazing in their capacity for prayer and song, it's just a shame that only a few of their elders keep on at it).

Anyway, in my head and in my body, I'm basically out of convalescence and back into the Camino.

Winter has long passed too, so I can look forward to not too more annoying 0°C sleeping bag nights outside ...

 

[J Willhaus]

Ah, the freedom of the summer weight backpack load (well spring a least) is upon you now...no pesky gloves to keep track of or winter coat to try to stuff into the bag in the warmth of the midday...

 

[JabbaPapa]

Ah, the freedom of the summer weight backpack load (well spring a least) is upon you now...no pesky gloves to keep track of or winter coat to try to stuff into the bag in the warmth of the midday...

I'm keeping the gloves, and at least one of the long-sleeved t-shirts, but the jumper and scarf are definitely not coming with me !!

As for the big, black pilgrim cape, it's easy to strap onto and pull from the outside back of my pack as and when needed.

 

[JabbaPapa]

So it's on Tuesday I'll get going again.

Ultreia !!!

 

[J Willhaus]

Hope your weather is great and the path is dry! We'll be looking for an occasional post letting us know how you are doing. Hope we might cross paths in July when Phil and I will be in Spain again. We'll be in Santiago for the first two weeks attending language school and then not sure the last half of the month. Hoping to be hospitaleros, but if we don't get an albergue assignment, we'll walk or stay on for another two weeks of school. If Phil has to have shoulder surgery that may all change, but I am trying to keep a optimistic outlook.

 

[JabbaPapa]

Well, starting to unpack and repack, and the start of the Mediterranean Spring weather is making a HUGE difference in what I'll no longer be carrying -- towards I'd guess about 2.5 to 4 kilos out of the pack and sitting instead toasty at home.

My pack suddenly seems huge compared to what I'll need to carry, now that the Winter section of this Camino is 2 months behind.

Still, size 14+ army boots, military sleeping bag, woollen pilgrim cape are of course constant in their mass.

Medicine seems to be both more and less, more right now, but gram by gram and day by day that will diminish both in volume and weight.

This injury, apart from killing 8 weeks' worth hiking, has at least brought my pack back into reasonable package, plus stopped my adventure into the less reasonable weather -- though I'll always be glad in memory and experience for the at least a good section of Winter Camino. Something I had wanted since 1993, and now it's become memory rather than fantasy. No snow at all though GGRRRRRR !!!

Yet the Provençal Way is amazing once you're outside and past sprawling Nice !!!

This Camino really is metamorphosising itself into simultaneously the combination of all my past successes and failures, yet something also entirely 100% novel and new and strange.

But crikey !! I really do hope it won't force me into patronage of the silly Jacotrans !!!

Next stages to Arles anyway, likely at least to Montpellier, then see how the thigh behaves onwards to Perpignan and over the Pyrenees than beyond.

I'm still freaked out by the fact that the socks I've been wearing daily for 4 months or so have no other odour than that of honest & good boot leather ...

 

[Rhun Leeding]

Hey JP.... that bag of the essentials seems to multiply as you go. When you start, hope you can enjoy the journey. Buen camino, and hope you hit my route ate in the year.

 

[J Willhaus]

But crikey !! I really do hope it won't force me into patronage of the silly Jacotrans !!!

OK, I want you to really think about this...if you need it to continue your journey, will you use it or will you just go home. Sometimes in order to reach a goal, compromises must be made. My husband said a few weeks ago that bag transport or me carrying some of his load due to his bad shoulder was just not acceptable--until I said we could not go at all if he was not willing to accept help. We often set our own barriers. When the body is not able, then we can either let it crush our dreams or consider alternatives which might allow us to continue.

 

[JabbaPapa]

will you use it

No

 

[JabbaPapa]

So -- tomorrow.

 

[J Willhaus]

Hope you are on your way!

 

[J Willhaus]

Happy Easter. Hope you are in a place where you can participate in the community celebration.

 

[JabbaPapa]

Day 42

I'm walking a little more slowly since the injury, though I *did* manage one particularly good 20K+ day.

Camino infrastructure between Montpellier and about Perpignan isn't exactly non-existent, there's a very friendly Donativo in Béziers for instance, but it's sparse, and for you GR enthusiasts, the waymarking basically does not exist, and the future GR78.1 is still at the project stage.

BTW, officially this Way is called the Cami Romieu, so the "Roman Way", as it is indeed, from either Catalonia or from Spain and Navarra via Somport or SJPP and the Piémont route.

So Béziers is actually, like Arles, a Camino crossroad -- Camino via Catalonia, Way to Rome, Piémont Way, and an Arles Way variant going up via Carcassone (cyclists in particular)

There are VERY few pilgrims anyway, even fewer I think than on the Provençal where numbers are increased by those walking there to Rome.

The country is gorgeous though, walking through Occitanian vineyards under the slowly brightening skies, Spring moving inexorably towards Summer, architecture and landscape shifting Spain-wards village to village

Nothing in Spain quite like the lagoons over here on the Languedoc coastland of course, but it still feels more and more like walking pueblo to pueblo, less and less as village to village

----

I had the great pleasure of lunch with my old friend Esthel, who first poured that phial of Camino virus in my ear, and was a Compañera on that first 1993 one -- we even found a place with somewhat menu del peregrino prices

 

[JabbaPapa]

Happy Easter. Hope you are in a place where you can participate in the community celebration.

Thank you -- missed the Vigil Mass at the Cathedral in Montpellier with the Bishop and five adult Baptisms, but Mass on my way out in the morning was given by a former seminary colleague of our own former parish priest and current Vicar General.

My Easter this year was a small death and resurrection, between falling then rising from sunstroke -- I hope yours was more easy and pleasant !!

 

[JabbaPapa]

Day 43 --

I've lost enough weight to start needing some extra glucose input from carbs, else get hit by low sugar attacks -- so while this lasts, so at least for this Camino, I can get back to enjoying such simple joys as bread & tomatoes, I guess even some pasta stuff, as I'm clearly burning far more glucose than my diet provides, out here in the sticks at least, and I seem to have lost enough body fat that burning it up is starting to give diminishing returns

So yeah, the weight loss continues apace (pun intended) -- heck, I'm even starting to have wiggle room in the sleeping bag if I zip it up to the top !!

------

Think I'm having not so much a rest day as a recovery one -- I'm sitting anyway with our old friend vino tinto in the elegant village of Sigean, where the "wine bar" won't let you order wine alone, but the grungey bar across the road will

The architecture here anyway in the older parts of the village is anyway amazing, handsome old Roman style Insulae apartment blocs of bright tightly carved yellow-white stone, 15th or 16th century in technique, but 2000 years old in fundamental design

---

Today is a milestone, I've been longer on the Camino since the injury than I was before it

I probably will need that cursed interruption in June to deal with administrative necessaries, though given my pace and these extreme distances, that would likely have been so even without the injury

I'm looking forward to Perpignan, that I've had a liking for since our stop there when my father took us fleeing from Spain in '73

Getting through the Pyrenees will be a very different kettle of fish ...