Keeping in shape for the next Camino - whenever.

[Peregrinopaul]

I’m 75, and the prospect of having to wait another year before my next Camino means I have to take my fitness seriously, or things might start to go rapidly downhill.


As you can see, I’m a bicigrino, so a training ride several times a week is a must.


@ Davebug posted a picture today of his training area on the “View from your bedroom window” thread. I thought, “Blimey, a bit different from mine”.


I live on the NW coast of Australia, and my problem is that the terrain is dead flat and featureless, except for a long sand ridge a few kilometres out of town, which rises to the dizzy height of 33 meters. Conveniently for me there’s a 1.2km now-crumbling bitumen road which goes to the top, and I have been known to do multiple consecutive ascents: (24 on one mad occasion, when I was worried about ever having the stamina to make it to Orisson: I did).
The road is there because in the 1960’s NASA arrived here and built a big tracking station facility on top of the ridge - one of the three major ones across the globe. There used to be a big control centre, several big dishes, range-rate antennas, boresite towers, and even a power station. All that remains now are the concrete pads, and occasional buried stuff that reappears out of the red dust after half a century. The place is now closed off, but the puny fence around the site is non-existent in places so I can easily gain access, - but don’t tell anybody. It makes me sad every time I go up there: I think it should be a world heritage site. Our tracking station was crucial to putting Armstrong on the moon.

So, even in our present circumstances, I won’t need to worry about social-distancing on what I call NASA Hill. I never see a soul. And hopefully I can keep my knees functioning, until next year. I’ll post a couple of pictures. I’m proud of our contribution to world history.

 

[Peregrinopaul]

Carnarvon Tracking Station in the early 1960's

 

[Peregrinopaul]

The main gate off Highway 1

 

[Peregrinopaul]

The control room site today

 

[C clearly]

rises to the dizzy height of 33 meters

24 times would be serious exercise! My neighbourhood is quite flat although I live in a region full of hills and mountains. One of my regular walking routes involves a set of about 200 stairs down to the beach. I calculate that would be about 40 m, and I can't imagine doing it 10 times, let alone 24!

 

[Peregrinopaul]

Thanks for yo

24 times would be serious exercise! My neighbourhood is quite flat although I live in a region full of hills and mountains. One of my regular walking routes involves a set of about 200 stairs down to the beach. I calculate that would be about 40 m, and I can't imagine doing it 10 times, let alone 24!

Thanks for your response CC. It was a serious business at the time, because I had committed myself to the Route Napoleon with my son, who had taken 10 days off work to accompany me. 800m on the first day seemed like lunacy. As it was, when we pedallled out of St Jean I thought - you can do this, you’ve done it before. And indeed we had a wonderful 10 days together as far as Burgos, after which I continued on my own.
Mountains are a real challenge when you have a loaded bike. But it has to be said, there IS a reward on the downhill!

 

[Peregrinopaul]

The 24 ascents took me from 8am until 1pm. I even brought my lunch!

 

[yesshesaid]

I’m 75, and the prospect of having to wait another year before my next Camino means I have to take my fitness seriously, or things might start to go rapidly downhill.


As you can see, I’m a bicigrino, so a training ride several times a week is a must.


@ Davebug posted a picture today of his training area on the “View from your bedroom window” thread. I thought, “Blimey, a bit different from mine”.


I live on the NW coast of Australia, and my problem is that the terrain is dead flat and featureless, except for a long sand ridge a few kilometres out of town, which rises to the dizzy height of 33 meters. Conveniently for me there’s a 1.2km now-crumbling bitumen road which goes to the top, and I have been known to do multiple consecutive ascents: (24 on one mad occasion, when I was worried about ever having the stamina to make it to Orisson: I did).
The road is there because in the 1960’s NASA arrived here and built a big tracking station facility on top of the ridge - one of the three major ones across the globe. There used to be a big control centre, several big dishes, range-rate antennas, boresite towers, and even a power station. All that remains now are the concrete pads, and occasional buried stuff that reappears out of the red dust after half a century. The place is now closed off, but the puny fence around the site is non-existent in places so I can easily gain access, - but don’t tell anybody. It makes me sad every time I go up there: I think it should be a world heritage site. Our tracking station was crucial to putting Armstrong on the moon.

So, even in our present circumstances, I won’t need to worry about social-distancing on what I call NASA Hill. I never see a soul. And hopefully I can keep my knees functioning, until next year. I’ll post a couple of pictures. I’m proud of our contribution to world history.

Thanks, Paul
A bit of history that I never knew (lots of those) and certainly a way to stitch up the world, no matter how far apart we live! My connections to the rest of the world generally come from the huge ships passing in the Delaware River channel visible from the street in front of my house--flags from everywhere, heading up to the Port of Philadelphia. Be well and ditto on the knees!

 

[Chris Gi]

I’m 75, and the prospect of having to wait another year before my next Camino means I have to take my fitness seriously, or things might start to go rapidly downhill.


As you can see, I’m a bicigrino, so a training ride several times a week is a must.


@ Davebug posted a picture today of his training area on the “View from your bedroom window” thread. I thought, “Blimey, a bit different from mine”.


I live on the NW coast of Australia, and my problem is that the terrain is dead flat and featureless, except for a long sand ridge a few kilometres out of town, which rises to the dizzy height of 33 meters. Conveniently for me there’s a 1.2km now-crumbling bitumen road which goes to the top, and I have been known to do multiple consecutive ascents: (24 on one mad occasion, when I was worried about ever having the stamina to make it to Orisson: I did).
The road is there because in the 1960’s NASA arrived here and built a big tracking station facility on top of the ridge - one of the three major ones across the globe. There used to be a big control centre, several big dishes, range-rate antennas, boresite towers, and even a power station. All that remains now are the concrete pads, and occasional buried stuff that reappears out of the red dust after half a century. The place is now closed off, but the puny fence around the site is non-existent in places so I can easily gain access, - but don’t tell anybody. It makes me sad every time I go up there: I think it should be a world heritage site. Our tracking station was crucial to putting Armstrong on the moon.

So, even in our present circumstances, I won’t need to worry about social-distancing on what I call NASA Hill. I never see a soul. And hopefully I can keep my knees functioning, until next year. I’ll post a couple of pictures. I’m proud of our contribution to world history.

I share your frustration. I am 80 and I don’t know how many more Caminos I have left so as this year is out then I have to keep working on next year. However, my philosophy is “A body in motion stays in motion”. So, I have to get out and hit them there hills. I am lucky to have hills and canyons outside my back gate with very few people.

 

[John Crawford Howell]

I share your frustration. I am 80 and I don’t know how many more Caminos I have left so as this year is out then I have to keep working on next year. However, my philosophy is “A body in motion stays in motion”. So, I have to get out and hit them there hills. I am lucky to have hills and canyons outside my back gate with very few people.

Hi Chris. I'm up the Pacific Coast from you and fortunate, also, to have hills I can walk that are practically outside my front door. Longer hikes in the Cascades once the snow has receded from the trails. I did the CF in 2017 at age 75, and plan to celebrate # 80 on the CF in 2022. On the CF, a fellow Marine I hiked with on and off in 2017 was 86, so there's inspiration for us geezers

 

[Peregrinopaul]

A bit of history that I never knew (lots of those) and certainly a way to stitch up the world, no matter how far apart we live!…

ONE
of the reasons NASA selected Carnarvon, apart from the obvious longitude/latitude consideration, was our pristine sky. We are a very isolated outback town, the nearest place being Northampton, about 430km south. It must have been quite a shock for the American trackers, as they were called.
This picture was take by my son, using the silhouette of the lone tree visible in my photo of the control room site. He was using what he called a “fast” lens, and the result was remarkable. Orion and the Pleiades are clearly visible, and that’s the moon rising on the horizon.

 

[Former member 62607]

I’m 75, and the prospect of having to wait another year before my next Camino means I have to take my fitness seriously, or things might start to go rapidly downhill.


As you can see, I’m a bicigrino, so a training ride several times a week is a must.


@ Davebug posted a picture today of his training area on the “View from your bedroom window” thread. I thought, “Blimey, a bit different from mine”.


I live on the NW coast of Australia, and my problem is that the terrain is dead flat and featureless, except for a long sand ridge a few kilometres out of town, which rises to the dizzy height of 33 meters. Conveniently for me there’s a 1.2km now-crumbling bitumen road which goes to the top, and I have been known to do multiple consecutive ascents: (24 on one mad occasion, when I was worried about ever having the stamina to make it to Orisson: I did).
The road is there because in the 1960’s NASA arrived here and built a big tracking station facility on top of the ridge - one of the three major ones across the globe. There used to be a big control centre, several big dishes, range-rate antennas, boresite towers, and even a power station. All that remains now are the concrete pads, and occasional buried stuff that reappears out of the red dust after half a century. The place is now closed off, but the puny fence around the site is non-existent in places so I can easily gain access, - but don’t tell anybody. It makes me sad every time I go up there: I think it should be a world heritage site. Our tracking station was crucial to putting Armstrong on the moon.

So, even in our present circumstances, I won’t need to worry about social-distancing on what I call NASA Hill. I never see a soul. And hopefully I can keep my knees functioning, until next year. I’ll post a couple of pictures. I’m proud of our contribution to world history.

Thanks for that interesting bit of info, i agree, it needs to be a special site of interest as part of the moon landings history. Why dont you email the BBC and suggest Brian Cox takes a trip there when these travel restrictions are all over.
Thats a beautiful shot of the night sky.
As for staying fit, I am walking my usual 4 miles a day in the rolling welsh hills plus trying to do other extra stuff now the gyms are closed - the only way i can keep weight off, or lose it, is walking 12-15 miles a day on camino it seems ! so now i am not going in May i have to avoid the slow but sure gaining of kgs if i can. At least the weather is improving so that helps being outdoors more, plus plenty of work to do on the land and in the garden.

 

[Albertagirl]

Yesterday was my first outdoors walk after returning from Mexico nearly a month ago. The streets in my neighbourhood in Calgary have been too icy to walk since my return. I live in an ideal area for walking, except for the other people. Everybody in Calgary was out on the river path yesterday, relaxing after the usual winter indoors isolation of all but the skiers/snowboarders. I went to Mexico to be able to walk, and to keep in shape for my next camino (whenever that might be). I was glad to be safely home, but I don't know what to do now. I had to cut short my walk yesterday to avoid the crowds. And there are so many people off work that the street seems just as busy on a weekday as it was on a sunny Sunday. I wish I had a large, fierce dog that I could train to growl when anyone came withing two metres of me (just joking). There have been many public complaints about the failure of social distancing among yesterdays hordes. I hope that authorities will not need to close the outdoors to walkers.

 

[Deleted member 56069]

I walk my 7 kilometer route about 5 times a week. I also do light weights and core exercises 3 to 4 times a week. Once our snow goes in northern Alberta, I will get by bicycle out as well.
I don't stay fit just for Camino's, but for quality of life.
When people ask me how much training they should do for a Camino walk I advise to do something every day for the rest of your life.

 

[Tincatinker]

I don't stay fit just for Camino's, but for quality of life.

Bang on @zrexer! I walk every day: 5 - 10 mile (Little Dog still copes), I dig the garden, weed & plant seed (all those squats and lunges keep the buttocks nice & tight I'm told ). Keeping going is what it is all about. And, for me, Camino isn't an event it is a life-style.

 

[Peregrinopaul]

I’ve been getting increasingly lax about keeping “in training” for an ever-more-distant camino, but I’ve started my bike rides to the NASA station again, inspired by watching the TV series called “For All Mankind” on AppleTV.
I took a few extra photos this morning that might be of interest to some of you.
Here's the entance as it is now, off the NW Coastal Highway.
Compare with the photo above from 1966
When I ride up the first part of the hill...
there is a sand pit, of recent origin, used by the shire council, and if you look around in the walls, you can see NASA stuff, (junk), that was buried in pits, but now uncovered, after all the big equipment was dismantled and shipped back the States. (I staged these photos using the timer on my iPhone - I have time on my hands).

On top of the hill, near the site of the Telemetry and Control building, are the foundations of the S Band 9m Antenna, that communicated with the astronauts on the way to the moon.

Here it is, back in the glory days.
You can also see it to the left of the picture above.
And here's the sad, graffitied concrete legacy of the T & C building

This graphic shows almost the entire site which occupied about a square mile.

And at night it is still a fantastic place to gaze into space. Here's a photo taken by my son from the Control Building site.