We all have different boundaries about where we are safe and comfortable. I'm walking the Via de la Plata just now. I've spent a few nights sleeping outdoors in sub-zero temperatures and waking to find frost on my sleeping bag. I am now in an area famous for its wolf packs. That doesn't worry me but only because my earlier life has taken me into odd places. I'm more than ready to congratulate someone who steps a little beyond their comfort zone into the unfamiliar.
Me too. I’m not afraid of much. I’ve survived some incredible things. And there are a lot of people who cannot believe that I do things like drive a motorbike, maintain a shack in the woods that doesn’t always have running water when I am there and requires a quarter mile snow-shoe in during winter… with the cat on a toboggan… that I go on long treks alone… that I’m not afraid in bear encounters on hiking trails…
But I don’t recommend these atttiudes or activities to anyone else.
I like MCCarthy (read his earlier Camino travelogu, grew up with his movies), and part of me applauded his essay, but part of me thought, “Read the room, buddy. Your readership does not have millions in the bank from a decade of blockbusters. At least acknowledge that your insouciance comes from your circumstances.”
Had he been writing about flying UEA to Dubai for a week-end of shopping and golf, my expectations would have been different.
Now... With all that out of the way: a practical question because I’m super impressed by your current walking conditions.
By the second week of April, starting out of Bilbao— if I can find my way there as planned, what would you recommend I have in case I need to sleep outside on the Norte??? I have a down quilt and a silk liner sac, and I can probably fill my bottles with hot water for radiant heat inside the sack, sleep in my layers, including down puffer…. But maybe I am underestimating what I need.
