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Planning
We read many books on this camino and browsed even more
websites. We also looked at the monthly weather statistics
for the major towns along the route. From this info we
developed our walking plan for 34 days and choose the
month of June for our trip. However, we completed the
800 kilometers hike in just 28 days.
Our Kits
The three most important things on any hike are: shoes,
socks and backpack.
Both Jan and Willem wore ankle-high, outdoor Ecco/Goretex
shoes ($200), lamb-woollen socks and a 50 liter backpack,
with extra side panels for water or smaller items. The
total weight of the backpack was just under 10 kilos (20
lbs).
We had lite-weight sleeping bags (only 600 grams), which
rolled up into a "sausage" of 6" in diameter
and 10" long. But the best were our micro-fiber clothes.
A small towel, which can soak-up 6 litres (1.5 galls)
of water. Trousers (long and short), shirts, under-shirts
and pants. Excellent. They "breathe" and when
you wash them they will be dry in a few hours. We had
only two of everything, but that was enough for our trip.
For the rest we had a wind-braker, a woolen fleece for
cold evenings, extra T-shirts, light sandals, a poncho,
a toiletries & medical bag, silverware, a mug, waterbottles,
a camera and a logbook.
Training
Andrea & Jan had been active in walking (Jan especially)
and cycling for many years and were well trained for this
800 km camino.
Except for leisurely walking and cycling around our country
club, Tina & Willem however, had never done any serious
walking or cycling, when we started thinking about this
trip. After we had made our plans, we started training.
Tina cycled the Florida country roads regularly, while
Willem walked twice a week (with the new Ecco shoes and
backpack) increasing the time from 1 hour per walk to
6 hours over 4 months. Every two hours Willem would rest
for 15 minutes.
Because of this training I (Willem) had no problems doing
this 800 km hike. One aspect, which I under-estimated
was descending from hills. I would do it far too fast,
not "rolling" my feet. Because of this speed
going down and the impact on my knees, I developed a slight
swelling on my right knee (quite painful initially), which
lasted for a week and slowed me down during my walks.
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