D-Day and I am still in the office designing new and boring stuff. Why ???

Oh wait, need to pay for trips like this.

Update : My friend Tom from Boulder is also joining me on this crazy walk, he was unsure but finally is committed.
We fly out tomorrow to Porto, Portugal. The dog sitter(my friend Hannah's brother) has not been eaten by dog yet so bodes well for the future. Coban actually likes him, amazing how a killer dog has morphed over a year into a nice reliable guardian.

Anyway, the plan is to land in Porto, scramble and get to the train station and hop over to Coimbra where we catch the Sud-Expresso (not the 2 shot kind ) - an overnight train to Irun on the French/Spanish border where we'll start our walk.


What better way to get over jetlag than sitting bolt upright in a 2nd class train compartment and drinking aguardiente !!!

Once we are in Irun, the plan is to start the trek to Bilbao (first stage) using this route that follows the Cantabrian Pyrenees and hugging the coastline

Slight change in route

So, even though in the past I've been from Roncesvalles (in the Pyrenees) to Burgos in northern Spain and therefore wanted to take up from where I left off 10 years ago plans change ........

This time around I plan to start from Irun in the Basque country and still in the Pyrenees mountains at the southwest corner where Spain and France meet and follow the cliffs and coastal ways all the way to Santiago De Compostela.

This is supposed to be a much more rugged, scenic route and especially deserted during winter times. Lots of fodder for thinking and contemplation of my sins methinks ;)

see new route in picture. Just for the record - this was supposedly the route taken by the returning crusaders from Palestine waaaaaay back when. It enabled them to avoid the Moors who held power in the central regions of Spain

Its packing time

Finally weighing out stuff and discarding most everything I gathered for the trip - down to the basics now:

- 1 pair of shirt/convertible pant
- one thermal under
- 3 pairs of underwear
- outer waterproof shell (couldn't believe it I went to REI and they told me I bought it 19 years ago, I am still the same size !!!!)
- fleece microlight inner
- ziplock of toiletries
- ziplock of first aid + sewing kit)
- LED headband flashlight
- wool cap (knitted with sheared wool from a friends goat farm in Colorado)
- sleeping bag
- laundry detergent
- knife (huge ass Rambo style serrated edge one - just kidding, its a swiss army knife)
- water bottle with H20

total weight including pack - 18 lb

Tried a 5 mi hike with Coban this morning and it felt great

Its REAL , pinch me !!!

Can't believe its really happening. 10 years after my last walk I am going to finish what I started - complete the road to Santiago de Compostela on foot.

A 500 km walk from Burgos in northern Spain to Santiago on the Atlantic coast of Spain

Always promised myself I'd do two things before I turned 40 - run a marathon and walk the Camino - did the Detroit marathon, now here comes Spain.