Haz shoes, will use

I wouldn't blame you if you'd told me our first official major training expedition was going to be rained out. But two people, bleary-eyed, had rolled out of bed at 8.30 on a weekend morning, and neither of us were about to back out.

The first couple of kilometers we walked with our hoodies and beanies on and our heads down. And then the winter sun came out and it became the perfect formal debut walking session.

Fort Nepean was formerly a strategic military location at one end of the mouth of Port Phillip Bay - now it's a gorgeous, windy, beachy, mostly flat place to explore, and safe I think as long as you stick to the paths.

We clocked up more than 11kms, strolling, meandering, thundering and even running. Our footsies got sore but our legs were long and strong. We had coffee in a thermos. We had an apple each. Oh, we had Smarty chocolate!

After so long with some pretty dull but necessary priorities, I can't tell you how fulfilling it is to spend a whole relaxed day making our bodies strong, taking photographs, and reacquainting ourselves with some of Melbourne's beauty.

Here's happy Jason:

Tired legs

We just did our longest walk in a while, and we can certainly feel it in our legs. Over the night it would have been around 15kms (walked to the moves & back).

I think it's starting to dawn on us how much training we need to do. Soon we'll have to be walking roughly double that... carrying 10~15kgs.

We've got a list of backpack shops we'll be visiting tomorrow, and we're heading to Point Nepean on Sunday with a friend for a long walk.

We're getting excited now. The preparations have officially started.

Backpack Shopping!

One of the most important things we'll need is a really good backpack. We'll be carrying everything we need on our backs for 800kms, so our choice could make or break our trip. Both of us are similar heights (6' and over) with a reasonable degree of strength, so we'll have very similar requirements and will probably both get exactly the same type of pack.

On our extensive research of *cough* one morning's shopping, our favourite so far is the hybrid Macpac Utopia (circa AU$500). Of all the packs we tried, it seemed the most comfortable & sturdy, with numerous compartments and attachment points for hanging stuff from.

We had a look at the Kathmandu range (here and here), but did not seem as impressed with the level of adjustability or overall quality of the packs. They do seem to be aiming at a slightly lower price range, and much shorter hikes, so it's not really comparing apples with apples.

In the quick look that we had, Mountain Designs seemed to have a similar range to Kathmandu.

So... we've looked at 3 or 4 shops from a selection of dozens (hundreds?). We've got a lot more research to do before making a selection.

I'd be interested to hear what other people think of Macpack/Kathmandu/Mountain Design's ranges. Does anyone know of any packpack shops that we absolutely must visit before making a final decision?

Camino De Santiago

Buen Camino!

In several months, Hannah & I will be walking the Camino De Santiago. I'll be posting more info about this in the coming months, but as a summary we'll be walking about 800kms across the north of Spain. This will be completely on foot, and is supposed to take around 5 weeks of walking between 25~30kms per day.

We also have a few friends that will be joining us for parts of the journey, so it'll be a wonderful experience spending time with them on such an adventure.

There's a few things we need to do beforehand:

• Get fit. This is a biggie, as I'm not exactly in tip-top condition. Hiking & walking while carrying heavy loads will probably constitute a large part of the training, but we're also going to retire the car as much as possible and build walking into our daily lifestyle.
  
• Research and purchase the most suitable gear to take. This would include backpacks, footwear (shoes/sandals), clothes for all conditions, walking poles, etc. We'll have to carry our gear the entire distance, so weight is very much an issue.
  
• Get tourist visas, and whatever other bureaucratic red tape we need. I've NFI what is involved.
  
• Learn at least some Spanish. I currently no hablo Español.
• Read everything I can about the topic and anything remotely associated with it.
• Research the best way of keeping my Nikon D80 charged up, and archiving photos to safe storage. (I've learned the hard way... don't assume people won't steal your stuff.)
• Learn how to sketch. I want to take time in between walking and siestas to sketch things along the route.

It seems like a pretty short list, right? What could posibly go wrong? X-D (Actually it'd be pointless if nothing went wrong. The whole point is to test ourselves.)

This blog will primarily be about our preparations for the Camino, and once we're there we'll be posting updates from the road.

Buen Camino!