Blog-less on Day 5

For those who have been waiting for blogs on this Camino, sorry to disappoint you so far. I probably have some things to say, but I do not have the energy to say them. Last time it was Lorraine who was walking in pain, and I thought I was immune. On day two I found out that was not so. Developed severe pains in my left shin that made it difficult to do down Hills. There are "significant" down hill sections at the end of day 1 (into Ronscevalles), day 2 (into Zubiri) and day 4 (into Uterga).  By significatant I mean steep, rough, rolling rocks the size of your fist.  The pain was so severe that even the less significant hills were hard.

Thankfully today, day 5, the pain seems to have disappeared and at the end of the walk this afternoon we both had energy left

So the best thing to do if you want to follow a bit more closely is to head over to
https://www.facebook.com/Thoughts.From.Thurland/ and look through the pics and some attempts at poetry.

Countdown

As we "camino'd" (journeyed) in 2014 we saw many mileposts telling us how much further it was to Santiago.  They were somewhat helpful at the beginning, but there was one stretch of Camino right after Najera where some organization thought it would be helpful to put a brightly colored, 5 ft tall "milestone monument" every kilometer.  The first one was nice, the second surprised us, but by the third, fourth, fifth etc, they were becoming downright intrusive.  It was hot, the sun was bright, the bags were heavy, the hill was steep, the shade was non-existent - and quite frankly noone wanted to be reminded of distances travelled or remaining.

All that to say this:. I'll try not to be that guy every day for the next week, BUT one week from tomorrow we fly to Paris, train to Bayonne and then Camino to Santiago.

One week.  Seven days.  Arrangements are made with our friend Diane to take us to the train (thank you Diane) and we'll be Pilgrims once again!

The main point of this post today is to tell you how you can follow us this year. 

- Face Book posts (including all the daily pics, unedited videos, etc) will be on "Thurland Brown - Walk With Me" page. 

- Blogs (such as this one) and more pensive reflections will be found at
oursecondcamino.blogspot.ca

Second Camino - Projected Schedule

In less than two weeks Lorraine and I will be on our second Camino.  Technically, it is the continuation of the first one (2014) since at that time we ade the observation that "Life is a Camino".  in that sense, as long as you are alive, you are on Camino.  But for ease of referencing, we will call this "Our Second Camino" or Camino 2017.

 For those of you who like details, the schedule looks like this:

• Wednesday, Sept. 6 
• Fly (overnight) from Montreal to Paris

• Thursday, Sept. 7
• Train (or plane) from Paris to Bayonne, France
• Since we're pilgrims, we don't need to decide that until we arrive at Charles de Gaulle
• Overnight at Hotel Cote Basque, Bayonne (which advertises itself as being 379 paces from the train station

• Friday, Sept. 8 
• Enjoy a short (approx. 1 hour) train or bus ride from Bayonne to Saint Jean Pied De Port, which is the village at the foot of the Pyrenees where the Route Frances begins.
• Visit the Pilgrim Office for our Pilgrim Passports
• Find our hotel for the night (Auberge de Pelerin)
• Enjoy the sights and sounds of the SJPDP
• Early to bed

•  Saturday, Sept. 9
• Early rise and breakfast
• Start walking at 6:30 AM
• 28 km over the Pyrenees to Roncesvalles, Spain
• This time we booked a bed, since rumour has it that the number of beds in this small village has been drastically reduced since 2014

• Sunday, Sept 10 - Sometime in October
• Walk
• Walk
• Walk
• etc. - until we arrive in Santiago de Compostela, nearly 800 km from SJPDP

• Sometime in October to sometime in November
• Undetermined activity, but most likely includes:
• walking from Santiago to Muxia, and then Finisterre and back to Santiago
• A bus tour to Porto, Portugal

• November 13, 14 - Make our way back to Charles de Gaulle

• November 15  - Fly from Charles de Gaulle to Montreal

• November 16 - Home to Winchester