What does one call the preparations before the preparations? That is what I am currently busy with, the thing before the real thing.
Equipment for the great pilgrimage:
1. Literature
* General:
Edwin Mullin's The Pilgrimage to Santiago, Tim Moore's Travels with my Donkey
* Travel specific:
Davies and Cole's Walking the Camino de Santiago, The Teach Yourself Spanish language book and cd
2. Information
* Visa: It's going to cost us £101 each to get a Schengen visa, since we are unfortunate enough not to be living close to London in order to cue at the embassy
3. Lack of clarity
* Starting point: Do we fly to France and start at St-Jean-Pied-de-Port, cycling over the epic Pyrenees in order to meditate on endurance and suffering, or do we take the ferry to Bilbao and start in Pamplona or elsewhere in Spain?
* Accommodation: Do we bargain on finding places to stay in the albergues(since we will be doing it "decaf" by cycling rather than walking, we might not be able to find spaces in these hostels, they prefers walkers...) or do we camp the entire way and give in to occasional temptations of comfortable B&Bs?
4. Worries
Who is going to look after my cats!?!
I can just about imagine a Celt fretting over the same things a few thousand years ago. Although one friendly Scot told us the pilgrimage in those days could be likened to today's package tours.
But this is the joy of the journey, the anticipation being as much part of the process as the going itself. Adios!
PS: Please follow the link for a good laugh about a pub and a fart here
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2 comments:
Was it made clear this is going to be a "decaf" pilgrimage, because we're going to cycle it?
So point 5 should be "replacing the touring bicycle I lovingly built from 2nd hand parts, that was stolen 2 weeks before we moved".
Interestingly it was stolen in Reading, and a study by the BBC/reader's digest just found that Reading was the worst place in the UK to be raising a family.
Don't worry, I will come and look after your cats. They know me and I love them. One favour: please buy the ticket ...! Love cd
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