DREAM ON...BEGIN IT

I read about Karl Bushby in a Collection of Stories in a Lonely Planet Book " Flightless: Incredible Journeys without leaving the ground"

We all have our dreams and this is quite an incredible one ( some might consider a nightmare)

He is walking from the southern most tip of the Americas overland back to his home in England.

He is currently trying to cross Russia and has realised a large part of his dream.

It is hard to understand why anyone would want to do this but it seems to me that it is an adventure that really at the heart of the human spirit. Foolhardy or fearless it is as much his dream as anyones dream to challenge not just what is outside but what is inside.

And then again, that is my construct.... everyone has their own perception of what is real.

Happy Trails Karl as you follow your dream

Have a look at this website

Copied from http://goliath.mail2web.com/

"25 countries, 1 frozen sea, 6 deserts, 7 mountain ranges...a total of 36,000 miles of unbroken footsteps

Goliath’ is the first expedition ever to attempt to forge a path of unbroken footsteps from the southern tip of South America back to England without using any form of transport. Karl Bushby, whose idea and dream became this expedition, will take no fewer than 12 years and 36,000 miles to traverse some of the most remote and challenging places on earth.
Alone and unsupported, Karl began his journey on November 1st, 1998 in the Chilean town of Punta Arenas. Karl walked northwards through South America, Central and North American, before crossing from Alaska into Siberia, using the semi-frozen Arctic waters of the Bering Strait. The journey will continue westwards through Siberia, down to Russia’s southern border, across Asia and Europe. The finish will be (pending authorisation) through the Channel Tunnel and into the United Kingdom.

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The Gaps
The Goliath Expedition has encountered every environment and condition the planet has to offer, but there are three main "gaps" in the route that require special attention and planning.
Gap 1, The Darien Gap
A large undeveloped swampland and pristine jungle environment, the Darien Gap forms the border between Columbia and Panama.
Gap 2, The Bering Strait
Understandably, the Bering Strait could be considered the crux of the Expedition. At roughly the halfway point for Karl, the Bering Strait presented a very significant and life threatening challenge. In order to accomplish the ultimate goal of the Expedition, Karl would have to achieve something no other modern explorer had ever done before: ,,,,,,, going to have to cross a semi-frozen sea of churning ice and water,
Gap 3, The English Channel
Twenty-one miles separate Great Britain from the rest of Europe. The final Gap for the Goliath Expedition is the English Channel. Three interlinked tunnels run under the Channel, two for traffic and a third service tunnel. Though not legally available as a public thoroughfare, it is hoped that, with Karl Bushby then only 21 miles from home, that the authorities will allow him to walk through. . "

NEW BOOTS

These boots are made for walking....
What a torturous decision to buy new boots!!!!!..
Walking on the Everest track some years ago I had to be dragged out of my Dunlop volleys for boots. " Travel fast, travel light" and all that
And then on the Overland Track in Tasmania when new boots meant when you disappeared into the bog and button grass at least you came up with your boots. Would that I had my updated Dunlops to scurry down the miles.

So I have my new Camino boots on now...dreaming of my Teva runners...but with a pack even on track walks I will need ankle support..

The mind plays tricks.. too big? too tight? slipping? toe room? even with the injinjii inners and thick socks....well I'm wearing them around the house and thinking Camino and reading blog updates on current Camino blogs on blisters and feet..

so if you are out there now ...walking anywhere

happy trails

Brisbane Floods

It's the most rain we have had in May un nearly 20 years.

GREAT WEATHER FOR DUCKS

From drought and dams down to 18% full to nearly 70% full.

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I'VE BEEN TO PARADISE AND I'VE ALSO BEEN TO MEE

After all the research ,blogs , web sites,Carmino travel journey novels , guide books , Spanish speaking courses, outdoor shops for gear, ..... it has taken time to get down seriously to the real task ...walking.

We are good walkers and have covered many tracks and trails over many years but nothing as big as the Camino.

Two years ago we walked the Cumbria Way through the Lake District..absolutely beautiful...

However the count down has been on since Christmas for a late September Camino Frances. We have done quite a few day walks and are building up.

Blue Mountain walks in Easter......

Then after some local walks , a short walk recently up Mt. Cordeaux on the Great Dividing Range to build up a bit of stamina

Then,last week we headed out for a late afternoon walk to a Forestry Park North West of Brisbane. The park is at Mt Mee ( the source of the bad song title imitation in the post title!!!) The walk was only 14 km through a variety of semi open eucalyptus forest, pine plantation and semi rain forest.

We have done this walk a few times but always forget it has a variety of gullies to walk on a good track. The late mid afternoon start made us move faster to finish before nightfall and the inevitable torch walk. The Brisbane Bushwalkers Club does often use this walk for a night walk, however, not our plan for this walk.

Brisbane has had much rain in the last 6 months and the area was very green. The Somerset Lookout half way around looks over the main catchment dams for south east Queensland. Six months ago we were down to 18% full with major water restrictions, delsalination plant construction, major pipelines built to beat the drought in the fastest growing area in Australia.

The dams are now close to 60% full and we just had time ro be amazed by the sight down into the valleys below. Sorry no photos

We finished in good time.mmmm we thought that's half a Camino day walk.....

Think I will put a Camino count down in this blog......
Definitely need to stringing some day walks together


Oh and the " Paradise"?..... well yeah have been to many places that could have that title...just need to keep moving

CAMINO THOUGHTS

The Camino

When we started, we did not know - exactly - why we were doing it

We had lives which were - more or less - satisfactory

We had friends known much of our lives

We had children - changed from chrysalis to butterflies

We had things:

things like machines

things like music

things like pictures

things like shelves full of books

things like money and pensions and security

We did not have one thing - and maybe that was why we started

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When we started, we put one foot in front of the other

We still did not know - precisely - why we were doing it

The miles passed - many of them pleasantly

Our feet blistered and were slow to heal

Our ankles turned on loose stones

The rain beat its way through our clothes

The cold chilled the marrow of our bonesSome nights, refuge was hard to find

Some days, miles of hot dust had no fountains

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When the first few of many long days had passed

We found - without words - that we no longer walked together

That together we spoke in our own tongues -

and often of things we had left behind where we began

That together we shut out new experience with the wall of our togetherness

That alone we spoke in other tongues and of our common experience

That alone we were open - open with interest and curiosity.

Often we met - with gladness - at the end of the day

To know our paths went on together was enough

***********

When we got to the cathedral we sat down

We saw - through the eyes of those long before us

The blinding faith, the crucial thirst for salvation

The tower slowly closing off the sky

And we counted our blessings - several hundred of them

Starting with the kindness of ordinary people on the way

And with the warmth of other travellers on the road

Travellers not at all like us - not in age, not in origin, not in interests

But warm across all these distancings

And ending with the friendship and love

We had left behind where we began.

***************

When we got to the sea at the end of the world

We sat down on the beach at sunset

We knew why we had done it

To know our lives less important than just one grain of sand

To know that we did not need the things we had left behind us

To know the we would nevertheless return to them

To know that we needed to be where we belonged

To know that kindness and friendship and love is all one needs

To know that we did not - after all - have to make this long journey to find this out

To know that - for us - it certainly helped

written near Sanguesa, Navarra, September 2003 (

Taken from http://www.santiago-compestela.com/

CAMINO de SANTIAGO de COMPOSTELA

Verses by Eugenio Garibay painted on a wall on the outskirts of Najera on the Camino Frances, the pilgrim way across Northern Spain ( translation by Ian Bradley)

SANTIAGO 105

Dust,mud, sun and rain

Is the Camino de Santiago.

Thousands of pilgrims

And more than a thousand years

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Pilgrim, who calls you?

What hidden force attracts you?

Not the field of the stars;

Nor the grand cathedrals.

*****************

It is not the courage of Navarra

Nor the wine of the Riochas

Nor the seafood of Galicia

Nor the plains of Castile.

**********************

Pilgrim who calls you?

What hidden force attracts you?

It is not the people of the Camino

Nor the rural customs.

***************

It is not the history and culture,

It is not the cock of La Calzoda

Nor the palace of Gaudi

Nor the Ponferrada Castle

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I see them all as I pass

And it is a delight to see everything

But the voice that calls to me

I feel much more deeply

******************

The force which pushes me,

The force which attracts me,

I cannot explain it.

Only He who is above knows it.

TO THE PILGRIM

TO THE PILGRIM

Set out!

You were born for the road.

Set out!

You have a meeting to keep.

Where?With whom?

Perhaps with yourself.

***********

Set out!

Your steps will be your words.

The road your song.

The weariness your prayers

And at the end

Your silence will speak to you.

***********

Set out!

Alone or with others.

But get out of yourself.

You have created rivals

You will find companions

You envisaged enemies-

You will find brothers and sisters

*************

Set out!

You were born for the road.

The pilgrim's road.

Someone is coming to meet you

Is seeking you

In the shrine at the end of the road

In the shrine in the depths of your heart.

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He is your peace

He is your joy!

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Go!

God already works with you

****

Anonymous

Dedicated to the pilgrims on the Camino de Santiago de Compostela