PACK WALK DAY

We set our pack weights around the suggested 1o% of body weight and set out around the river. Well at least Betty did. I struggled under about 11kg and made soft progress, jelly legs, and it was a bad start to walking fully packed. Betty powered on and walked really well......mmm back to the drawing board and fitness trail

BINNA BURRA

Rainforest and ridges rambles in Lamington National Park

ST JAMES GATE

Traditionally, European cities had a gate through which pilgrims set out for Santiago de compostela. The gate was called ST JAMES GATE.

Notre Dame cathedral has a western door called La Porte st Jacques which leads to the la grande rue saint jacques.

AND IN DUBLIN

St. James’ Gate in Dublin was traditionally a main starting point for Irish pilgrims to begin their journey on the Camino de Santiago. Their pilgrims’ passport were stamped here before setting sail, usually for La Coruna, north of Santiago. It is still possible for Irish pilgrims to get their passports stamped here, and many do, while on their way to Santiago de Compostella.

It is the birthplace of the famous brewery Guinness which seems an appropriate place to begin a journey

MT WARNING

A TOUGH WALK UP A VOLCANIC PLUG WITH A VERY SLOW NEXT DAY AT WORK
(PHOTOS FROM WEB)

LOWER PORTALS WALK

A week end afternoon walk into a very pretty creek in the foothills of Mt Barney in South East Queensland. Just a short winter walk but it traversed a number of gullies which came off the mountain

MT MITCHELL WALK

More serious Camino walking up Mt Mitchell on The Dividing Range

Camino Documentary

Saw this on a forum ( Yahoo Group Santiagobis)

"This spring we will be filming about a half a dozen pilgrims, braiding their stories together as they make this extraordinary journey. One of our subjects will be Annie O'Neil, a comedic actress and spiritual seeker from Los Angeles, on the Camino to overcome her fears, including her unrelenting fear of death. Additionally we will be featuring a professional windsurfer, Juan Pablo Velilla, a 26 year old bilingual Colombian. He walks the Camino to mourn the untimely death of his soulmate/cousin, Francisco. Annie and Juan Pablo's stories will be interwoven with the other featured pilgrims of various nationalities, ages, religious and spiritual beliefs as well as non-believers, each with their own reason to walk this ancient mystical and arduous path. Approximately one fifth of the people who set out to do the Camino don't make it. Will all of our pilgrims make it all the way to Santiago? How will each of them cope with all the challenges? What lessons need be to learned? How does the Camino change them and way they live their life?"

Check out this site

http://www.caminodocumentary.org/

"What's your Hurry?"

"What's your hurry?....there's nothing up ahead that is anything better than it it is right here"

This is a quote from the 60's classic 'Zen and the art of motorcycle maintenance' which was a reflection on the meaning of life in a road trip metaphor.
I guess it is about ' stopping to smell the flowers' or about the modern cliche on the journey and not the destination.
The Camino is getting closer and it is beginning to take on a bit of a scary look....the distance is huge....However, We won't be in a hurry actually and we will journey by foot and if not by transport.....

I think the camino will not be about a path but about PEOPLE. It has been more interesting to follow blogs about the people walking than just learn about the WAY
That sounds a bit 'soapy' but I am looking forward to this regardless of how far we walk or pilgrimage

So we will festina lente - hasten slowly

really " what's the hurry?........."

Waterfall Walks and Stops (what's the hurry?") Barrington Tops; North of Sydney ( July 09)

\

SIMULATED CAMINO WALK

Forget about looking at a map of the camino. This site allows you to experience every step of the way using google earth

http://www.godesalco.com/maps/frances

It has markers which plot the track on the satellite map where the topographical features bring the whole area to life.This is very helpful and you would not find it harder to find the actual way on google earth.

It also indicates refuges in the towns.

There is also a great trip planner

http://www.godesalco.com/plan/frances

Choose your itinerary
For your entire journey through the Camino de Santiago, please choose a starting place (on the left-hand side of the table) and a finishing place (on the right-hand side), separated for at least one intermediate locality. You can see the cumulative distances in the middle of the table.
In the bottom you can enter your name to customize the output files.

PACK UP ALL YOUR TROUBLES............

Selecting a suitable pack for a long distance walk has been a dilemma. We have packed our present packs and found that they are not quite suited. On the Cumbria Way we had the luxury of Sherpa van to move our packs ahead each day. However there were in between transitions where we needed back packing ........... the secret seems to be in the harness and waist belt which must assume the bulk of the weight.....so here were some decisions we made for the Camino

DECISIONS!!! DECISIONS!!
AND THE RIGHT PACK
FOR THE CAMINO
BETTY'S PACK Altai Pack 40

Highly featured day walking or small overnight pack. Padded airmesh harness with adjustable sternum strap. Padded, stiffened removable hipbelt. Rear carry handle. Hydration loops on shoulder straps. Internal hydration pocket with exit ports. Side compression straps. Wand pockets. Front stretch pocket. Lid pocket with water resistant zip. Removable bungy loops on lid. Top internal compression strap. Internal pack extension gusset. Internal zip mesh pocket with keyclip.PU water resistant coating. Foam and plastic composite framing to give support and stracture. Back small to medium - not adjustable.

420D Nylon Oxford/ 420D Nylon Diamond Ripstop
840D Ballistic Nylon
JIM'S PACK/////////////// Vardo Pack v4base

Larger capacity,

dual compartment pack

for extended bushwalking

or mountaineering.

Includes Gluon™ Front Pocket v2 5L.x-Pac™VX21 with VX51 base fabric65
70L: 2180gm

SOLO SPIRIT

Jessica Watson is a sixteen year old from Queensland's Sunshine Coast. What makes her a little different from other 16 year olds is that she wants to be the youngest person to sail solo and unassisted around the world.

Sound a bit scary? And there's all that ' what can her parents be thinking letting her do do this?'
When the story is told it is about a three year old dream in planning, action and support from a young girl from a sailing family.

She has gone to every effort to prepare for this trip and has received expert help and training to meet all the risks and dangers of this journey.

I think she is a bit young for such a massive undertaking. It is an incredible feat to sail solo at any age and she her her life ahead to do this. However, that is what dreams are about and she seems to have a level of maturity to realise the dream or at the least attempt it.

http://www.youngestround.com/

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.

.
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.

---

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

***********

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

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

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

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

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

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

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.

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

He is your peace

He is your joy!

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

Go!

God already works with you

****

Anonymous

Dedicated to the pilgrims on the Camino de Santiago de Compostela

THOUGHTS FOR THE JOURNEY

I have " logged" in journals and notebooks most of my walks and travels.
I have found that I have been drawn to a random collection of verses and quotes which I have recorded.

Placed at the front of of my journals they have seemed to give meaning to the journeys. These are but a few that I particularly like

" I am a part of all that I have met

yet all experience is an arch wherethro

gleams the untravelled world,

whose margin fades

For ever and ever when I move"

Alfred Lord Tennyson

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

"To climb the great mountains is to leave the comfort of familiar places

and to challenge the very essence of oneself.

Perhaps there is no greater quest"

Peter Hillary( 20/5/96)

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

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

' Life is an adventure or it is nothing'

Helen Keller

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

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

'Not all those who wander are lost'

Tolkien

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

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

'Whatever you can do

or dream you can

begin it'

Goethe

ITHACA

Ithaca

When you set out for Ithaka

ask that your way be long,

full of adventure, full of instruction.

The Laistrygonians and the Cyclops,

angry Poseidon - do not fear them:

such as these you will never find

as long as your thought is lofty, as long as a rare

emotion touch your spirit and your body.

The Laistrygonians and the Cyclops,

angry Poseidon - you will not meet them

unless you carry them in your soul,

unless your soul raise them up before you.

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

Ask that your way be long.

At many a Summer dawn to enter

with what gratitude, what joy -

ports seen for the first time;

to stop at Phoenician trading centres,

and to buy good merchandise,

mother of pearl and coral, amber and ebony,

and sensuous perfumes of every kind,

sensuous perfumes as lavishly as you can;

to visit many Egyptian cities,

to gather stores of knowledge from the learned.

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

Have Ithaka always in your mind.

Your arrival there is what you are destined for.

But don't in the least hurry the journey.

Better it last for years,

so that when you reach the island you are old,

rich with all you have gained on the way,

not expecting Ithaka to give you wealth.

Ithaka gave you a splendid journey.

Without her you would not have set out.

She hasn't anything else to give you.

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

And if you find her poor, Ithaka hasn't deceived you.

So wise you have become, of such experience,

that already you'll have understood what these Ithakas mean.

Constantine P Cavafy

NEVER TRULY LOST

In his autobiography ,'Never Truly Lost', the Australian Twentieth Century bush adventurer and business man, Paddy Pallin commented on the random decisons which led him from England to Australia and altered the course of his life.

He quoted the Australian classic Such is Life by Tom Collins and I quote it here because it does say much about life decisions.

The misty expanse of futurity is radiated with divergent lines of rigid steel

and along one of those.....you travel...

at each junction you switch right or left and on you go........

the way of your own choosing.

But there is no stopping or turning back....

another junction flashes into sight, and again your choice is made...

One line may lead through the Slough of Despond

and the other across the Delectable mountains...

but you don't know till

the cloven mists of the future

melt into the manifest present

Tom Collins wrote this in 1903 ,and this reflection on life decisions is made shortly afterwards by the great American Poet Robert Frost

Robert Frost (1874–1963). Mountain Interval. 1920.

1. The Road Not Taken


TWO roads diverged in a yellow wood,

And sorry I could not travel both

And be one traveler, long I stood

And looked down one as far as I could

To where it bent in the undergrowth;


Then took the other, as just as fair,

And having perhaps the better claim,

Because it was grassy and wanted wear;

Though as for that the passing there

Had worn them really about the same,


And both that morning equally lay

In leaves no step had trodden black.

Oh, I kept the first for another day!

Yet knowing how way leads on to way,

I doubted if I should ever come back.


I shall be telling this with a sigh

Somewhere ages and ages hence:

Two roads diverged in a wood, and I—

I took the one less traveled by,

And that has made all the difference.

FOR THE TRAVELLER

For the Traveler

Every time you leave home,

Another road takes you

Into a world you were never in.

New strangers on other paths await.

New places that have never seen you

Will startle a little at your entry.

Old places that know you well

Will pretend nothing

Changed since your last visit.

**********

When you travel, you find yourself

Alone in a different way,

More attentive now

To the self you bring along,

Your more subtle eye watching

You abroad and how what meets you

Touches that part of the heart

That lies low at home:

********

How you unexpectedly attune

To the timbre in some voice,

Opening in conversation

You want to take in

To where your longing

Has pressed hard enough

Inward, on some unsaid dark,

To create a crystal of insight

You could not have knownYou needed

To illuminate

Your way.

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

When you travel,

A new silence Goes with you,

And if you listen,

You will hear

What your heart would

Love to say.

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

A journey can become a sacred thing:

Make sure, before you go,

To take the time

To bless your going forth,

To free your heart of ballast

So that the compass of your soul

Might direct you toward

The territories of spirit

Where you will discover

More of your hidden life,

And the urgencies

That deserve to claim you.

**********

May you travel in an awakened way,

Gathered wisely into your inner ground;

That you may not waste the invitations

Which wait along the way to transform you.

May you travel safely, arrive refreshed,

And live your time away to its fullest;

Return home more enriched, and free

To balance the gift of days which call you. ~

John O'Donohue ~

CAMINO SHELLS

c
Scallop Shells- Journeys End or Beginning?

PILGRIMS

Life is some sort of pilgrimmage. The destination is always a little uncertain and beyond the horizon? Well that is part of the meaning to life really.

So this is about the present journey and I start this a bit late for 2009...walk on

LIFE IS LIKE A RIVER

I recently journeyed down a river by houseboat. As a confirmed non-boatee with litle boating experience this was rather an interesting trip.

There is something about "rivers" that is so special.

For one thing, your path is determined and you just go with the flow or you can go against the flow . On past long canoe trips it was so peaceful at times to let the current drift you along silent reaches . No need to plan or think as the path was determined.So peaceful.

Our river trip had its moments of course -storms,fuel,anchor drift. But in general the river took us along and we enjoyed the journey