Final Preparations

Kit for the Via Podiensis

We’ve come to that part of the pre-Camino countdown where for every two or three items I’m checking off my list, I seem to be adding one more.

Today my very last piece of kit arrived – a new windbreaker/rain shell to replace my old one. The new one is about a third the weight of the old one, which is nice. Like the old one, it’s bright orange. I like wearing bright, easy-to-see colours when it’s grey and rainy.

Today is also permethrin day – the day I spray down my pack and sleeping bag to help prevent them from becoming a home or transport for bugs, particularly bed bugs.

Training has continued, and our twice-weekly long walks now hover between 17 and 20 km, and of course we do a minimum of 8 km every morning. In these last few days before I leave, this is likely to change somewhat as we continue to be more and more pressed for time.

We normally do our long hikes on Mondays and Saturdays, but this coming Saturday is booked solid with parish and family commitments. Monday is the day before I leave, so I think it unlikely that we’ll be able to do a longer walk then, either.

Francine flies out two weeks later on her own adventure.

One fun thing that we started on our last Camino: the flag. Over the years (and season by season) we have hung various flags here at Pistachio House. When we walked the Camino Primitivo last year, we flew the flag of the Spanish region of Asturias at home. This past week, we hung the flag of Aquitaine.

While I’ll be walking through several regions in France1– not to mention in Spain! – in the Medieval period much of this now-French land was under the rule of the Dukes of Aquitaine.

Plus, who doesn’t like a heraldic lion on a flag?

In the midst of preparations and training, yesterday I also began the process of applying for the Diaconate. I sent out a number of requests for letters of recommendation, and I began getting the required paperwork together. The application form itself is quite long and thorough. Although I began filling in the requested information, most of that will have to wait until my return.

Please pray for me and my discernment, and for all pilgrims upon the earth.

Two happy pilgrims in training. I suppose it’s three if you count Dobbles the Penguin.
  1. In addition to Aquitaine, I’ll be walking through Occitània (yes, derived from the same root word), which roughly corresponds to the Medieval County of Toulouse.

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