Diane Pawlak
Why Walk.....Why not.....I love walking....I love being outside....what a way to see things......When asked by a work friend if I would like to walk the Camino De Sandiago "its 800k" my first thought was.... YES.... then sensibility set in, because I had had about 12months of and on from work with a bad back....would I be able to walk 800k...would I be able to carry a backpack....then the blogs came flooding though via the internet from my friend and all of a sudden the bad back and carrying a pack just didnt seem a obstacle....I WAS HOOKED....Yes the Walking Women ( Jacqui's TravelBlog name) is still my work friend but has become my black curly hair sister in walking. What an adventure we are going to have. I cant guarantee a hugh amount happening on my travel blog while we travel as internet access may be limited....all will be found out as we walk.Why Walk
Anyone interested would love to have you on board to follow us
Travel Blog Posts
May 1st 2012
We walked about 20ks today which is harder than I thought. After 8 days I was expecting everthing to have settled and it would be easier, but talking to quite a few people and they are all feeling the same....Ready for a day off. The body is still ajusting to the walking and the strain on the ankles knees and feet everyday. I have also developed a sore throat. We walked with Pep untill lunch time and he kept on walking. We are still walking past old churched houses towns ...they are so fasinating and I never get tired at looking at them all. Found our place to lay our head tonight quite big but all the bunks are packed in so very close. We were given a disposable pillow case and sheet. Thats a first. ... read more
May 1st 2012
Started the day at about 7am with a very steep road to climb. Its always good to start the day with a climb as the mornings are always cold and what better way to get the heart started. Came across a wire fence that people make crosses out of sticks and put on the fence. It goes for quite a way.....Met Pep at lunch time and he walked with us for the rest of the day to Torres del Rio which was 8ks further than we had planned....was good to get there it felt like a big day....The albergue we stayed in was quite good...they can certainly vary....After showers we all went down to a little bar called Lilli. Had a great meal....They can vary also. In bed by 9.30... read more
April 29th 2012
Started walking at about 8am. It was a hard day.Weather cold. Tendons on my right foot quite sore and hard walking. Met Pep along the way just to say hello, he had found a couple of younger girls to walk with so we got the brush off....Thats fine am sure he had a good day. Met with Thomas and walked with him for a while but he got a head of us. Hope I see him again he owes me a beer. Found a very old church dating back to the 13th century. The door was opened so we went to explore and found places where people had written down messages and prayers and left. Just amazing the age of the church and the fact that it just stands all alone on a hill. I left ... read more
April 28th 2012
Started walking quite early around 7am. Met Pep a 35yr old policeman from Barcelona the night before. He is walking the Camino for 2 weeks. We all got talking and the next day he walked with us all day. Its good to have someone that speaks the language as Jacqui and I keeped asking him questions and getting him to read signs. We had some very heavy rains. We wear a rain coat that has a hat and covers all our backpack and us. Jacqui looks like Darth Vader in her´s as it is black....You will get to see photos....but they work really well and have been used heaps. Most of the day was walking up and down hills. Our biggest climb was on a very muddy slippery track up to The Hill of Pardon which ... read more
April 25th 2012
Walked to Pamplona today...was a short walk I have a old tendon on my right ankle that is playing up and we both are feeling achy in the joints from walking everyday. The body has to adjust to walking distances everyday carrying a extra 10kg so it is normal to feel like this. We have been told that there is a lot of pickpockets in Pamplona so we have decided to have a look around then walk through to the other side. The city has a population of 190,000 people and is the first big place we have entered. We spent 2hrs looking around walked the run of the running bulls found a resturant that was opened and had lunch. It was easter sunday so there were evidence of the streets having had parties the night ... read more
April 25th 2012
Walked to Arre today.....was a easier walk only drizzling but still the hill´s. Jacqui has said that we do get to some straight roads eventually called the Massetta. I have to believe her.....If nothing else we are getting fit. We stopped on the side of the road and ate yesterdays bread rolls and 4 day old muffins for lunch....true pilgrims. When we entered Arre´s we had to walk over a 2000 old bridge....It just blows my mind away at the age of everything and of course the camera came out...infact it doesn´stay in the pocket for long...the world I am walking in is so completely different to the one I am use to....Where ever I look I see some thing that is hundreds of year olds.....Makes me so aware of how old Australia is as far ... read more
April 24th 2012
Started walking by 7.30 today. The municilpes abergues dont supply breakfast. Today was a very hilly day> any one that has walked up to Mt Lofty I would compare it to walking to the top coming half way down just to go up again and we do that for most of the day. Stopped and bought breakfast walked some more and eat some ham and bread roll for lunch on the side of the road. Once again the country side is green> Snow on the mountains in the distance and the sun was shining. Met some horses in the paddock stoped and said Hi I dont think they understand english so I just kept on walking. We came across horses through quite a few paddocks and at least one or two would have a cow bell ... read more
Day 2 Valcalose / Roncesvalles 15km
Published: April 24th 2012Europe » Spain » Navarre » RoncesvallesApril 24th 2012
Woke up early to start our 2nd day. Still takes us a wile to pack up the backpacks am sure we will get the hang of it and get quicker. We all had coffee and Muffins which Nere had bought from the shop the day before for breakfast. The standard breakfast offered is normally fresh fruit yoghurt muffins crosionts dry toast with butter and jam. coffee which is always luke warm and mostly milk. Ole started walking before us the Nere. The weather was cold but the sun was shining. We had some drizzle of rain enough for us to try out our rain coats. The scenery is amazing so grean and hilly many of which we have to climb and water and creeks every where. Water even forms little waterfalls from the side of the ... read more
Day 1 St Jean Pied-de-Port - Valcarlos- 14 km
Published: April 18th 2012Europe » France » Midi-Pyrénées » Saint-JeanApril 18th 2012
We arrived at our first destination at about 7pm dropped of at the bus station and had our first experience at following the yellow arrows and shell signs. The signs that we follow for the rest of our walk. Made it to the Albergues (pilgrim hostels) some are private and some are municipal which cost about 5 - 7 euro about $10 per night. For that you get to sleep with heaps of other people and share the bathroom and toilet with everyone. Our first one was private called Le Espirite de chemis ( spirit of the way)and run by a Lady called Umberta. Such a warm and lovely woman. We were all made to sit in a circle and tell everyone where we came from and why we were walking.( Me because Jacqui asked me) ... read more
Getting from London to St Jean-Pied-de Port
Published: April 15th 2012Europe » France » Île-de-FranceApril 15th 2012
Well it has been a while since I have been on this but the internet hasnt been the best. Am now rewriting this as my money just ran out as I was about to save it ...oh the joys... Caught a bus from Dwayne and Jules at about 4.30am to go to Euro rail to catcha train to Paris. A man at the bus station was going in the same direction so we followed...something that we are learning to do...glad we did as some of the doors were locked at the station and we would have had know idea...so with his help we got onto the train to Paris....had to get a ticket in Paris for another ...know idea a young guy came up sold us his tickets sent us in the right direction....not sure if ... read more
Tot: 0.076s; Tpl: 0.002s; cc: 12; qc: 86; dbt: 0.0506s; 1; s:notus w:www (50.28.60.10); sld: 1; ; mem: 1.6mb
