The camino in France!  Hi….just a few thoughts on my first week of walking….

Never walk with an overweight backpack! Not only am I not fit, but walking with a 13kg backpack quickly causes damage to the body. Needless to say I jettisoned whatever I could do without and sent a package ahead to santiago.

The only way I can descibe the feeling of beginning a walk like this is pure and utter shock to the body. Everything that moves in your body is suddenly put on notice and any small pain can make you think catastrophic thoughts! “Is this going to last for the next 3 months?”…”Am I fkn crazy to be doing this?”….”What the fk am I doing?” 
As soon as these thoughts enter your head, they can go again just as quickly as something else takes over….”ooh look at that mountain…it’s amazing…jesus christ do I have to climb that….god I’m thirsty…I need find a toilet NOW!” Yes…you feel like like you have tourettes or adhd or ooh is that a blister starting! 

The scenary is amazing on this walk and somehow you just keep on going even if you think your kneecap might fall off.  The joy of seeing a village and the possibility of a coffee or food is indescribable and once you do take your pack off, you feel like you float away without the weight in your back.

The French camino is different from Spain in a few ways. The markers guiding the way are small red and white stripes on light posts or walls unlike the yellow arrows or shells in spain. Gites or albergues (hostels) are not just for walkers doing the camino….any bugger can stay in them and are often full by the time you have reached your destination. Its a fkn outrage! It means that you have to book ahead or be faced with a minimum 10km before somewhere else becomes available. Not good when your feet have stopped responding to your brain. Thankfully most people have booked a bed for me but it defeats the purpose of being able to just wander and stop when you feel like it.

I have walked now for 6 days and from memory you start to feel better about day 10-12….thats when the idea of putting your pack on doesn’t fill you with fear and a small hill doesn’t feel like climbing the side of everest.

Anyway at the moment its all good and everyone is very nice to me. ..in fact I think I am a novelty. I am one of the youngest walking right now and everyone finds it incredible that I have come from Australia to do this walk. The average age of people is about 60 so I seem to like a daughter to many of them. They love teaching me french and learning a bit of english at the same time.

The food is phenomenal, and I think I will put on weight here rather than lose it. Most dinners consist of 4 courses with regional specialities and plates of french cheese that would cost a fortune in Australia. I have eaten so much bread that I may turn into a baguette at some point but after 20km up and down mountains the more food the better!

They also love saying ‘Allo Cateee’ whenever the can…..very comforting when we can’t understand each other!