Packing in Pakenham

I can't remember exactly when I first heard about the Camino walk. I think it was several years ago when I met some walkers who were training on the 1000 steps in Ferntree Gully. It might have been unknown to me at that time, but over the past few years it has cropped up in conversations, books, movies and pictures so many times that I decided that it was something I needed to do for myself.

The word "Camino" simply means "path or way", but it has most often been associated with the walking path to Santiago de Compostella in northern Spain. This path has been walked by pilgrims for over a thousand years, ever since the remains of the Apostle James were apparently discovered there.

In ancient times the true pilgrim would start from their own front door and walk the entire way to Santiago. This means that there are multiple Camino paths that start from locations all over Europe and all converge on the Cathedral in Santiago. When travelling in Europe you often come across these various walking routes, all of which are identified by the symbol of the scallop shell. The radiating lines on the shell all converge to a single point and that represents the destination at Santiago.

Although there are many variations of the Camino, the most famous is the so called "Spanish Camino". This is a 700 km walking route from the Pyrenees to Santiago. When most people refer to the Camino, it is this path they are referring to.

Of course, to walk 700 km takes a significant investment of time - about 40 days in fact. The other factor I took into consideration was that much of the traditional route has now been taken over by busy roads. The prospect of walking for hour after hour on hard bitumen with cars flashing past at high speed is not so exciting. That meant I looked for another option.

The final answer was to complete a "modified" version of the Spanish Camino over a period of 17 days. This would allow us to still follow the full route, but we would skip sections that were busy or boring, concentrating on the parts which offered the most enjoyable walking experience. Although some might regard this as some sort of cheating, I figure that you are only cheating if you claim to be doing something you are not. Since we will still be walking up to 20 km each day and, since we never claimed to be walking the entire 700 km, I believe it will still be a very worthwhile achievement for every participant.

About 18 months ago I shared these plans and soon had a keen group of 12 who wanted to share the walk with me. Since it is a long way to travel to Europe for just a two week walk, I have also combined the walk with an 8 day bike ride in Portugal. I have never previously visited either of these countries before so I still don't know exactly what to expect.

With previous adventures I have developed a reputation for being very well organised. I prefer to have all details covered long before I leave Australia and to have my bags packed and ready at least a week before departure. Unfortunately this has not been the case this time.

Due to several circumstances outside my control, I seem to have had about a hundred matters that kept requiring my attention. My travel bag has remained empty in a spare bedroom, with a few random items scattered around it. It has only been in the last 24 hours that I was finally able to throw myself into packing. I furiously worked through my list, grabbing clothes, shoes, chargers, cables, batteries, etc and sorting them all out. By last night the packing was almost completed and I could finally begin to feel in control again.

Tomorrow night I will be meeting several others of our team for our Emirates flight from Melbourne Airport. I don't know whoever thought that 5 am was a good time for a flight, but that is what my ticket says. Of course the long wait at the airport in the middle of the night will be easy compared to the ordeal of 24 hours in transit between Melbourne and Madrid in economy class. I can hardly wait.Read more