Disaster

I start this post in the A&E department of Cheltenham district hospital.

Last night returning to our caravan I put my foot in a hole and twisted/wrenched something, I then managed to walk about 1/4 of a mile back to the van. But after a bad night I found it wouldn't take my weight. So we decided a trip to A&E was required to see if anything was broken and if not try and find out what I had don, so here we are waiting to see a Dr.

A couple of minutes after starting this post I was ushered in to see a Triage nurse, then back to the waiting room until a Dr was available. I saw the Dr who was the consultant no less, he poked and prodded my foot about and then decided an X-ray was necessary. The next thing I knew was that the consultant himself was wheeling me to X-ray. The X-ray was duly taken and then back to the consultant and the moment of truth.

Would we be going to the plaster room or would our trip continue? I held my breath, as he gave me the verdict, soft tissue damage, which should clear up in a few days with ice, rest and ibuprofen to bring down the swelling. And crutches to help me get around for the next few days.


I must admit a few tears were shed, tears of relief as much as anything else, and of course grateful thanks to our wonderful NHS who once again have come up trumps when I have damaged myself.

We are on the way - Well nearly

The rucksacks are packed, a trial walk to the Hunny Bell with full gear has been made,

all the cover is in place, the house has been tidied the garden has been spruced up, the last few e-mail's have or need to be sent.

And then the front door wouldn't shut! Some very I'm-vicarly language was heard, a hasty phone call was made, and Tony Tibenham raced out from Norwich to come and mend the door for us. And then my computer crashed, just what I needed!

Despite the setbacks we finaly left home and on our way to Cheltenham and the Greenbelt festival.

Weight (or lack of it) is everything

As I said in my last post we are attempting to keep the weight we have to carry down to the minimum. Along with all the lightweight gear I mentioned before, we have been weighing everything that we intend to take, and then entering it on a spread sheet. As we add to the list I start to panic, it looks like we might need a donkey to carry everything as the total weight gets heavier and heavier.

Years ago I read a packing tip for holidays, which was to put everything you wanted to take on your trip on a bed and then half it, and then half it again. But I have never been particularly good at that, I think it is because for the first 30 years of my life I holidayed in the UK, taking my car, which had a nice big boot and an even bigger back seat, that I could fill with everything I might conceivably have need for my holiday.

So when I started flying it was a chalange to re-educate myself to take just what I needed. Thats all very well with an airline 20kg alowance, but imagaine if you were having to cary that weight on you back for three months.

So radical surgery has been required. With a ruthlessness unusual for me, every unnecessary thing which usually I would take 'just in case' has been dumped. Even so the pile still looks daunting!

Gearing Up

At last most the cover is in place, every Sunday is covered and I am starting to get a list of clergy to cover the other types of service.

All the books and blogs about the Camino, say that you need to keep the weight down to a minimum, especially as you have to carry everything. Some people seemed to have taken this thoroughly to heart, traveling the whole distance on one pair of underpants and one pair of socks, and it appears little else... (Hopefully we won't have to share a refuge with one of them, as we can't afford the weight of cloths pegs for our noses!).

But obviously we need to cut the weight of our gear down as practically as possible. I could bore you with details of the exact make and weight of all our kit, but this would only be relevant if you live in the UK as the products we use might not be available in the States, Australia or the rest of Europe.

What we have got so far is lightweight rucksacks, cagoules and over trousers, lightweight sleeping bags and various other bits of light weight clothing. For the rest of our clothing we are weighing our various walking T Shirts, Trousers etc. to see which are lighter, and will be taking these.

To cut down on chargers, and European conversion plugs etc. we have gone down the route of getting devices that can be charged with a USB lead and then getting a European USB charger.

For books to read and games to amuse us we have gone for an Ipod Touch each with various apps, these should also help us with Blogging and connecting to the Internet, and if we get time, we will scan in various guides, articles and other essential items to cut down on paper and therefore weight. For extra music and data storage, we will also put stuff on our phone memory cards. Anything we have digitised we will also store on our Google or Dropbox accounts so we can access them from Cyber Cafes as well.