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Camino a Santiago Day 1: Saint Jean Pied de Port to Roncesvalles
Distance: 16 miles (25km) Ascent: 1400m (4,600 ft) Descent: 650m (2,130 ft) Steps: 33,479 Calories burned: 1488 Where to begin? I can barely think I’m so tired. Here I am, icing my feet and knees, while trying to get some nourishment in, wondering how I’m supposed to be up tomorrow by 8am in time to drop off my bag for the courier service. Have I mentioned I walked this stage on two hours sleep? Jet lag and nerves are a wonderful thing. Day one on the Camino a Santiago is the hardest of the entire French Way. If you go all the way to Roncesvalles in one day (which many…
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Camino a Santiago Day 0: Arriving in St. Jean Pied de Port
I’m not going to lie. I’ve been so focused on the fact that I’m sitting on a fully booked flight, that for a minute there I lost sight of the big picture. Until I didn’t. My Camino a Santiago had already begun. As we took off from O’Hare, on a non-stop flight to Paris, I opened the window for a moment and then it dawned on me. I’m leaving the U.S for the longest consecutive period of time since I first moved here 22 years ago. Wow. Pre-Camino a Santiago jitters No matter what happens, the next six weeks are going to be as much an exercise in managing that as…
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My Way: Walking the Camino a Santiago
After several months of planning, reservations have been made, my time off has been approved and now, the plane tickets have been booked. It is time to make it blog official. On May 20th, I will be embarking on the Camino a Santiago, a five-week, 500-mile (800km) trek across Spain, starting in the French Pyrenean town of St. Jean Pied de Port all the way to Santiago de Compostela. The Way of St. James as it’s known in English, is one of Christianity’s three major pilgrimages after Rome and Jerusalem. It is also very old. For over a thousand years pilgrims have walked any one of several routes to get…
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The long road to Girona
It took 18 months to get here. Eighteen months unlike any the World has experienced. It was March 2020. I was a week away from leaving for Barcelona. A trip I had been looking forward to, and training for, for months. Until I wasn’t. A lot of planning went into that trip. Having signed up for a women’s cycling camp in Girona, Spain, I had purchased a bike bag that I could easily travel with. I also got an indoor bike trainer, that I could set up with Zwift, an online virtual reality software that allows you to simulate different terrains from the comfort of your home. I bought new…
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TMB Day 10: Argentière to Chamonix
Distance: 7.74 miles (12.5km) Ascent: 3,554 feet (1,083m) Descent: 1,023 feet (311m) Highest Point: 6803 feet (2,073m) It is done. The Tour of Mont Blanc is complete. One hundred miles (160KM) over ten days in some of the most beautiful terrain on Planet Earth is done and dusted. To say I feel a tremendous sense of accomplishment is an understatement. I’m not going to lie. This was much harder than I imagined. Setting aside the couple of times today I legitimately thought I might kill myself, next time someone remind me to convert meters to feet when looking at elevation gain!! Seriously though. The TMB is always going either up or…
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TMB Day 9: Trient to Argentière
Distance: 10 miles (16KM) Asent: 3254 feet (992m) Descent: 3298 feet (1000m) Highest point: 7,245 feet (2,211m) One last border crossing. Coffee in Switzerland. A glorious lunch in France. Mont Blanc beconing us once more. Such are the days along the TMB. One day to go till we come full circle. We are now in Argentiere just miles from our final destination of Chamonix. It’s been tough. My feet are nearly done. My calves even more so. And yet, the days have been glorious. Perfect weather. But will it last? Tomorrow there is a threat of thunderstorms, so we will start early in the hopes of not getting caught up…
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TMB Day 8: Champex Lac to Trient
Distance: 10 miles (16KM) Ascent: 2,571 feet (784 meters) Descent: 3,287 (1002 meters) Highest Point: 6,505 feet (1,982 meters) Trekking through the misty mountains. And rosti. That’s all. Lol. OK, maybe not all, but definitely the highlights for today. Leaving our charming little hotel in Champex Lac this morning things looked anything but rosy. It had been raining for hours and we delayed our departure till 9am in the hopes the rain would end. When it didn’t we resigned ourselves to the inevitable and geared up with our waterproof jackets, pants and backpack covers. Wouldn’t you know it. That did the trick. Murpny’s Law right? Within a few minutes of…
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TMB Day 7: La Fouly to Champex Lac
Distance: 9.32 miles (15km) Ascent: 1,627 feet (496m) Descent: 1,995 feet (608m) Highest point: 5,281 feet (1,610m) What a lovely day. Probably the easiest, and shortest day on the trek, today was one that can in some ways be considered transitional, but also just a day where unlike most, we had the opportunity to walk through what can only be characterized as quintessentially Swiss alpine villages. Beautiful chalets, hundreds-year old barn houses just waiting to be renovated. I kept thinking these would make an excellent episode of HGTV’s Fixer Upper! There were raspberry patches and adorable chicken coops. I also made a new friend…or two…of the feline kind. And I’m…
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TMB Day 6: Rifugio Bonatti to La Fouly
Distance: 13.06 miles (21km) Ascent: 3,020 feet Descent: 4,403 feet Highest Point: 8,457 feet Today we left our idyllic Italian mountain refuge behind, and crossed into Switzerland. Clocking in at 13 miles, it was the longest day of our trek so far. First, it was down the splendidly beautiful Val Ferret and then up the aptly named Col Ferret. At the top was the “border.” The crossing, as ever, was very official: a pile of rocks with the letter “I” on one side of the rock and an “S” on the other. I did pull out my passport and showed it to the rock just in case 😉 It was…
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TMB Day 5: Courmayeur to Rifugio Bonatti
Distance: 7.86 miles (12.64 km) Ascent: 3,300 feet (1,005m) Descent: 784 feet (238m) Highest Point 6,953 feet (2,119m) Not going to lie. Today sucked. Like big time. Until it didn’t. The first two hours out of Courmayeur can only be described as my own little corner of hell. Climbing shockingly is not my thing. And yes, I get that if you’re trekking in the Alps you’re always going to be going either up or down. But steep climbs at the beginning of the day, when I haven’t had a chance to warm up are always bad for me. The day before yesterday was the same. And just as then the…
