Mark’s Blog

I’ve said my goodbyes to Sue, Stella, and Sammy, who I won’t see till mid July, and am now at the RDU airport, waiting to board my flight to Biarritz France via Paris. I’ve packed and repacked my backpack 3x. Each time trying to get rid of anything that’s unnecessary as I’ll be carrying my pack 500 miles on the Camino Frances starting in less than 48 hours. My backpack weighed 12.3 kilos at the airport. Not sure what that translates in to pounds and I don’t care to know as I’m positive it’s significantly more than my 20lb target.

I’m extremely excited to get this hike started. Here some questions I have.

1. How many days before i make a friend?

2. How many days does it take to complete the trip? I planned on 38 which includes 3 rest days.

3. How many nights in a hostel? I would initially have said most nights but those that know me best have the over under at 5. One friend is adamant that the answer is 1. I’ll stay one night in a hostel before I say, “Fuck this! Where’s the nearest hotel?” Another friend goes further and says I’ll take one look at one hostel and that will be enough to send me to the hotels for the rest of the trip. We shall see.

4. How many days do I have more than 2 drinks? This originally started at how many days do I have a drink but it’s hard to imagine being in Spain and not having a glass of rioja with lunch and dinner. again, we shall see.

Ok. Time to board the flight.

Mp 6/4/24