El Camino

I've done some background reading and I am liking the sound of the Camino pilpramige more and more. I am intrigued by it's pre-christian roots. Mostly because it speaks to a great antiquity and not due to some highly fashionable anti-christian sentiment.
The main Camino trail is 780 kilometers and is pretty civilized. You can do the whole thing without a tent as supposedly the longest streatch without a place to stay is 15 kilometers. I'm told rates are reasonable at 7-10 euros a night. Two months at $20 per night is $1200 lodging, lets double that for food and it becomes comparable in price to doing the AT. Three times as expensive but in one third the time.

I know what you're thinking - I still haven't gotten to Europe yet. Well that's part of the attraction of the Camino for me. I figure I could combine the hike with another trip I've been wanting to take. Namely to cross the Atlantic on a cargo ship! I understand that rates are reasonable and I think if I started my pilgrimge by walking down to the docks in Toronto and getting on a container ship to Barcelona would be an awesome start to a pilgrimage.

My big hangup is that while it's on a different continent, the Camino seems less adventurous than thru-hiking the AT. Partly because it's shorter but mainly because it's not a wilderness trail. That allways brings to mind a quote from, I think it was, Yvon Chouniard about how you never see country people climbing high mountains, only city people. He explained it by saying city people need the extreme wilderness of the high moutains because they have to get their dose of "nature" in the tiny amount of time their job allots them. Country people live with nature everyday so they don't need the reader's digest. something to that effect anyway.

What does that have to do with anything you ask? Well I plan to leave the city and go live on a farm in the country, hopefully a pleasant bike ride from a smallish town. That brings up the question of do I really need the exterem dose of nature that would be the AT or would I be better served by a long walk through a well civilized countryside as my transition?

Opinions?

PS: If anyone else is doing a hike soon I would certainly like to hear about it. Maybe a linnk to a blog or a coment post, hint, hint.

A new deal?

I recently attended the cross Canada bike trip Ottawa contingent's one year reunion. It was good to see everyone again and hear what they have been doing in the almost year since we set off on our big ride. And also to share thoughts on the tour that have had nine months to percolate.

I am pleased to say that, in the main, our attitudes are still positive and the few negative issues are still there but softened. One of the riders is about to set off on a self supported circumnavigation of Lake Ontario which sounds like fun. Another spoke to me about his attempt this winter to hike the Camino pilgrimage in Spain. It too sounded like fun.

This has given me second thoughts about doing the AT in 2010. I’m thinking I want to look into the Camino. I nkow it wouldn’t take as long to do and therefore wouldn’t be as punishing financially (or physically) as the AT. In those respects it might also be a smarter progression than to do these hikes AT first and then Camino. (I had been thinking to do the Camino when I got older.)

It may come down to land. If I find the right piece of land this summer I could walk the Camino in February and March maybe a bit of April and still be back in time to plant in the spring - presuming I had cleared a good patch of ground in the fall. To do the AT I would have to plan to walk from February until August and then clear land in the Fall of 2010 to start farming in 2011. That added year is where the financially punishing comes in.

The rub is: if I do the Camino in 2010 and then start the farming when do I ever get to do the AT?

Ascalon and on

On the second day the sun was out and full of pith and vinegar the J-set and I decided to bushwack our way up the hill to a little lake called Ascalon. The map indicated it had brookies and with no formal trail to the lake we thought it might yield up a meal early in the season. It did. Just not to us.

We hiked along the old rail bed and then followed a stream up through the birches to the lake. There weren’t any good spots for fishing from shore and the lake looks to be about three feet deep. By the time we had found some reasonably open spots for casting (on the far side of the lake of course) the day had warmed up considerably and was quite nice compared to the recent cold. The clouds of voracious black flies that feasted on us as seemed to like the warm temperatures too.

Eventually the rotten log I was standing on broke and I got my feet wet and we headed back to camp. "not a fish, not a bite".

Heavy-C, who had stayed in camp, greeted our return with a farcical story of landing a giant Bass some feet in length. The map and guide book mention only trout in these lakes. Obviously he had misidentified and released what should have been our supper.

The next day the forecast called for Showers. Well it was half right. There was only one shower. It did last for six hours though. So I lay in my wet tent and read my book between cup-o-soup forays. In the evening, after the six hour shower, I finally found the fish but due to my lack of skill I was unable to get any into the boat.

When Wednesday arrived it was time to pack up and head back to the grind. It was raining again but true to form it turned nice as we left the park. Physh Camp ‘09 was a rough trip, cold, wet, no fish, blackflies and man, the rental kayak was miserable to portage. Still good clean fun though. I hope the boys keep it up next year while I’m on the AT so I can come back in Physh Camp ’11.