Wednesday 18 September 2013

Via Jacobi - Green Light to return I am off again

Feeling very fortunate, excited and a wee tad anxious...received the green light from my ophthalmologist yesterday. A lot of support (Dawn...huge thanks...je t'aime!)  received over these past weeks for which I am really thankful! So...I return next Monday Sep 23rd to Geneva, take the train to Nyons Switzerland... will take a moment to reflect at the outdoor table outside the B&B where the journey went a little off the rails.

I figure a 38 day rest should be enough to complete the last day of the Swiss part of the walk!

The plan is to have less of a plan than the first time...I will return home Nov 15th as a very special event will take place shortly thereafter...daughter Lise and future son in law Steven's wedding! I think I have the right amount of time to walk through France however if I don't then I can pick it up when I next return to complete the long walk in the spring of 2014.

New shoes (half size bigger as a result of expertise received from an actual shoe store), new socks (again the best in the world based on previous Camino walkers experience), new haircut (you should see the ridiculous Dennis the Menace hair sticking out of the back of my head as it's been growing back!) no more advance sleeping reservations (other than first couple of nights) allowing more flexibility, shorter average daily walking distances and advice received on blister prevention. 

I'm set...well... it's an adventure so it's good that not all is predictable!

One thing has not changed...stubbornly sticking to the added grams associated with Canadian lapel pins (resupply waiting in Le Puy en Velay) as it's fun, a bit odd and they provided me with one of the funniest moments in Switzerland when the 95+ year old gentlemen looked at me with his "what the point of giving me this?" expression...priceless. Getting lost at times is pretty well a sure thing however will eventually find the right path.

I will do my best to stay clear of dangerous animals however they just seem to know I'm coming!

Hopefully my new SIM data card for France will work as promised allowing me to stay in touch on a regular basis.

And now to repack...need a toque, gloves...long john's? Nah...I'm Canadian and should be able to tough it out a bit!

Ultreia

Guy


5 comments:

  1. Buen Camino Guy!
    All the best as you set off again. I might see you next spring....I'm doing a loop from Pamplona to Bayonne on the Camino Baztan, then Voie de la Nive to Saint Jean, then on to the Frances back to Pamplona with two of my four sons (aged 11 and 13). Daddy and our two little girls (8 and 10) will meet us in Pamplona and we'll walk together for a couple of weeks. Daddy will return home (to New Zealand) while I walk on with the kids to Leon, then zip up the Camino del Salvador, onto the Primitivo and on to Santiago. We start walking on April 30, so maybe our paths will cross.
    Walk tall!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Fantastic news Guy.

    I think you'll enjoy less planning. When we travel by motorcycle we have a direction but never a route, timetable (other than when we need to get back to work) and we hop from one place to another based only on word of mouth advice from those we meet....it makes for great stories and is so very relaxing.

    I look forward to stories of lapel-pin currency and dangerous animals.

    ReplyDelete
  3. BON VOYAGE GUY!! We all are so happy for you as you embark on the this continued adventure. Looking forward to hearing from you this week! Pauline, x00

    ReplyDelete
  4. Just reading through all of your blogs!! So happy you were able to continue. Happy travels:)

    ReplyDelete
  5. Hi Lauren,

    Great to hear from you...so far is going well!

    Guu

    ReplyDelete