Getting ready

I haven't been posting much so I haven't been documenting my progress.  I am looking forward to getting my flights arranged to France and out of Spain this month.  I am counting down the months now.  I will go sometime in May and start in the South of France at Le Puy en Velay.  This route is called the Via Podensis, an extension of the Camino de Santiago de Compostela into the South of France.  It is the most commonly travelled extension into France.  While this route goes through some tremendous countryside and visits many medieval towns it is actually not part of the medieval route.  The Via Podensis was developed in the 20th century as France was building hiking trails across country and promoting tourism through its smaller towns.  But there are some very interesting ancient castles and ruins as well as small towns where the majority of the structures date back to the medieval period.  I will be doing this route by myself and I plan to hop-skip across the 500 miles of this route by taking the train at some intervals.  I won't have time to complete this whole route before I meet up with my hiking partner in St. Jean Pied de Port sometime at the end of May, beginning of June. 

I've been getting my gear ready and setting aside clothing I plan to take on the trip.  Clothing is one of my biggest hangups and I'm certain I will overpack.  But since I plan to go in early to mid May and I will be crossing a couple mountain ranges I need to be prepared for cold weather as well as the heat of mid summer on the meseta in Spain where temperatures can get to 100 degrees.  I am fairly confident I have all my other gear either ready or set to order.  I am going to walk in Brooks running shoes - they are so comfortable - and I will buy two pair to travel with, so that I have a second pair if the first are wet.  They are lightweight and should be easy to pack. 

My biggest challenge yet is getting the historical detail I need to be able to complete the class requirements while I am on the Camino.  I will be earning 4 credit hours during the summer in France and Spain but I am not yet certain what that will entail.  I've been doing some reading on other peoples journals of their Camino and since my courses this spring are both relative to the medieval period in Europe I hope to have a better idea by mid-semester of what I will need to research for my summer special topics course.  In the meantime I will try to share some interesting bits of information about the medieval period and how it relates to this journey through this blog.  Happy new year!