South from Bergerac, chemin de Vézelay, France, 2005.

Getting Ready ~ Pre-Walk Checklist

One year timeline to the trail

If you’ve decided to leave your footprints on the sentiers de grande randonnée in France, make your own camino in Spain, or trek somewhere else, here’s a one-year timeline to keep your planning on track and your getaway gone. If you have less time before departure, do what it takes to catch up on the earlier checkpoints.

It’s time to start getting ready. There are a lot of tasks to accomplish and decisions to make in order to realize a fantastic, engaging, life-changing, healthy, robust journey over the land on foot.

Checklist ~ 12 Months

Commit. Tell your family and friends. Expressing a dream with words is the first step to making it come true. (more…)

The Best Trail Walking Shoes

Tips on choosing the one best for you?

Shoes are a special class of walking paraphernalia. They serve as part of the wardrobe, but also have the technical functions of gear. Selecting proper footwear for any purpose is always important. For long-distance walking, it’s critical. It’s not often an easy task because everybody’s feet are different, and often the right is quite different from the left. What’s essential is finding the right shoe for you, which involves balancing a number of important factors. Very few hikers I’ve met claim to have slipped into a pair of shoes and walked away effortlessly. I know I’m not one of them.

Hiking boots, walking shoes, trail runners, sandals – whatever you prefer, you’ll live with your choice day after day after week after month. The right choice makes walking fun; a wrong choice can lead to tortuous, even dangerous days on the trail. (more…)

Out in the country, France, 2005.

Gear ~ Ultralight Trekking Poles

Stick it to me, baby

Most hikers don’t use walking sticks (also called trekking poles). However, many swear by them. I do. Anyone who does, or needs help deciding, should read the travel warning below. If you’re on the fence, here’s some information about the pros and cons.

Why do I like walking poles? Quite simply, it’s because I fall down less often! (Coordination and my name have rarely been used in the same sentence – but hey, maybe that’s just me). Walking with poles adds a lot of stability, particularly on uneven terrain and rough downhills. Rock hopping across streams is easier, too, as is squeezing along a narrow, bramble-bordered bank of a muddy lane. (more…)

Out of the hills to the road on the way to Le Puy, France, 2009.

Yummy Sleeping

The Miam Miam Dodo Guides to Walking in France

One of the best resources for Santiago pilgrims and other long-distance walkers in France is a series of guides with the funny name Miam Miam Dodo. This is French baby talk that roughly translates to “Yum Yum Nighty Night”. (more…)

MRI scan of osteoarthritic knee.

Arthritis and Long-distance hiking

It wasn’t too long after I returned home from my first walk across France and Spain that I developed acute knee pain, which completely hobbled me for a couple of weeks. After a series of doctors and scans I got the diagnosis of severe osteoarthritis of the knee. One of the orthopedists said there’s basically a whole the size of a nickel through the cartilage of my right knee. Ouch, I thought. (more…)

Walking across France… days of color that never ends…

Weights & Measures – part 2

Body or “Skin” Weight

Body weight or “skin” weight is simply the naked weight of a person. Just shed your clothes and hop on a scale and you have it. For ultralighters, it’s one of the standard figures used to calculate the total weight of everything that’s planning to walk down the trail. The more you weigh, the more energy it takes for you to travel a given distance. That translates into calories, which means fuel for you (food), and possibly, fuel to cook it (alcohol, gas, etc.). All fuel weighs something.

Body weight is an important factor in fitness, and creates the single heaviest load on your joints. Depending on the speed and slope that you’re walking, every pound of weight above the knees, exerts 3 to 5 pounds of force on your knees. Anyone with arthritis below the waist should be especially mindful. Even a 5 or 10 pound reduction in body weight is beneficial for helping to ease these effects. If you’re feeling a little portly and are planning a long walk, get out and start training today.

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