Walk the Camino
with Ralph Dobbertin
What
I will be walking 8oo km from April 11 to May 18, 2023. The path starts in France and goes across the north of Spain to Santiago the burial place of Saint James. It is commonly referred to as a pilgrimage but I walk it as an older man just trying to get it done and see, for me, a new part of the world.
My biggest concern is blisters on my feet, but I go prepared.
This will be my version of an epic walk…
Take a look at my blog posts (below) as they get made hopefully daily. As an added bonus you may occasionally get a post by Rick my brother in law who will be joining me for parts of the hike…Only parts as he will be focussing on the Camino Norte while I focus on Camino Frances.
Interesting Links to Help you Understand the Camino
The Fast Hiker is a great old guy, like me, but from Sweden. He has basically made a video of many Camino hikes…so if you want 10 hours of footstep by footstep…he’s your guy
Why
I’ve included pictures of my kids, grandkids, mother, father, niece, nephews, grand niece and grand nephew. I even included a shot of my neighbour’s (Bill & Mary) land, for kindly clearing a trail and letting me train on it.
My growing family inspired me to take on this challenge and hopefully the hike will inspire them to take on some stretch goals in their own lives. I’m not going to Mars, like Elon, and many people hike the camino, but it is not entirely insignificant either.
I’m sure there will be a few days, when I’m asking myself while hiking, why on earth I’m doing this crazy thing. Well: it’s for them. One step more…Buen Camino.
Wish me luck.
Days to go till I start
Day(s)
:
Hour(s)
:
Minute(s)
:
Second(s)
Days to go till I finish
Day(s)
:
Hour(s)
:
Minute(s)
:
Second(s)
Read the 4 Latest Posts
Click on the thumbnail picture or blog post title to see full images and write up.
Or press the button below to go to the blog page to see all posts
So today the Camino starts…again
Yesterday was basically a full day of travel. 3 planes along with the usual waits and lines. Tiring but I expected it so not too bad. Last night I went to a bar at 6pm local time and learned that no one eats at 6 pm except the rummies lol. This morning I awoke (after...
Getting ready to fly to Spain
It’s been an epic preparation already. Buen Camino. The man and his shoes.
Walk results this week
Made it. 30km plus today. Feet are sore and the last 5 km were much slower than the first 5km.
Out for a 30km practice walk this morning.
Hope I make it… stay tuned.
Google Earth
This is a Google Earth link to Saint Jean Pied de Port.
I start in Saint Jean ( France) up through the Pyrennes mountains via the Napoleonic Route into Roncesvalles (Spain). This is the hardest day of the walk (27km uphill)…ie the first day.
If you click on this link it will open you up to my starting location ( or prompt you to install Google earth) and you can move around the area as you wish to follow along. I’ll try to post my locations daily. This will give you quite a good sense of what the places I visit are like.
Watch a Google Earth Fly Over of the Camino Frances
Copy and paste the link below into your browser…for some reason the maker doesn’t want this video launched from other web sites.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ol0xqFsuYU0