In Madrid, but on the way out

Well, so far it hasn´t been too easy. The cardboard tube I checked didn´t arrive. It had my hiking poles, swiss army knife, and little scissors -- all potential weapons in the eyes of TSA. So, after an hour or so on line, blah blah blah, they told me sorry, bad luck, we will give you $50. And my tube, when found, will go back to Champaign.

GRRRR, well, step two. Off to the outdoor store where I had to go anyway to buy a spiffy rain poncho and send it on to Zamora, and there I was able to buy new Leki poles.

Step three. Go to the phone store and get a new SIM card -- no can do, Movistar no longer sells cards, you have to buy a new phone. Another grrrr.

Step four. Take the bus down the Castellana to Atocha to see if I can get on an earlier train to Sevilla. Not possible, all are full (tomorrow is a holiday).

So, I will arrive in Sevilla around 6:30, and tomorrow start to walk. Walking is a hundred times easier and more fun than this!

Miss you all!

My plan for the first two weeks

Here's my tentative idea of my stages for the first couple of weeks. These are pretty standard stops, it's not like the Camino Frances where you have tons of choices:

May 1 -- Guillena (Hostal Bar Frances)
May 2 -- Castilblanco de los Arroyos
May 3 -- Almaden de la Plata
May 4 -- Real de la Jara
May 5 -- Monesterio (the ham capital of Spain!)
May 6 -- Fuente de Cantos
May 7 -- Zafra (where I got bedbugs last year -- I will NOT be in the albergue -- reserved a room in Hotel Cervantes)
May 8 -- Villafranca de los Barros
May 9 -- Torremejia
May 10 -- Merida (beautiful Roman ruins here as well)
May 11 -- Aljucen
May 12 -- Alcuescar (a 3.5 km walk out to the Visigothic church Santa Lucia del Trampal is on my list)
May 13 -- Valdesalor (sleeping in the mayor's office, where the town puts out a few mattresses after work hours)
May 14 -- Casar de Caceres
May 15 -- Embalse de Alcantara, at the Pension LindaMar

Leaving tomorrow

I cannot figure out how to add pictures to this blog from my camera, but I added these two from my computer so that I could look at my family every time I log on to write. I expect that this will be a picture-free blog until Dana joins me in Zamora and shows me how to do it.

It's down to the last minute details -- got an 8 am haircut and am now making the big decisions about things like which headlamp to bring, whether to buy a new fancy rain poncho in Madrid, whether to bring the zip-off pants or just regular pants, all the fascinating minutia that comes with getting ready for a long walk. Since there's only room for one book in the pack (unless we make the move to kindle or an ipad, but not this year), I got recommendations for a long book that's not too heavy. Two of my close friends said to go for Cutting for Stone, so it's now snug in my pack.

I will arrive in Madrid early Friday morning. From the airport, I'll head to an outdoor store to buy a few things they are holding for me, then buy a card for our trusty cell phone (purchased on Camino #2 in 2002 for 25 euros, which included 25 euros of talk time), and then head down to Atocha to get the train to Sevilla.

I have decided not to take a rest day in Sevilla, thinking that I would do better to have an extra day that I could use along the way in case, perish the thought, my foot starts acting up. So I'll just pick up and go on Saturday morning. It's an easy 23 km/15 mile walk and goes past some important Roman ruins. I have made a reservation in the Hostal Bar Frances for my first night, so even if I sleep in late, I won't have to worry about being shut out of the albergue.

It feels kind of funny to be saying goodbye to everyone on a blog, so maybe I'll send some emails as well. I'm just not too used to this blog thing. I'll be in touch as soon as I can find internet -- I know there's an internet cafe in Sevilla about 3 blocks from my hotel, so I'll try to say hi from Sevilla.

YIPPEEEE!!!

Two weeks to go!

Ok, I'm going to try this blog thing, and this is a test to see if I can figure out how to do the complicated stuff like put in pictures. The picture, if I've posted it correctly, shows the first marker of my walk from Sevilla, right across the street from the cathedral.

I started this walk last spring but had to stop in Caceres. My heel was a mess. Now I've got new orthotics, new shoes, and hope to make it from Sevilla to Santiago. I'll be walking the first 600 km to Zamora alone, then my dear walking partner Danagrina will join me for the last 400 into Santiago. It's a holy year, it will be busy, but we can't wait.