There goes my plan

 It's the eve of our trip. Our bags are packed and we've been drinking champagne to calm our nerves. I really wanted to share some photos of the contents of my backpack but for some reason Blogger is giving me trouble. I also realised that working on Blogger via an iPad is an absolute nightmare and since that will be my main piece of technology on the trip, I'm not sure I'm going to be able to blog as often (or at all) as I would have liked to.

Perhaps it's a sign that I should rather focus on the journey or perhaps I'm just not as technologically adept as I thought I was. Trek Befok will still be alive, though, via my Instagram account so you can follow our journey there.

In the meantime, happy Sunday and goodbye for now.

I really didn't want to blog about my trip...

I didn't like the idea of spending an hour each day, writing about the events of the day, struggling to upload photos and worrying about whether I made any spelling/grammar mistakes (the curse of being a writer). It's because I'm selfish and wanted my trip to be about disconnecting from the world. But after chatting to some friends, I realised that while writing about it might be a bit painful for me, it will be great for those who have never heard of the Camino or who are interested in doing it themselves one day. And it's also for all my special peeps who are worried that I'll be kidnapped by a curly-haired Spaniard.

So, for those of you who don't know, over the next six weeks I will be walking the Camino de Santiago with my beautiful, funny, thoughtful and caring mother, Lynette. We are doing the French Route (most popular), which starts in the small town of St Jean Pied de Port in the south of France and ends 790km away in Santiago de Compostela in the north west coast of Spain.

We have been planning this trip for a year. The anticipation has been unbearable; I've had so many sleepless nights and stress-filled days that I almost wanted to say, stuff it I'd rather go for a beach holiday in Bali. Just kidding, I would never swap this trip for anything in the world! I will be blogging about it here and posting pics along the way on Instagram (see feed on the right).

We leave on Monday 11th April, so five days and counting.

Now, I leave you with some free images I found online of the Camino (because obvs I haven't taken any yet). Also, check out this amazeballs Video that gives you a very good idea of what the route is like.

Adiós, hasta luego!

The scallop is the official symbol for the Camino. There are various stories about the origin of the symbol. One of the stories claim that after St James was killed in Jerusalem, his body was shipped to Spain. During the trip, however, there was a big storm that hit the ship. After some time his body was found and covered in scallop shells.

Umm, how pretty is this?!

Just keep walking, walking, walking.

Apparently 90% of the Camino is on tar road and you walk through big cities like Pamplona and Leon. So no Cheryl Strayed-ing it in the wild.

If you've watched the movie The Way, this is the place where the large dude from Amsterdam compares his waist line to one of these metal sculptures. It's funny. 

Apparently there are fields and fields and fields of sunflowers along The Way. So much of prettiness, I can't wait!

Solvitur ambulando

Solvitur ambulando. I recently came across this Latin phrase in Paul Theroux's The Tau of Travel - a celebration of some of the best travel writing the world has ever seen. Translated, the phrase means 'it is solved by walking.'

Theroux writes, "Walking is a spiritual act; walking on one's own induces meditation," and I couldn't agree more. Walking is possibly one of the most effective and cheapest forms of therapy because it can be done anywhere in the world and all it really requires is a good pair of shoes (and perhaps some pepper spray if you're in a dodgy area). 

I love walking, hiking, jogging and basically anything that involves moving my beans. One of the best hikes I ever did was in Barberton with the Lowveld Rambling Club. We met at 8am at the Old Coach Road Guesthouse. It was August and pretty cold. The route started with a 400m climb up a koppie behind the guesthouse. I know uphills are difficult but this was on another level. We had to stop every 100m to catch our breath and remove a layer of clothing. By the time we got to the top (an hour later) we were out of breath, sweaty and almost undressed. Haha! 

 Like anything that's challenging, it's the end product that makes it worth it. And boy was it worth it. That view, sjoe! Sure it was nearing the end of winter and most of what we saw was dry and dull but it was beautiful nonetheless. We could see most of the De Kaap Valley, parts of the Makhonjwa Mountain Range, an old mine shaft and the many grassy outcrops that make up the Barberton region.  There were no buildings or cars in sight, it was just nature at its finest: raw and undiscovered.

We ate our sandwiches then made our way down the koppie and through a lovely riverine. I can't even remember the distance of that hike or what else we saw, all I remember is that view and the feeling I got once I reached the top of the koppie. It was something more than relief or satisfaction, it was spiritual.

Find out more about the hike here. 

P.s I've decided to get a tattoo with this phrase somewhere on my foot. What do you think?