Via Lemovicensis: Training Wrapup
Training for my upcoming walk on the Via Lemovicensis has more or less concluded. I’ve repacked my bags for the flight, and the two days until I fly will be taken up with various housekeeping measures and preparation for and celebration of Good Friday and the great Vigil of Easter.
Part of that training is walking a “virtual Camino”. Francine and I have done several of these, where we record our kilometers on a chart representing the stages of the Camino we propose to walk. We only had two rules:
- You must be walking with a backpack and trekking poles (the “pack and sticks” rule), and
- We must be walking together – solo hikes or hikes with friends where the other wasn’t there didn’t count.
Over the years, we walked: Lourdes to Santiago in 2020-2021, the Camino del Norte to Oviedo in 2021-2022, and a little over half of the Via Podiensis in 2023. We also walked an earlier virtual Camino from Saint-Jean to Santiago, but unfortunately, I’ve misplaced the record sheets for that one, and I can’t recall exactly when we did it, though I suspect it was 2019.
We would typically walk 5 to 8 kilometers most every day, with longer walks of 12 to 16 kilometers on weekends. Sometimes we would even do a “full Camino day”. And of course, there would be weeks when we would fall off the schedule, or one of us would be out of town or ill.
In 2024, we started our virtual Via Lemovicensis. We made it 625 kilometers before Francine couldn’t continue.
I restarted the Via Lemovicensis on the Vigil of Saint James last year. Only Rule 1 could now apply.
Well, I almost made it through the French section. I ended within three days of Saint-Jean, a total distance of 853 kilometers. The goal was to make it all the way to Santiago, of course. Given my starting point and mourning and general depression, I think that’s a pretty good walk. We’ll see if it was enough.
