{"id":14434,"date":"2023-08-11T14:17:23","date_gmt":"2023-08-11T21:17:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.thomryng.com\/camino\/?p=14434"},"modified":"2023-08-11T14:17:26","modified_gmt":"2023-08-11T21:17:26","slug":"final-preparations","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.thomryng.com\/camino\/final-preparations\/","title":{"rendered":"Final Preparations"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n
\"\"
Kit for the Via Podiensis<\/mark><\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

W<\/span>e’ve come to that part of the pre-Camino countdown where for every two or three items I’m checking off my list, I seem to be adding one more.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Today my very last piece of kit arrived – a new windbreaker\/rain shell to replace my old one. The new one is about a third the weight of the old one, which is nice. Like the old one, it’s bright orange. I like wearing bright, easy-to-see colours when it’s grey and rainy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Today is also permethrin day – the day I spray down my pack and sleeping bag to help prevent them from becoming a home or transport for bugs, particularly bed bugs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Training has continued, and our twice-weekly long walks now hover between 17 and 20 km, and of course we do a minimum of 8 km every morning. In these last few days before I leave, this is likely to change somewhat as we continue to be more and more pressed for time. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

We normally do our long hikes on Mondays and Saturdays, but this coming Saturday is booked solid with parish and family commitments. Monday is the day before I leave, so I think it unlikely that we’ll be able to do a longer walk then, either.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Francine flies out two weeks later on her own adventure<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n

\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

One fun thing that we started on our last Camino: the flag. Over the years (and season by season) we have hung various flags here at Pistachio House. When we walked the Camino Primitivo<\/a> last year, we flew the flag of the Spanish region of Asturias<\/a> at home. This past week, we hung the flag of Aquitaine<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

While I’ll be walking through several regions in France<\/span>1<\/sup><\/a><\/span>– not to mention in Spain! – in the Medieval period much of this now-French land was under the rule of the Dukes of Aquitaine.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Plus, who doesn’t like a heraldic lion on a flag?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the midst of preparations and training, yesterday I also began the process of applying for the Diaconate<\/a>. I sent out a number of requests for letters of recommendation, and I began getting the required paperwork together. The application form itself is quite long and thorough. Although I began filling in the requested information, most of that will have to wait until my return.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Please pray for me and my discernment, and for all pilgrims upon the earth.<\/p>\n\n\n

\n
\"\"
Two happy pilgrims in training. I suppose it’s three if you count Dobbles the Penguin.<\/mark><\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Kit for the Via Podiensis We’ve come to that part of the pre-Camino countdown where for every two or three items I’m checking off my list, I seem to be adding one more. Today my very last piece of kit arrived – a new windbreaker\/rain shell to replace my old one. The new one is about a third the weight […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":14446,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[3,9,34],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-14434","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-planning","category-training","category-via-podiensis"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thomryng.com\/camino\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14434","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thomryng.com\/camino\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thomryng.com\/camino\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thomryng.com\/camino\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thomryng.com\/camino\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=14434"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/www.thomryng.com\/camino\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14434\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":14450,"href":"https:\/\/www.thomryng.com\/camino\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14434\/revisions\/14450"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thomryng.com\/camino\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/14446"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thomryng.com\/camino\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=14434"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thomryng.com\/camino\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=14434"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thomryng.com\/camino\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=14434"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}