First Saturday of Fall

Yesterday we did our usual 9-10 miles in Warner Park on the pavement.   What a great day it was.   Not too hot,  partly sunny,  and the leaves were beginning to change. I love this time of year.   You could smell the dry leaves as we crunched them underfoot.

We have a system of biting off chunks of our long hikes in 2.5 mile increments. 2.5 miles and we take a 10 minute break. 2.5 and we take 30 minutes off, and so on.  We found some flat rocks on the edge of a golf course and had water and watched the world go by. After that we continued on for 2.5 more and then broke for a1/2 hour lunch of Italian subs made by Lu, of course. Our lunch spot was a new park shelter complete with picnic tables and hearth.  Great place with a great view. The rest of the afternoon was spent banging out the clicks.   All very enjoyable.

16k today (it sounds better than 10 miles)

So today we hiked 10 miles.   I had a 25 lb. pack and Lu carried 7 lbs.  Last Sunday she turned her ankle and it's finally feeling better.   It started out an ugly purple and is now green.   She still says it hurts some but she gutted it out. We decided to walk on paved road because much of the Camino is paved and there was less chance of re injuring herself.   It was much cooler and lower humidity so the miles clicked by relatively easily. Once we were home it was evident to us that pavement was hard on our tootsies, but it's nothing a little vino de tinto and great food won't cure.

Exploring the Spanish culture i.e. FOOD!

Tapas and pinchos. Mmmmm!

Paella of course (seafood)

Where do I start?

So I guess this all began when we first watched the movie, "The Way" back in 2011. We have always had an interest in hiking. We moved to Nashville recently, and in our exploration of the area we crossed paths with the Appalachian Trail a few times. The AT has always intrigued me and knowing that Lu would have none of the overnight camping it involves I started checking into "inn to inn" hiking with no camping.  It exists, but my scheduled time off work is in October, so it would have been getting cold at elevation.  I hate cold weather.  Our idea?  The Camino de Santiago in Spain, of course. So in May 2014 we began our research, gathered gear, and started hiking.  Lots of hiking.

Lu trying on backpacks at one of our frequent trips to REI.

New packs!

Is this really waterproof? 

Hiking. Lots and lots of hiking...