Today is July 17th and we are in the middle of an old-fashioned heat wave here in Southern Maine. It's only 94 degrees at 3 in the afternoon and the beaches in Kennebunk are jammed. But we need to try to stick to our training schedule to prepare ourselves for out long walking journey. We have only seven weeks to go before departure to Madrid and we know it will be hot in Spain in September too. We went out for a 10 mile walk a few days ago, carrying 10 pounds in our Gregory backpacks and the trip along the Eastern Trail and the back roads of Kennebunk and Arundel was really a rough experience. I was semi-OK with the heat but my boots were laced too tightly and my right ankle started to get abraded against the Blaze brace I wear. Joan, who has a narrow temperature comfort zone, really felt the heat, even though we both drank plenty of water along the way and even stopped for about 20 minutes at the Seed & Bean coffee house in West Kennebunk for a cafe con leche. Even though we both were wearing really light-weight clothes, all made of some exotic polytech fast-drying fabric, we were both dripping wet when we got home. But at least the polytech stuff dries fast. No "killer-cotton" clothes for us!
Our intention this week was to walk three consecutive days for 10 miles, carrying a 66% load of 10 pounds in our backpacks. Next month we jump up to carrying a full load -15 pounds for me and 12 for Joan - as a replication of our schedule in Spain, where we will walk every day for 16-20 kilometers and can't take a "lay day" while staying in an albergue de perigrinos (pilgrim hostel) because that's the rule! All pilgrims must be up and out by 8 AM. We do plan to stay in a pension or hotel about once a week just to take a day or two off, soak in a hot bath and clean up a bit essentially pampering ourselves in recognition of the fact that we are not 25 years old any more.
So while we will have logged well over 300 miles walking during our six month preparation, we're getting a little worried that we haven't yet done enough consecutive days or enough vertical climbs. Those Pyrenees aren't getting any flatter and there is no place to stop and spend the night on the second 12 mile climb from Orrison to Roncesvalles. We're heading up to Franconia Notch this Friday to hike up to Lonesome Lake and try some climbs in the White Mountains of NH. Our thought at one time was to walk up and down the auto road on Mt. Washington- at 6,288 feet it's the highest mountain east of the Mississippi. Maybe if this hot weather breaks a little bit and we get down to a more seasonal 70 degree range we'll try it. Stay tuned!
