I’ve spent the past few days in Port Arlington, training for the Camino with my mate Nadine . As we live about 4 hours drive from each other, we don’t often get the opportunity to train together. So I’ve been very much looking forward to these few days of training together. This would also be our first opportunity to walk a long distance with our trek packs.

First up , before the training began we made a visit to Kathmandu in Geelong,  where I bought a new pair of hiking boots. Was feeling a bit concerned at the fact that I would be doing a long walk the next day, without them having been slowly worn in.

We started out early the next day, walking 10k along the waterfront from Port Arlington and return.  Today our walk was split into two halves, as we needed to collect Trish from the bus terminal.  Trish had travelled down from Sydney to join us, and we were feeling excited to see her. Later in the day after some shopping, lunch, coffee and general bonding etc we headed to Barwon Heads for a gorgeous walk around the waterfront and  along the walking path to Ocean Grove and return.  We were pleased to be able to see the sites from that great ABC TV series Sea Change. In total we walked 20k for the day with weighted pack and new boots. All good.

The following day we walked the Bellarine Rail Trail  Queenscliff. This was a 20k walk and on a very hot day, was a fantastic calorie burning walk. 2000 calories for the day was a good result.  The heat is good training for the Camino, which is an added bonus,  so happy with that.

My main concerns for the weekend were my trek pack and whether it would be comfortable over the course of a long distance and my new hiking boots which weren’t yet worn in. There was no need to worry at all, as both were perfect.

I now feel confident that I am ready to walk the Camino, and will definitely be well and truly ready by the time we leave.  It is a good feeling to know that I’m on track, as I have been a bit concerned that  I hadn’t done enough training. Now all that needs to be done in regard to training is to increase the strength training, which I’m planning to do this week.