Preparations

With less than three weeks to go before my next Spanish trip, I need to get myself fit. The first serious bushwalk with the Nats Group was on Sunday. We did 10.7 kms, not a lot by Camino standards but it’s a start. Mercifully there was cloud cover all the way and it made all the difference.

We started off at Point Walter. Near there is a memorial to a tragedy from WW2 in which many Australian Army Nurses perished:

The Vyner Brooke tragedy.

The memorial is in this peaceful spot.

We thought about the horrors of this episode: nothing has changed in the world.

We went on our way from Point Walter towards Fremantle and the Zephyr Cafe, where we had lunch in a gazebo. It was quite a gentle walk, but I was pretty tired being totally out of condition after the long hot summer.

A well-trodden path; river on the right.

Autumn now seems to be on the way, with cooler mornings:

Fungi shoot up overnight.

One of our street trees full of olives.

Meanwhile, I've started making a few advance bookings for my trip.  Since it's the week after Easter, when a lot of Spaniards will be on holiday, I wanted to make sure I always had a bed for the night.  I plan to use a baggage transfer service to save pressure on my knee, and I'll try to keep the daily mileage as low as I can. I have enough time to get to Santiago, but I'll probably take a few buses on some of the tricky parts. This is as far as I've got:

2022 Itinerary

SAT 16 APR Dep Perth 22.20 EK421  ($2156)

17 APR  Dep DXB 8.15 Arr BCN 13.25  Hostal Oliva 

18 APR 9.30 am train from Barcelona Sants to Pamplona  Hotel Europa 

19 APR 12.00 ALSA bus to SJPP Arr 1.30  €23   Hotel Itzalpea

20 APR Valcarlos   (12km)  Apartamentos de Montana Mendiola; Casa Ferran  

21 APR Roncesvalles (12km)  Albergue  

22 APR Linzoain  (13.8km) Posada El Camino (Carmen Luis) 

SAT 23 APR Larrasoana  (13.4km)  Casa Tao  

24 APR Zabaldika?  (7.1km)  Albergue opens c.15 Apr

25 APR Pamplona?

26 APR Puente la Reina by bus?  Hotel Bidean