refugios

[Andrea Innes-Michailov]

It all sounds fabulous, especially sleeping under the big shady tree!
Thanks for the really good advice.  I am relieved that the refugios are
close together as I did not know that.  I had planned to increase my daily
goals as I went along.  I figured 5 miles was a good place to start and
improve on since I am not "miss athlete".  Setting goals is necessary so I
can know what city to start my journey in also but I am no so worried about
following a schedule per say.  My one weather question would be, how cold
can I expect it to get in May and would bringing my scottish wool sweater be
wise or foolish?  I understand the layer idea but I wondered just how cold I
should layer for????

Thanks again Diane

Andrea
andreaahq.idt.net

> -----Original Message-----
> From: Road to Santiago Pilgrimage [mailto:GOCAMINOaPETE.URI.EDU]On
> Behalf Of Diane Grust
> Sent: Monday, February 04, 2002 4:04 PM
> To: GOCAMINOaPETE.URI.EDU
> Subject: Re: refugios
>
>
> I do not suggest "planning" too far in advance.  And 20 kilometers up the
> Pyrenees is not the same as 20 km on a flat surface so distances cannot be
> planned for by numbers in my mind at least.  Everyone I know who
> walked did
> fewer kilometers in the beginning and more as the days went on and their
> condition improved.  I walked in may and there was not a full day of rain
> (although it did rain on the overnights a few time and I mean pour which
> means mud the next day which is often difficult to navigate and well quite
> simply takes more time) in addition to that I ran into a heat wave in the
> middle with temperature well over 100 and found that even more
> debilitating
> than the rain.
>
> Last spring it was my understanding from my friend in Portugal that last
> April was very wet indeed ... and there was flooding in a lot of Spain and
> Portugal where it generally does not occur.  That said I used
> www.weather.com
> to check the weather up until my departure.  However, you have
> touched on my
> sore spot as no one can predict the weather.  When I was in
> Pamplona I read
> the weather in the newspaper and it stated that tomorrow would be
> variable.
> And it was... misty low lying clouds in the morning, patches of
> sun, then no
> sun then cold winds, some very light misty rain all in one day so the best
> advice is to bring clothes that can get you through a wide range in
> temperatures as you will most certainly experience that at that
> time of the
> year.
>
> As for your fear of ending up in the middle of nowhere I
> generally think that
> is ungrounded.  There are a few stretches where there is nothing
> for 20 kms
> or so but they are few and far between.  There are at other times refugios
> within 4 or 5 kilometers of each other so you will be passing one
> or more a
> day.  Again the csj clearly states the distances and a quick perusal of it
> should put your mind at ease.    I generally had a "goal" in mind
> for the day
> but I also walked either more or less depending upon circumstances which
> included the how I felt, visiting sites I wanted to see, a too
> good to pass
> up lunch invitation, the desire for a nap under a big shady
> tree.... in other
> words just see where it goes.
>
> Diane
>