It is about that time of the trip and this blog to list what we have learned so that you may learn with us and avoid the same pitfalls.
1. Do NOT trust Accuweather, Weather.com, the Underground Weather….. well you get the drift. For weeks we have been monitoring the weather in Spain and Portugal. NO rain or very little. Maybe one day. It has now rained for three days and it is cold, too. Bahhhhhh. It appears that we may have one day of sunshine for the next five walks.
2. Do NOT believe you can walk a 20 minute mile without knowing the surface and elevation. I really naively thought that we would start off in the morning and by one would be having lunch in our new city. We are walking hours on rough surfaces and now in Spain up elevations. We are Lucy to get to the next station by 3:00 or even 4.
3. Do not believe the mileage reported by the trail or by Google maps. Add 3-4 miles in your reckoning.
4. Do not bring “nice” clothes for afternoon (you won’t be home in time to unpack them) or for the evening because you will be too tired to move.
5. Do bring a corkscrew.
6. Understand that you WILL have blisters on your feet even if you have never had one before.
7. Don’t expect that everyone in the shops and cafes speaks English. Get good at gestures or learn to use Google translate quickly enough to be of use.
8. Don’t buy a Made in China rain coat from a local store because your poncho is so unwieldy. What few fingernails you have will be torn off trying to unsnap it or you will tear off the snaps and surrounding material. Bring a good rain coat with you even if you get duped by weather stations.
9. Bring a corkscrew.
10. Suck it up and take a cab if you need a rest and get out of the rain.
One of you asked about our hotels. They have been nice to very nice, but this is what the room looks like when two people unload their contents trying to find blister bandages or a corkscrew.
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