Cottage Camino - Pickering to Westney Road and Concession 9

May 26 - Fortified by a sleep in our own beds, Dave drove us to Bayley and Church street in Ajax, a few kms from where we finished yesterday. Our goal was to follow Duffin's Creek, through parks and Conservation Areas, north to Uxbridge. But the maps were inadequate, and when we used the  GPS, the Trans Canada trail  (TCT) kept appearing and disappearing  on the screen.

Here is the map we were trying to use.
http://old1.tctrail.ca/pdf/DurhamRegionTCTGuide.pdf

We entered a park, called Major Spink Area, with the TCT designation, but soon had to backtrack. Next, through a hydro field path, then east to Westney Road. We walked some distance through the Greenwood Conservation area, ending at Pickering village museum https://www.pickering.ca/en/museum.asp



There we ate our lunch, at a picnic bench, and the helpful staff tried to find out the route of the TCT, as we were to follow Paddock road, and the paving of 407 cut it off just north of there.
With no clear path, we decided to walk over the 407 on Westney road, which had signs up saying it was closed to through traffic. Were we local traffic, or were we through traffic? We decided on local, and walked over the bridge.

We connected with the trail again as it goes through the Claremont Field Center, run by the Toronto and Region Conservation Authority https://trca.ca/learning/facilities/claremont-field-centre/
but we couldn't find the trail markings through the center, so we were back on the road again.

We ended for the day at Concession 9, and Dave picked us up and returned us once again to our own beds.
The highlights of the day for me were the many rabbits we saw on the trail, the beautiful wildflowers, and the camraderie of our fellow pilgrims. Frustrations: trying to find and follow the TCT!

Cottage Camino- Scarborough to Pickering

I had mused about walking from Toronto to my cottage in Fenelon Falls many times with my grandson Cy, but when I mentioned it to my hiking friends Lise and Pat, they said " Let's do it!"
So, from May 25 to 29, we walked from Toronto to the cottage, except for one 20 km stretch which we walked on July 19.

It was a very hot week in May: around 30 at the hottest time, midday. The temperature prevented us from doing the whole distance, as we had to stop when the heat was too much for us. The section we postponed was along the Trans Canada Trail, which is flat, straight, and not shaded.

We began our hike from Pat's home at Kingston Road near Warden. The path along the
 Waterfront Trail   http://www.waterfronttrail.org/ 
was familiar to us, as we have hiked it many times before.

Pat B (her picture) Lise, Lynne, Darlene and Ada

 Ada and Lynne joined us for the day, so the 5 of us set out, along the trail and Kingston road, stopping for a short break at Peggy's, as we knew that the washrooms were few and far between once we went down to the beach via theDoris McCarthy Trail at Brimley
 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NLn2gPF-oUc.

Once we arrived at Guildwood, we climbed up, walked through Guildwood Park
http://www1.toronto.ca/parks/prd/facilities/complex/406/
and back along roads to East Point Park with great (closed) facilities, where we ate lunch. Then down to the water again, through Stevenson Swamp and Lower Highland Creek Park
http://www1.toronto.ca/parks/prd/facilities/complex/4/

 We passed the Rouge Hill Go station, then the lovely waterfront at Rough Beach Park,
https://trca.ca/parks/rouge-park/?gclid=CLLnjqa2mc4CFYKAaQodiCUO1Q
with wetlands, and a boardwalk,

 and picnic tables for another snack. We crossed the river via an interesting bridge, then we were in Pickering - finally out of Toronto!

We walked through Petticoat Creek Conservation Area,
 
 then up the west side of Frenchman's Bay. We had hoped to go down the other side to Duffin's Creek and eventually follow it all the way to Uxbridge, but by the time we hit the north side of the Bay, we were done. 30 kms, and there was the Pickering Go Station. We caught the next train back to Danforth, and from the train we were able to see quite a bit of the trail. We walked from 8 am to around 2 pm, to get to Pickering,  and it took us 20 minutes on the train to return.
Back home, rest up, and off again tomorrow.

Kelowna, spring 2016, hiking with friends and family

I spent 3 weeks in Kelowna this spring, though by the weather and the gardens, it seemed like summer. The cherry blossoms were done, and the trees were in full leaf. It was too hot some afternoons to hike, as there is little shade and lots of pavement and stone, instead of all the green lawns and fields that I find in Toronto.

I hiked in Mission Creek park with the Keen Poles hiking group, then explored more of it on my own.

I hiked several times in Scenic Canyon Regional Park. The pathway was just a 10 minute walk from where Aislinn lives. If you turned right, you could walk about 12 kms to Lake Okanagan, which I did several times. If you turned left, the trail climbed gently toward the mountains. Next time I'll make time to walk further this way.

Mission Creek in Scenic Canyon

Overlooking the creek from the canyon

Here is the backpack I occasionally carried!








The family and I went walking in Chichester Wetland Park, looking for turtles.






Turtles spotted!





And ducks!




http://www.kelowna.ca/CM/Page4813.aspx
This is the website for Chichester.

Another park we visited is Maude Roxby Wetland, right on the lake.
We were able to walk the boardwalk around the entire wetland, and saw many birds and turtles.

 

I pursued another of my interests in Kelowna - thrifting!
There are about 13 thrift stores in Kelowna, and I met my goal of 100kms a week by walking to 10 of them.
I found a new Camino hat, and several more merino sweaters and the Tilley pants ( guaranteed for life) that I will wear on the Camino in August and September.

Kelowna is a hiker's paradise, especially if you drive into the mountains.

Unanswerable questions about the Camino

Unanswerable questions about the Camino

The counter on my blog is about to tick over to 20,000 hits, so here is a reflection I prepared for our Toronto Camino Meeting March 19, 2016.

I have been asked many questions about the Camino, and some of them are difficult to answer.
Like:

Is it difficult?
Well, what is difficult about it?

The physical exertion? 
Train with your equipment by yourself and with others, and ask yourself - Is it difficult?
Ask other pilgrims what physical problems they had.
It's personal.


Sleeping with snorers?
Earplugs and the day's exertion may solve that one, or perhaps you will learn that you need a private room.

Carrying it all on your back?
Prepare your list, pack it and carry it on walks in increments, and ask other pilgrims about their experience. You may need to ship your bag on occasion.

Is it religious?
Are you religious? If you are, then God will be present with you every day, in the people you meet, the churches you enter and the services you attend. You can be God's hands and feet on the Camino, as you walk in community with other pilgrims.

Is it spiritual?
What do you mean by spiritual? Dawn's early light? Helping one another? A kind word or gesture when you are exhausted? A cuckoo greeting you each morning? Lifting your eyes to the mountains? All of these you will experience, but it is your idea of "spiritual" that matters.

Why do you keep going back? 
The answer is different for everyone. I have a long list of answers to that, but the short answer is "Because I can", and Magdalena's answer is "Why not?" It's personal. As my walking partner in 2014 said "Now I know why no one can answer this question. You have to experience it to understand it." The journey makes you a pilgrim.

Let me quote Leonard Cohen's CD Songs for the Road.
The road is not a line between places. It is a place between places. A place of it's own.
If departure is the past and arrival is the future, then the road is the present and there is nothing more spiritually difficult or spiritually rewarding than learning to live significantly in the present.

Let me ask you one last question from Mary Oliver.
Tell me... what are you doing with your one wild and precious life?

Training, part 2

Several people have kindly suggested that perhaps my training agenda in my recent post was a bit over the top. I love to walk, so I walk a lot, maybe more than is necessary for training. Some might characterize my regimen as excessive, or perhaps obsessive, so here is what I think is a minimum that you might consider in preparation for the Camino.

Do some kind of regular walking -  to accustom the body, and to encourage the happy hormones.

Walk at least 100 km, over a number of days, in the shoes you plan to wear. After each walk, take off the shoes and look for any red or hot spots on your feet and ankles. Are your shoes big enough? Would you benefit from 2 pairs of socks? Or perhaps try vaseline the next time. My feet were vaselined every morning on the Camino.

Practice with your poles. You will be able to go farther, faster, and it will take some of the weight from your feet, hips and knees.

Find someone, or a group, who has walked the Camino, so you can listen and learn, and share your own plans. Going through your packed backpack with a veteran can also be very helpful. Attending an information session can answer a lot of questions and allay some fears.

Get your backpack, try it out, and get help getting it fitted. When you are sure it works for you, and fits you well, start wearing it while walking. Gradually fill it up, so that by the time you leave, you have walked with the weight you will carry on the Camino. Aim for approximately 10% of your body weight, and remember that the weight will grow as you add water and snacks.

Walk 2 hours. Then walk 2 hours with your backpack. Then walk 3, then 4 hours, then 5 hours with your backpack. Then walk 5 hours on 2 consecutive days. Track the distance, so that you know that you can walk 20 kms on 2 consecutive days. If you can do that and enjoy it, you will be ready.

You could always do more to prepare. Some people show up in untried equipment and make it. And then, some people have to give up as a result of injuries, chronic conditions that flare up, accidents, and just plain doing too many kms. I am a prudent pilgrim. I go prepared. But truly, I am training not just for an upcoming Camino, but for life.

Tools for training

What tools do I need to help me to accomplish my training goals?

First, the goals, for me, need to be concrete and achievable. 100 kms per week is a challenge most weeks, and I achieve it most weeks. I track my steps with a LifeTrak watch. It records my step, calorie burn and distance each day, then charts them for the week. Many people who walk with me use a Fitbit, and the info is on your wrist and in your computer, but as I don't have internet access at home, that wouldn't be an advantage for me. My watch was a gift from my daughter and went on my last Camino with me. I am very satisfied with the way it monitors my walking.

I lead walks, so there is incentive for me to be out there 3 times a week, with a plan ( and snacks for everybody). Being accountable to others help me get out of bed every morning. I'll blog later with some snack recipes, and also another blog post on my favourite walks here in Toronto. I don't have a car, so I go everywhere on foot or transit, and occasionally in a shared ride. The way I see it, if I have the time to walk to a destination, then I don't see taking transit ( and thus I save money towards the next Camino). I also can read and walk, so when I have a great book to read, I am happy to walk and read outside.

Since I don't have a back seat to toss items into, I carry a backpack everywhere. I have food, water, reading material, my wallet, my to-do list, and sometimes maps and miscellaneous other items. It often weighs 10 pounds ( and more, as I shop for groceries most days), so when I put on my Camino backpack, I am used to the weight. I use a MEC daypack.
It looks like this one. I like them with a flat bottom so they don't fall over when I set them down.

 

I have lots of coats ( the benefits of thrifting, mostly) but the ones I wear the most are waterproof and lined with fleece. It is easy to layer underneath, so that I can wear the same coat if it is raining, snowing, sleeting, or sunny and 10' or lower. I don't often wear my down jacket, as it isn't warm when wet. I do have a down vest, and I love it for layering. I have the weather channel on mute most mornings, so I can decide how many layers to wear under my coat.

I only wear Keen Shoes. I go through 2 pairs a year - one pair of sandals, which I wear as long as possible, even with socks (gasp!), and another pair of shoes for cooler weather. This is what the shoes look like. I wear a men's size 43, as my feet are very wide ( partly thanks to all the walking) and also thanks to genetics. I wear them a size larger that I might if I weren't doing all this walking, allowing room for swelling and sweating and merino socks.


 This is the sandal I wear, and these are the two shoes I take on the Camino. The sandal is heavier than clogs or flip flops, which are popular with pilgrims, but I am able to wear these on the trail, with socks, if I need a change from the heavier shoes. I also can wear them into the shower room, but I go into the shower itself in bare feet.

Using poles while walking in Toronto is a good idea. They take some of the weight off your feet, knees and hips, and give the upper body a bit of a workout. Mine are missing right now, or I would be using them, and I might not have slipped and fallen in the mud on Friday!


Here's a picture from 2 years ago, as I was training for my 2014 Camino - so far we have had no snow in Toronto! Thanks for the picture, Julie.





Buen Camino!

Plans for training for my 2016 Camino

I'm walking the Camino this summer and fall. I'll be turning 70 while I am there, so I am giving careful thought to my training in preparation for about 4 weeks of walking, and 2 weeks of 18 hour days, caring for pilgrims at Refugio Gaucelmo in Rabanal.

The largest part of my training is the walks that I lead here in Toronto. I have been leading 3 hikes a week for several years, and I'll continue to do that while I am in Toronto.
On Mondays, we walk for about 4 hours with a break for coffee - about 15 km.
On Tuesdays, we walk for an hour or so, then have coffee, and walk home - roughly 6 or 7 kms.
On Fridays, my goal is 20 kms. Sometimes we go further, especially if we walk home after lunch. Sometimes it is shorter.
That adds up to roughly 43 kms on training walks.
I walk about the same amount over the week, doing my errands. I walk to pick up my grandson, to pick up my email at the library, to church on Sunday and back again, food shopping.....I walk almost everywhere I go.
My goal is 100 kms per week, and I have averaged that over the last 18 months.


Miguel Cura did this caricature of me and put it on his blog. He walked the Camino with his dad, and trained a few times with us. See his Camino at miguelcura.com

I also attend a 90 minute Iyengar yoga class each week, and have been doing this for the past 12 years. It has helped my stamina, strength and balance, and I enjoy it (mostly).

I wear a backpack wherever I go, and it usually weighs in at about 10 pounds, so that is part of the training too. When I start to practice with my Camino backpack, I hardly notice a difference.

I am thinking of walking to my cottage this spring as part of my training. It is about 120 kms, and most of it can be done on trails. I have friends along the way, so I can possibly stay at various homes, maybe taking 5 days to walk it. So far, I have no definite plans, just the possibility, but it is a fun idea.

All this walking makes me a happy woman!

I read about the Camino, follow blogs, and help to organize our twice yearly meetings about the Camino. Yes, and I dream the Camino!