A Week Before We Leave

Before

After

Today will probably be our final long training walk. We did 8 miles at San Felasco Hammock with full backpacks. You may recall that we have previously posted a photo of a tree that looked liked it might fall down any minute. It looked like that for years...but it finally fell. It didn't break at the narrow spot, but collapsed right at ground level. Happily, we weren't there when it happened.

In addition to fallen gtrees, today we saw a deer, some fence lizards, an otter, red-headed woodpeckers, and a black racer. I saw the otter way up ahead on a straight section of the trail. I thought it was a turtle, but it didn't walk right for a turtle. Then I thought it was a little black pig, until it turned and I saw its tail. Too long for a pig, so I guessed possum. Eventually it got close enough so it noticed us and ran off into the woods. Definitely an otter.

We have reservations for most of our nights on the trail. In France, reservations are needed and I decided not to try to make them while on the trail. It is perfectly possible to do that, but takes time that I'd rather be taking photos, or eating French cheese, or just enjoying the wherever I am at the moment. So I have been booking ahead by internet.

We'll stay in guest houses and hostels, and a few hotels. We'll try to post along the way using our new i-phones and the blogger app that I tried out last night with okay success.

This is the logistics and training phase and we are glad it is almost at an end. Now, we look forward to getting on the trail.