So on Friday and Saturday (3-4 May), we did our first long training walk for the Camino: across the Chiltern hills, 22 miles from Princes Risborough to Goring-on-Thames on Friday, and 15 miles from Goring to Henley the following day, carrying bigger rucksacks than usual, with our overnight gear for a night in a pub.  It brought some nice surprises, and some scenes of beauty that really lifted the soul.

The good news is that we came through unscathed in terms of blisters or injuries, and felt that we rather enjoyed it, and could have walked the next day.  That’s a bit of luck, since on the Camino, we have to walk for 33 days, with maybe three rest days in there somewhere!  We were helped by the weather, above all – especially for me – that it wasn’t too hot, but with not much rain either. 

We got a few insights to help with our preparations.  I think I’m going to get a new rucksack, since the one I had worked well, but is 20 years old, so a more modern one might be lighter.  The weight of the sack is heavily influenced by the amount of liquid being carried, so if, as a previous pilgrim said, you can fill your water bottle regularly along the way, that will help no end.  Things felt magically easier after lunch, when we had reduced the load and refuelled, obviously in the same motion.

It was also a start on getting into the right mindset for a long walk.  Friday was more like the Camino than Saturday, in that about four hours of it was along the Ridgeway: some sources say travellers have used it for 5,000 years, so it makes the Camino look recent, but more relevant is that it’s a marked trail heading in much the same direction for long stretches at a time.  Sometimes the terrain varies, sometimes not.  On Saturday, Judith planned and navigated a cross-country route along smaller paths, so we had to map-read more carefully.  I need to find ways of managing through the periods when your rucksack hurts, your feet start to feel sore, and there are many hours still to go.  Tips welcome.

A couple of things helped.  Both days, we came upon refreshment that we weren’t expecting.  On Saturday, there was a café in Stoke Row, at just the right point.  And the day before, we saw a notice outside Nuffield Church, inviting walkers in for tea, coffee and biscuits – as well as the food and drink, I felt lifted by the open-hearted welcome and hospitality from this small Oxfordshire church, and we gladly made a donation in thanks.

Most uplifting of all were the views that epitomise spring in the Chilterns: the sun shining through the fresh bright green leaves on the beech trees, and lighting up the bluebells underneath through the dappled shade. 

Gerard Manley Hopkins writes about:

 “Spring’s universal bliss…
When drop-of-blood-and-foam-dapple
Bloom lights the orchard apple … 
And azuring-over greybell makes
Wood banks and brakes wash wet like lake”

This kind of natural beauty feels sweet-bitter-sweet: the sight makes you glad to be alive, tempered with regret that the leaves will become darker and dustier and the bluebells will fade, balanced by the knowledge that spring comes every year, and different seasons have their high points too. 

Plenty to look forward to and reflect on during the walks to come.