Vagabonding

[mjh]

EDIT: Has mehdi gone on his trip to Spain? I haven't seen him around in a while.

Yeah, he's been away for some time now. The articles on the blog were pre-written and scheduled.

[holvoetn]

EDIT: Has mehdi gone on his trip to Spain? I haven't seen him around in a while.

Yeah, he's been away for some time now. The articles on the blog were pre-written and scheduled.

He surely wrote a LOT of them

[vibragreen]

When does he get back? I can't wait to hear the stories he'll have.

[Mehdi]

Back since wednesday night.

Arrived in Sevilla where I spent 4 crazy nights. Then started walking the Via De La Plata. Blisters on day 1. Awfull muscle soreness on day 2. Painful knees & hips starting day 3. Day 5 I started getting pain in my left heel. I didn't saw it coming, but this turned out to be plantar fasciitis. My fault: neglected to stretch sore calves & shins. Walked 25km with the plantar fasciitis on day 6. Day 7 pain in heel was impossible and right knee was hurting bad because I was using that leg more. Decided to quit after 5km on day 7. Walked 150km total.

I met complainers who said that the Via de la plata is impossible. While it's probably the hardest thing I ever did, I don't agree. Yes it's rough and sometimes dangerous. 2 times I had to walk on a highway for up to 17km. That and the constant up & downhills is killing on your knees. Often there's nothing between the towns you leave and go to for like 30kms. Which means you only have the water you take with you (1.5l - more is too much weight). Some parts are dangerous since if something happens, it would take a long time before someone finds you: you're in the middle of nowhere.

But water is not a problem if you drink enough on waking up (3liters in my case) and when you arrive and leave early. Packing light (6kg for me) is a must. My main mistake was bad footwear. Went with teva sandals which people on camino forums recommended because Sevilla is so warm. I would wear trailing shoes next time. Other mistakes: not reading on blister treatment and neglecting to stretch.

Anyway, met many people in Sevilla, was meeting 20-30 people a day during the whole thing. So I received plenty of ideas for places to go to. Spent a few days resting and taking care of plantar fasciitis in Zafra & Caceres, north of Sevilla. Took about 10 days for the plantar fasciitis to go away. Then went back to Sevilla. Then Lagos & Lisbon in Portugal. Then back to Spain: Madrid, Valencia, Barcelona & finally San Sebastian.

While I didn't stick to the original plan, and was pretty pissed having to quit the walk, the whole thing had its intended effect. This turned out into a big social experiment, gave me lots of time to think about everything, etc. This was my first time travelling alone, and I'll be doing it more in the future.

Let me know if you got questions.

[vibragreen]

So are you saying you got those muscle pains just from walking on the first day? That's intense.

[Ghost]

I'm not really surprised about getting muscle pains from "just" walking. Anyone who's not used to walking long distances is bound to get it. (I'm making the assumption that Mehdi hasn't hiked 30 kmish trips regularly before that trip. Feel free to correct me on this if you did actually. )

Sounds like you had a really interesting time though. I've sort of missed the feeling one gets from marching (or at least in the end of it ), haven't done any of it since army. I'm curious though, why only 6kg of baggage and 1.5l water? From my experience, 20 kg would be a lot better, provided that the majority of that weight is water and food, say like 14 kg of it. The worst thing when marching was not the distance but the lack of energy. That's when the pain and fatigue really kicks in.

[Mehdi]

@Ghost
You're right, never walked that much. Body does adapt quickly though, soreness was gone by the 5th day. Then the plantar fasciitis started holding me back. I do walk a lot generally, never take bus/tram/metro to get anywhere in a city. Was easily walking 10km/day the rest of the trip. But it's a different game when wearing a backpack.

You don't need to carry 14kg food on the via de la plata/camino frances/etc since you can buy that easily in each town. No need for tents neither, there are cheap albergues/pensions in each town. Food/water is only an issue between towns that you have 20-40kms of nothingness.

I read this article saying your backpack shouldn't weigh more than 10% of your body-weight. I sticked to that rule (7.5kg at 73kg body-weight) and it still felt heavy.

I was walking in a fasted state all the time. Feels better for me when waking up at 5:30am with already 30°C temperatures. Didn't had any lack of energy. One thing I learned is to keep walking, without taking breaks. Very hard to get back into the groove after taking a break (both physically & mentally). And you want to get there asap anyway, since it gets too hot afterwards.

[Ghost]

Ah alright, cool, well then perhaps not 14kg food but I'd certainly take a lot more than 1,5 liters of water. Dehydration was a very real risk and the temperatures weren't even close to 30C even though we did majority of the marches during summer.
Though damn.. fasting? I'd never be able to walk in a fasted state. Learned the hard way that it's something that just doesn't work with my body.

We certainly have different experiences on walking, 'cause I learned that the best method was to walk 50 minutes and then rest 10 minutes. How long did it take for you to walk about 30km?

Do you happen to remember why the article told to pack only 10% of one's weight? I'm a bit curious about that since our regular gear weighed 42 kg and when one got unlucky and were handed the radio or a tent, the weight was more closer to 60 kg. It was certainly painful and exhausting but well within the physical limits of everyone in our team. Of course, if the point is to also enjoy the walk, one might not be inclined to carry that much stuff.

[Mehdi]

I solved the dehydration thing by drinking 3 liters before leaving and probably 5-6l when arriving. Was getting 10l per day and eating lots of fruit and stuff. Never had cramps.

There were calculations on that article (can't find it) on how backpack weight and weight of shoes you wear influences stress on your back/knees.

Usually walking 6-7h/day, leaving at 6 arriving around noon just before it started to really get warm. Longest walk was 38km (left at 6am arrived at 4pm).

I've met guys (and girls) who did the camino frances with 25kg and more. Your body gets used to everything, so I'm sure it can be done.

[vibragreen]

I am planning on backpacking from through the UK (England, Scotland, Isle of man, and Ireland) sometime next year. What advice can you give someone who's never attempted something like this before?

[Mehdi]

Quick stuff:

• Get Rick Steve's book. Half of the book is tips on backpacking (transport, money, safety, philosophy, etc). Good stuff.
• Get vagabonding and take it with you.
• Get a lonely planet of great britain/ireland to get general idea of great places to go.
• Set some general outline of where you'll be going. But don't stick to it. The people you'll meet will talk about great places, it's ok to change your plans.
• Go slow and don't try to do too much. You won't be able to see the whole country in 1 month. Stay in a city at least 3 days to get a good feel for it.
• Mix things up. Do cities, do nature, do nightlife, do adventure/sports, etc. Otherwise it will get repetitive & boring.
• Use hostelbookers. Hostels are great when travelling alone, easy to meet people. And cheap. Go for the ones with best reviews.
• Keep a journal. Moleskine.
• Travel light. Strict minimum.
• Safety. Max 20€ on you, leave credit cards in backpack, cheap camera, don't walk around drunk at night, don't believe all the crap you might hear about unsafety, cheap camera and don't walk around with it all the time, no phone, no watches, etc.

Hope that helps.

[DaveT]

@Mehdi
Apart from the annoying leg pain, sounds like you had a great trip. Also invaluable advice about packing as little as possible. I find trail running shoes are the best all round footwear for traveling. Smart enough to go out to a bar at night, useful enough to trek up a mountain the next day.

I am planning on backpacking from through the UK (England, Scotland, Isle of man, and Ireland) sometime next year. What advice can you give someone who's never attempted something like this before?

Check this site, especially the bit about what to pack. The most common mistake is that people take way too much gear as they try to prepare for every eventuality.
http://www.travelindependent.info/index.htm

If you're backpacking in the UK and Ireland, then you won't need to carry a lot of water as it is a) cool (probably raining ) and b) you can fill a small water bottle from streams, rivers etc. Obviously you wouldn't do this in the Mekong in Vietnam, but a stream in the Highlands of Scotland is different.

[Gringo]

Dude, the movie you recommended "A Map for Saturday", totally blew me away! Inspiring to the extreme... but 20000 for a year round world wide trip seems to much for the moment.. I guess I'll plan locally and on shorter time periods (South America for 3-4 months). Keep on inspiring!