In 2013 we started the Camino de Santiago in Spain by walking 119 miles (192 km) in 11 days. In 2014 we continued from where we left off and walked another 183 miles (294 km) in 13 days. It’s now time to go back for our third (and hopefully final) time to walk the remaining 183 miles (294 km) and complete the pilgrimage by making it to Santiago de Compostela!

Once again, we’ve walked about 200 miles (320 km) in training over the last three months, and once again, our friends Ted and Lisa from Sweden will be joining us. Our gear is mostly the same as last year too, but I have a feeling the rain coats, rain pants, and backpack covers will get a bit more use this year. The first year was a total rain-out, the second year didn’t have a single drop of rain, and now we’re going back into the hills and lush green forests, so we’re prepared for getting a bit wet again this time.

And since, for the first time, we actually have an endpoint, we have an actual walking schedule to go with it. We’ve carefully mapped out each of the 14 days and arranged things so that our distance will average around 14 miles (23 km) per day. We know exactly when we’ll be leaving the flat ground of the Meseta (plains) and when we’ll be going over the steep mountains in the region of Galicia. Everything is planned out and should go exactly according to schedule.

Yeah, right. ;-)

You’d think that after doing this two previous years we’d have everything figured out now. But each year is a bit different, and the last-minute packing, re-packing, and stressing about each tiny bit of weight never gets easier. Our packs are ready to go though — we have our “Camino passports”, our real passports, and our plane tickets. Plus enough excitement and adrenaline to hopefully make it to Santiago.

It’s now T-minus 2 days until we fly to Spain, and it’ll all start up again on Saturday, May 23rd in the tiny town of Villar de Mazarife where we stopped last year — here we go again!