Mark O’Sullivan walked 5 Camino routes between 2013 and 2018. He has also been a volunteer in the main pilgrims’ information centre in France from where many pilgrims commence their Camino, heading up and across the Pyrenees and into Spain.
His next challenge is to walk you through on how to get Camino ready when you are going to walk for the first time.
This website exists to help people planning to embark on a challenging yet immensely rewarding one, namely following ancient pilgrims routes that end in Santiago in western Spain.
Depending on where you start from it can be 1800-2000 km or if from St Jean Pied de Port about 800 km.
To help people prepare for their journey, Mark in consultation with other walkers wrote “Backpacks, Boots & Blisters” published in 2017. The focus was on getting fit, having the correct footwear, backpacks, essential clothing and lots more.
All the information is based on practical experiences and written in easy to follow language so that people new to long distance walking don’t have to stop after a few days or weeks through injury or ill health.
The first edition received excellent reviews.
A second edition with a revised title, updates and a new chapter on “walking as a system” was released in 2018. The book cover is shown below.
There is a lot to learn. Spending time preparing will make all the difference.
So many fail due to blisters, carrying too much, exhaustion and dehydration which is disheartening when so much information is available on how to train and prepare.
The book available as an e-book or in print.
So buy the book for less than the cost of a packet of blister patches and a box of painkillers.