27 Days to departure! More Logistics...

So, less than a month to departure and I'm sorry to say that I have not made nearly enough progress. The walking preparation itself is going well.. the two three-day walks satisfactorily completed, and I am booked into accommodation in Hebden Bridge for a week from next Friday.

Hebden Bridge is a nice town a few miles from Haworth and the Pennine Way goes past it. It is nothing if not a hilly area, and I am hoping that when I come back I shall be able to motor up hills - as is something of a requirement, in the Pyrenees.

One other thing I shall be doing in Hebden Bridge is to provide daily updates to this blog, via my Samsung Galaxy 5 phone, hopefully with photos, just to see that it is do-able and all working properly..

I am pretty much happy with my gear now, tried and tested on the two three day walks and my previous trips, for example on the Pennine Way last year. I have bought a new smartphone and an external battery that will keep it charged for a week or more. I need that not just for internet updates (and even the odd phone call?) but because this time, all of my maps will be on it, I will go completely paperless apart I think from the Joosten HRP Guide which I must either take or scan into a Word document. Or buy the Kindle edition, which at £12.23 seems steep, but is still better than 320 scans!

One side effect of this is that the phone becomes a vital piece of kit. To the point where I think I might have to take the old s3 phone as backup. Losing the phone or having it just stop working would leave me with no map or guidebook as well as no gps location .. or even phone calls!

Beyond that, little has been done. I still have to book the train tickets and any accommodation needs, and that is my top priority now, I will do that this week. The other high priority is route planning. I need an outline for the trip day by day.. it is not necessary to adhere to it, but the outline must be there because as all chess players know, a bad plan is much better than no plan at all; a bad plan can always be improved but with no plan, you just flounder. I will take my laptop and maps to Hebden Bridge, and hope to work on them in the evenings and come back with a completed outline..

July in the Pyrenees,
2013. I hope not to
have so much snow
this year; but I must cope with what I am given

 The Cirque du Lescun, part of the High Pyrenees... 2013, hence all the snow

Friends.. even though I set off and walk on my own, and the Pyrenees is not a busy part of the world, it is surprising how many people you meet and talk to.. and have things in common with. Arne (on the right) and John at the back are friends I am still in touch with. Trying to remember where this was.. Lescun maybe