Anyone who followed me on my last couple of Caminos in 2022, namely the Camino-Frances and the Camino-Finisterre, probably also followed my 6-7 month journey of preparation I undertook before even leaving Australia. A large part of that preparation was buying, testing, and “wearing in” gear such as my hiking boots.
So it may or may not come as a surprise, that in that 6-7 months I managed to hike approximately 500km in pre-Camino training. 350km on an asphalt surface, and the last 150km on mostly dirt and/or bush/forest hiking trails. All of this, just to ensure my boots were well-moulded to my feet before having to endure the walking commitment of 18-40km per day, almost back to back, for 38 days.
And now, here I am, seven (7) weeks from leaving Australia, my new hiking boots having only just arrived, and I desperately need to start that same “boot-moulding” process to avoid possible “blister issues”. Having said that, I’m pretty sure I don’t have the time away from work to rack up 500km this time around, but I think if I can at least aim for maybe 150km, that should be achievable.
And that brings me to the subject of this post, a portion of the Canberra Centenary Trail, a nice little 21km hike along Section 1 of 7. You see, here in Canberra, Australia where I currently live, there’s a hiking/biking trail that circumnavigates the city called the Canberra Centenary Trail. If interested, you can read more about the specifics at https://www.parks.act.gov.au/find-a-nature-park/canberra-centenary-trail, but essentially, it’s broken into seven sections each averaging a little over 20km in length. In total, the official length is 156km, but there are plenty of trails and opportunities to add extra kms to the hike should you want to explore a little more.
So I thought to myself, why not complete the Canberra Centenary Trail, bit by bit, a weekend at a time, while simultaneously meeting my goal of walking at least 150km in my new boots. Simples.
Notes for Section 1 – Parliment House to Watson:
Firstly, I’d like to say that today’s (Sunday’s) hike was dedicated to my beloved, and beautiful Scottish Fold, “Tazzy”, who sadly passed away a week ago. He was with us for almost 15 loving years, and his passing was both unexpected and heart-wrenching to his mother and I. We all miss him immensely, including his little brother, “Cookie”, who is understandably a little lost without his mate of 10 years.
He was the sweetest, most gentle companion and member of our family, and we loved him dearly.
We’ll love you always Tazzy, and you’ll forever be in our hearts. xxx ooo
So with a heavy heart and thoughts of Tazzy on my mind, I set off from the Australian Parliment House in Canberra. This was the first decent hike I’d embarked on since returning from my last Camino adventure almost two (2) years ago, so I didn’t really know how I’d fair.
The new boots on my feet would eventually chalk up 21km by days end, and although the contents in the pack on my back weren’t as deliberate as they’d eventually become, it weighed 12kg and that was a good representation of the pack weight I’d like to aim for. By section-end nearly 5 hrs later, I would end up having climbed up and over two mountains and spend the last hour walking in the rain under darkened skies surrounded by a brewing thunder and lightning storm.
I started the day with my tried and trusted hydration system which held me in good stead on my last Camino once again loaded with four (4) 600ml electrolyte drinks. The first six (6) km was all road walking as I hiked from the Australian Parliment House to the Australian War Memorial. Then it was a tough trek up to the summit of Mount Ainslie along a public trail, followed by a quick break and charge of some camera batteries before heading off to the next mountain summit, Mount Majura. During the ascent of Mount Majura, the first sprinklings of rain fell and, after throwing a rain cover on my pack, I decided to bust out my trusty hiking poles for extra traction on the slippery track ahead.
Mount Majura summited, I back-tracked for a kilometre before starting the gradual descent towards the Section-end.
A little out of touch with the battery management procedures I had honed so well a couple of years ago, my Suunto fitness watch ran out of steam about 200m from the Section-end. So, I stood in that spot, in the rain for about 10 min, while I charged it back to about 2-3% with my 30000mAh powerbank. Doing so allowed me to continue recording the GPS track for the final 200m, and the additional one (1) km hike down the highway to my pre-arranged pick-up point.
CCT Section 1 – Parliment House to Watson Pics
Distance walked today: 21km
Weight of Pack and Contents: 12.0kg
Surface: Mixed (asphalt, dirt, sand, rocks & mud)
Weather: Mostly Dry with the last hour of the hike having rain, thunder and lightning.
Total Distance Walked for Camino-Portugues Training thus far: 21km
CCT Section 1 – Parliment House to Watson Video
As always, I recorded this hike with my chest-mounted GoPro Hero 10, and will upload it to the Walking with Strangers Youtube channel as soon as I can.
GoPro Recording Settings: TimeWarp mode with a Wide FOV at 10x speed.
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RIP Tazzy such a beautiful boy The past week would have been so tough after losing him, so great effort Michael to get your first pre-camino hike done. Love, Mum xo