Planning is well underway for our latest adventure! We have booked our flights to England (arrive April 3) and have arranged to spend a week visiting with family and friends, before beginning our walk in Canterbury on April 10.

We will be following The Lightfoot Guide to the Via Francigena.

We have started preparing physically, using the  Camino de Santiago 12-week training plan. As we are currently in the practice of walking 5 km/daily, we will continue to do our daily walks, while increasing the distance on one or more walks a week. Eventually, we will also have to start walking with packs fully loaded. Our goal for the trip will be to average 20 kms/day.

In terms of gear, we will be using our 30L backpacks ( Lois’ is a Deuter Futura women’s fit and Paul’s, a Tatonka) and our trusted Lowa hiking shoes. We are still sorting out clothing, bearing in mind that the ideal weight of our backpacks without water is 10% of our respective body weights, including the weight of the backpack itself (i.e., no extra shoes for Lois!)