Flights booked and almost all equipment purchased

Things are progressing really well and on target. The flight to Spain has been booked for noon on Saturday 30th May 2009 - this is an EasyJet flight from London Stanstead and we'll arrive at Oviedo (Northern Spain) where we plan to get a 2 hour bus to Leon. This is a change to the original plan of flying to Santiago as the bus journey from there would have been 6 hours. The flight back is from Santiago on Sunday 14th June using Ryanair. This is possibly the worst airline I had to deal with but had no other choice as they are the only airilne that flies from Santiago direct back to London. Be warned of their hidden costs as the charge almosts doubles from the one originally shown I have also bought the walking shoes and although expensive they are superb and makes walking feel so more comfortable. We now have just over 2 weeks to wear them in. Apart from the walking poles (sticks) and sandals we have bought everything we need for the walk and feel we are ready as one can be. Training is going really well - On Friday Alexis and I walked 10 miles and on Saturday that was increased to 15 miles. On Sunday we had a bit more relaxed session at the Hilton hotel leisure centre where we swam lots of lengths for about 1.5 hours but also taken advantage of the sauna / steam room and jaccuzi facilities. The plan for the remaining 2 weeks is to walk between 10 and 20 miles / day as well as using the Hilton Gym. Of course this is a bit difficult for Alexis as he also has to work during the day but he is more than happy to do his walk with me when he gets home. We are hoping that O2 will provide us with an iPhone so that we can keep you all informed of our daily progress on this site. Lets keep our fingers crossed as phone calls from Spain are very expensive as can be internet cafes. One of the remaining challenges is to pracice with my new camera (Panasonic Lumix TZ6) and ensure I familiarise myself with all its functionality including uploading photos and video clips to this site