This weekend just gone i went on my first training hike attempting some of the 25 bosses of fontainebleau forest. I think we managed about 10, which isn’t bad for a weekend jaunt i don’t think. The bosses of fontainebleau are a bizzare geological formation in the forest of fontainebleau. The area around fontainebleau used to be a shallow sea and is hence very sandy under foot. However scattered about the forest are outcrops of rock (granite i think) which provide a perfect training circuit for hiking and hill walking. Fontainebleau itself is not at a particularly high elevation, and the bosses rise only about 40 metres above the forest floor, however they are numerous and steep enough to give me a good work out and enable me to test out my knees and my rucksack. I have been worried out my knees for a while now, i know there is nothing major wrong with them but have a tendency to hurt when i running down hill or wAlking down stairs. I have been doing strengthing exercises in the gym over the last few.weeks and i was glad to see i am making progress. The ability of my body to adapt to the pct in the first couple weeks will determine whether or not i manage to complete the trail, and for me that means knees. If they hold up, i’ll make it to Canada.
I also was testing my osprey aether rucksack this weekend. I know this bag is a bit heavier than the norm for a through hike, but i’ve decided to prioritise robustness and comfort rather that weight. I don’t want to have to buy a new one two weeks into the trail becAuse i wasn’t careful enough with it, and i also don’t want one that is a nightmare to wear. And i’m happy to report that so far it is doing the job, although i only had about 12kgs in the bag and will normally carry more that that it seemed very comfortable and didn’t pull on my shoulders at all.
So all in all i am relatively happy about how thew ay went and am looking forward to my next training session next weekend.
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