I am having one of those brief and unusual – for me – periods of serious self doubt. For the past few days, I have been pondering my plans for next year. Is it really smart for me at my age to be planning to walk over 800 km across France, starting in what may be really poor weather? Does it make any sense for me to be doing this at all? What’s the point? And of course, this self doubt is accompanied by a major decrease in the amount of training that I am doing. Gray wet cold November days don’t help.

 I have bought a new rain jacket (REI) and rain pants (Marmot Precip from Bushtukah) in the last few days, but have not worn either one of them.

Some hours later: I am all over it – my snit –  now. Went for a long walk to test my new rain jacket and pants for breathability. I feel much better!