Kilometers Driven: 0 Kilometers Hiked: 8 Routes Climbed: 2 If you do not face fear, you will never understand it, and we are always afraid of what we don't understand. As adventure journalists we make it our business to do wild things, often graphing experiences on a ven diagram of crazy, stupid and fun. It is our job, our passion, and our interest to push the boundaries of our capabilities, however sweeping or limited they may be. We do this to grow as people, to create stories for our audiences, and at the end of the day be able to say "that was one hell of a good time". This is why we'll do 12 hour ascents without training. How we end up trapped in canyons like Sa Fosca. And the reason we'll go hundred's of kilometers by car to do something like the Camino del Rey. And when we mark this experience on our tri-sected diagram of crazy, stupid, fun, you can be sure it will fall dead center of all three. I will begin our story by saying that if I was not already an experienced climber, I would never have done the Camino. I would have never taken the first step. Balancing on a series of iron stanchions, each over a meter apart, your only security an old marine rope strung between rusty bolts. Being clipped onto the rope, trading between two safety devices as you go, does little to remove the initial panic of the sheer 30 meter drop, which quickly grows to 60 meters as you are forced to free climb a ladder of iron rungs planted haphazardly along a kind of natural, and almost vertical, staircase. This is how you get onto the Camino, which when officially decommissioned and closed to the public over a decade ago had the first 20 meters of each end blasted away to avoid people endangering themselves; a concern for safety that many climbers, we included, have chosen to ignore. As you reach the actual Camino there is a moment of secure calm. Here the path is wide, intact, and strung with the first of the thousands of steel safety cables strung along its entire length. We stop to take pictures, exclaim excitedly at the intensity of the free climb, and clicking into the safety cables make our way around the corner where suddenly, the walkway disappears. Where once the meter wide cement had rounded the corner, now a single iron beam stretches across a 4 meter distance, held on each end only by a collection of rusting wire, and a few remaining chunks of cement which remained as the rest crashed to the river now 80 meters below. There are no hand holds, there is no way around, the only options to either face the free climb in reverse, or somehow balance our way across the beam. Suddenly the single 5mm steel cable is no longer assuring, and one can only hope the associated bolts have been tested to stand the weight of a falling human being. Of course they have, at least I'm sure they were before reaching their currently rusted state. Despite being a climber, Pola is afraid heights. Pola panics. I take lead, feet planted on the beam, leaning across the empty space below me with my hands against the wall, and shuffle sideways until one large and grateful step puts me back on the walkway's cement. I film Pola's crossing, far more afraid for her than myself as her panic freezes her halfway across the crevasse. After 2 minutes of heavy breathing, she is laughing into the camera, and we continue on. It is only after crossing two more sections of missing walkway that we stop to once again appreciate where we are. The El Chorro gorge is beautiful, and the curling walkway along it a truly epic construction. Epic, in fact, becomes as much an emotion as an adjective as, now more comfortable with the conditions and learning to trust our equipment, we continue merrily on our way. Despite the claims of German Wikipedia, the Camino is, for the well equipped and stable minded, not very dangerous. A harness, two safety lines, and shoes with good rubber are in fact enough to ensure that even should something happen, it is unlikely to leave you anything more than terrified. It's reputation, however, and its records of deaths due to stupidity or lack of knowledge lead me to suggest that unless you are truly of the climber's mind set, this adventure is better in experienced in photographs then in person. Consider this our warning to the ambitious traveller, a little knowledge can go a long way and a little experience will make the difference. The rest of our walking time is almost dreamy. Where at the beginning each mark of dilapidation had us questioning our motives, we begin to ooh and aah at every turn, taking video, photographs and even a time lapse from up high on the gorge wall. I scout some of the climbs that extend both above and below the walkway, and marvel at the determination and bravado of the climbers that brave these routes. It occurs to me then that clipping into route is probably more safe than where I'm standing. At the end of the first walkway we dismounted onto a normal path for some time before it began to again climb the side of the gorge. Finally we approach the longest, hardest and scariest part of the route, which despite being much lower than our first groundless crossing (this a mere 40 meters) spans an entire 8 meters and is, with a pack of gear and camera slung on my shoulder, even scary for me. Success in crossing put us on the last leg of a beautifully laid walkway, and we were fortunate enough to meet people at the end who we had met at the beginning. They had found their way back through the train tunnels, and showing us where to climb out, also agreed to drive us back. The perfect ending as the sun began to set. Our time on the Camino del Rey is a story we will tell and re-tell throughout our entire lives. It is an adventure the type of which motivates one to do as many daring and crazy things foreseeabley possible. For the story, for the thrill, and for the strength of mind gained from facing fear so directly, so very intensely. We will cherish the Camino and its memory, and hope that many of you will never attempt it, but can enjoy the photos and videos we've taken away from it. Most Sincerely, Team Po.Em Special Events: Started the day by climbing first routes in El Chorro New camping friends Camino del Rey Finished 3rd book of holiday, a short Western: Treasure Trail from Tuscan
