~ She’s Walking the Camino de Santiago ~
My flight from Portland, Oregon, leaves on September 6th – soon! My lovely daughter, Emilia, will be joining me for the first 11 days and I can’t wait!
The 878-kilometer walk (that’s about 550 miles) starts in St. Jean Pied de Port, France, a small medieval town in the Pyrenees, and ends in Santiago de Compostela, Spain. While I’m at it, it seems like a great idea to trek the rest of the way to the Atlantic Ocean in Fisterra, Spain.
The map above shows the first half of the walk. Mom and I put it up on her wall so she can follow along as she gets my updates.
Jeff and I have been talking about this for years, but it was never the right time. In December, he and I were out for a walk early one morning and I asked him if 2023 was our year. He already had an abundance of travel on his calendar, but he enthusiastically encouraged me to make this my year! So I am!
I asked the kids if either of them wanted to go with me. Henry’s got classes but Emilia said she’d mull it over. Pretty soon, we were on the phone making plans!
The Camino de Santiago, or The Way of St. James is over 1000 years old. The bones of Saint James are supposedly buried in the Cathedral in Santiago de Compostela. Pilgrims from around the world have walked along various routes of the Camino for myriad reasons.
This journey can’t help but feel spiritual and I’ve had a blast preparing my body, mind, soul & backpack for whatever this adventure has in store for me.
I chose the Camino Frances route. The idea of walking through Basque territory intrigued me. The length of this route feels perfect, and how glorious to begin the whole thing by walking up through the Pyrenees?
Read more about the Camino here, if you are interested:
My trusty backpack is cute as a button. Thinking through what I do and don’t need has been fun. The lighter the load, the better!
Preparation has included hiking ever longer distances while carrying more and more weight. Off days you’ll find me in the pool. Tia, my PT created a stretching program for me which has become a part of every day’s routine.
My mind has been kept occupied by reading books on the history and culture of the Camino, Spain, and the Basque and Galician regions. Maps have been thoroughly perused, and blogs and websites visited.
My spirit has guided me along the way helping me to let go and trust the process, embrace the adventure, and relax into the experience.
My backpack has occupied this corner of our dining room for months. Jeff will probably be so glad when he can have his chair back!
Each of my posts from now on will have a little button you can click to follow a link. It’ll take you to a Google Map showing where I was when I posted that blog.
If you fill out the form at the bottom of this page, you’ll get an email notification when I post a new blog along the way. If you are busy, you can ignore it, but if you want, you can click the link and see what’s going on. xo
Buen Camino. I’ll keep you posted. 😉
