Well after about a year of planning, waffling, making up our minds and sticking to it and training, with absolute and complete joyfulness I can say that the time has finally come to get on that plane and start walking. Along with a couple of my friends, we are going to walk the Way. We start walking on Friday, June 27, 2014, after a long plane ride and a sort of long train ride through some pretty amazing country. Prepared is probably an understatement. We have been training for months, walking the hills of Briones, Mt. Tam and Tilden, to name a few local areas to hike. Eschewing all sumptuousness and luxury, we are packed and repacked in our backpacks and have all the latest and greatest of minimal quick dry, ultra light ( sometimes sort of ugly) clothes. I have cut my bar of soap in half to reduce weight but the make up still is packed....we'll see down the road how long it takes for me to throw it away.Everything is limited in that there pack and it is still heavy but never more than I can handle and after wearing it full for a couple of months already all is good. So I say here and now before beginning up the Pyrenees.
I have been told that this is the trip of a lifetime but I am making travel a reality in my life and I say it is the first in a long series of trips in a lifetime of really amazing journeys. Adventure and physicality are staples in my life especially as more suns circle our earth and full moons pass by. Our story starts in St. Jean Pied de Port at the base of the Pyrenees in France. The trail of Napoleon winds up the mountains and down the other side into Roncesvalles, Spain, in the Basque country. From there we meaner 400 plus miles to end at the Compostela de Santiago in Santiago, Spain. Future blogs will hopefully fill in those blanks in the blithe mention of walking 490 miles.We complete our journey traveling to the Western most point in Spain, Finisterre. We will be aiming for 15 or so give or take miles a day for about 33 or 34 days to complete the ridiculous aforementioned number of miles along incredibly scenic Basque routes through North Western Spain.
Ancient is our path trod my millions over the millennia, humans alongside spirits guaranteeing great company on our journey. Hikers from around the globe looking for spiritual healing, reasons abounding running the gamut, countless inspirations and prompts for one foot in front of the other across the miles to rest in the comfort of local albergues or hostels catering specifically to the pilgrims of the Way. Nightly sharing of meals and bunk beds await. I am taking ear plugs but my experienced Camino friend says that you are so bushed by the end of the day that you won't need anything to block out the snores of a few hundred be mates.
so I will try my best to share the history and beauty of my path roaming in and out of wifi and charging stations for my iphone to get it all down. Maybe I'll even learn how to get photos on!! Yay. Anyhoo, till then I offer and proffer the time honored greeting"Buen Camino".
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Lesley! I wish you had told me you were doing this! Jean-Yves did it in 1989 and we are planning a trip on the camino next April. Buon Camino:-)
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