MeAndering the Camino

24 hours from boarding the flight that will start my adventure on the Camino de Santiago. Monday I will land in SW France and make my way by bus/train to the town of St. Jean Piet de Port and after spending the night and registering with the Camino Pilgrim office, will set out on the “Route Napoléon” to cross the Pyrenees and enter Spain. The walk over the Pyrenees is the main reason for me choosing to walk this route. I can not say why that attracts or excites me so much. Seeing the mountains and walking over them has been my main focus. After completing the first day, I will then start working out my pace, what is possible for me to accomplish and how many sites grab my attention which might slow down the walk but make the sightseeing aspect more exciting. That night I have booked a bed at a monastery in the Spanish town of Roncesvalles. The next night I have a reservation somewhere is Sept 4th in Leon, Spain. By looking at the guidebooks and others websites, I figure I need to be in Leon by Sept 4 in order to walk the remaining miles to the town of Santiago de Compostela. The end goal of all Caminos. If I can manage to complete the whole thing, I will walk 738 km, slightly less than 500 miles. The reality is I will most likely skip about 80 – 100 miles due to time. To “officially” complete the Camino, one has to walk the last 100 miles from Sarria to Santiago and get their pilgrimage passport stamped twice a day.

A year ago when I decided this walk is what I wanted to do, today seemed a very long way off. The idea came when thinking that I wanted to do something for me as a marker of turning 60 years old. Years ago a couple friends, Jill and Beth, walked the Camino. I remember being very curious and following their posts on social media. In January of this year I started telling people that I was planning to do this in the Fall. Then I started following social media posts, buying books, reading what I could to learn more about how it all happens. In June I bought my ticket to go and so a date was made to leave.

We are in Provincetown, MA this week to join the celebration of friends of ours’ birthdays & anniversary. I haven’t been walking as much this past week as I did the first weeks of August when I was on a work trip in Dublin, Ireland. When I left Dublin to come home, I felt like I had done well and was feeling more prepared for the journey of the Camino. I had walked more than 15,000 steps a a day for two weeks and carried my laptop backpack, as well, just to get used to walking with the added weight on my back.

Just came in from a long walk around Provincetown. I didn’t carry my backpack. Was a nice bit of self exploring the town and found myself often drifting ahead that this is what I am hoping the time in France & Spain will be like. Walking through small town and villages and observing. Stopping occasionally for a snack, a treat, or to catch my breath. People have been walking the Camino routes for a1,000 years. As I have been reading and watching the posts on Facebook about the Camino, I have learned that some “pilgrims” have walked for months from starting points as far away as Ireland, Hungary, Italy and many others. I am hoping that my walk pace, which is usually fast and a fairly long stride, will enable me to get 15-20 miles a day. Depending on the terrain and what else catches my attention, I do hope I can have some days longer and some shorter. The most common length of time per day others I am following spend waling is about 4-6 hours beginning about 6:00am. The feeling that I am no where near ready to tackle this adventure looms regularly. Have to keep in mind it is not a race. Take each step as they come and enjoy the experience and adventure.