Walking The Way

Hi everyone! I sit here with a bunch of new supplies in front of me and a single backpack that will hold all of my belongings for the Camino de Santiago walk, which I will start in September. It’s funny to see how few items I will carry. Three changes of clothing (one of which I will be wearing), a pair of hiking running shoes, a pair of hiking sandals, and a few other items, all housed in a rather small backpack that will weigh less than 25 pounds in total.

For those of you who don’t know anything about the Camino de Santiago, here is a link that gives a nice overview of the trek and it’s long history. https://followthecamino.com/en/blog/camino-de-santiago/

There are many paths on this walk, for me, I am walking the oldest path of the Camino Frances. In total, I will be walking about 557 miles across northern Spain for the better part of September and into the early part of October. I’m starting on the border of France and Spain from the town of St. Jean Pied de Port, and will finish my walk on the western coastal town of Finisterre, which literally means ‘end of the earth‘. Below is a good map that shows the entire walk (in red).

For me, my trip begins September 3rd, where I will fly from SFO to Paris, and from Paris to Biarritz, France. I will be arriving in the evening of Sept 4th. From there, I will stay in Bayonne overnight to get some rest and recover from the long flight. I will then get up the next day and take a train from Bayonne to my starting point of the walk, St. Jean Pied de Port. My plan is to acclimate myself to this small village, have dinner, get my Camino passport (which I will need to get stamped along the way) and stay one night there before I begin the walking part of my journey.

Sept 6th I will start my walking journey, and my plan is to be up and on the trail no later than 7am.

My plan for this blog site is to post as often as I am able (daily or every other day) so that friends and family back at home, can see where I am, how I am feeling, and what I am seeing. So, stay tuned to this site for future blogs as I set off on this life changing adventure!