The Motivation

As you probably already know by now, I am spending this summer walking. Almost every day for as long as it takes I will wake up, roll up my sleeping bag, and walk between 10 and 15 miles a day, depending. In my backpack, which can't weigh more than 15 pounds, will be everything I need (hopefully).

The route we will be traveling is known as el Camino de Santiago de Compostela. After flying to London and somehow making our way to the mainland, we will begin our walk from the small village of St. Jean-Pied-de-Port in the French Pyranees. From there, we will cros the Spanish border and walk across all of Northern Spain, finally arriving in Santiago de Compostela, where the bones of St. James are held. From there, assuming we still have time, we will continue on for another few days to the Atlantic coast before returning home.

Other than that, we don't know a whole lot about what we can expect, how the weather will be, or even where we will be sleeping. It will be hot. And in the end we will have walked well over 500 miles. Other than that, we'll see.

When Kate first suggested, in an off-hand sort of way, that we should maybe, kind of walk across Spain this summer, I don't think either of us actually thought it would happen. But, even though it was only a quasi-serious suggestion, I think we were both so taken with the idea that we both kept thinking about it. When The Trek came up again in our conversation a few weeks later, neither of us were sure whether we were just idly chatting or actually planning to devote 2 months of our lives to walking 500 miles on a religious pilgrimage - when neither of us are actually religious.

"I hope you were serious," I said to her, "because I am."
"Oh no, I was serious."
So here we are, only a few months later, and probably utterly unprepared. But that is all part of the adventure.

Of all of the people I have told about this trip, I have invariably gotten one of two responses:
1) Why in the world would you want to do something like that?! or
2) That's so amazing
No one has really thought that this is a perfectly normal and rational post-graduation plan (if it can really be classified as a plan). And, despite the fact that something like 100,000 people a year undertake at least some part of what we are about to, I like to think that it is a unique opportunity. If it was one of my friends or relatives, I would be interested to see what a trip like this would really be like.

So I have created this "blog" - a word I have some disdain for - in an attempt to share my experiences, assuming there are people who are interested in reading about them. Since we only have a vague idea of the kinds of villages we will be passing through, it is hard for me to know how often I will be able to update or check my email. Hopefully at least once a week.

If anyone has any questions, feel free to post them or email them to me and I will try my best to answer them.

Love,
Heather