I Think, Therefore I Go

I have learned over the years that it is best to commit to a plan for my adventures.  It's not that airline tickets, or accommodations, or even my purpose in the adventure cannot change.  But once my heart is committed and my pocketbook has been opened and funds assigned, God moves in a mighty and seemingly miraculous way to fill in all of the details.  The route is no longer nebulous, the things to see and places to stay begin to fall in my lap and from there into place and my desire to go becomes my need to go.

The Camino de Santiago became such an adventure.  I had walked the last 60 or so miles of the Camino Frances, from Sarria to Santiago de Compostelo, with my two sons and two of my grandsons over Spring Break in 2016.  It was a favorite trip of ours and would often come up in conversation.  Never mind that we went in early April and that it was raining most days...that we had put on wet shoes in the morning and taken off wetter shoes in the afternoon when we arrived at our albergue...we loved it.  Our arrival in Santiago de Compostelo marked Easter weekend and as we stood in that magnificent cathedral watching the botafumeiro swinging back and forth releasing incense to the heavens above, I remember thinking, "How can anyone not be profoundly moved by this?"  

I am, arguably, more of a bicycle tourer than a hiker.  I have toured Italy, Germany and Austria, Iceland, and the Canadian Rockies on my bike.  I have crossed the United States twice and ridden the Pacific Coast from Canada to Mexico.  But I wanted to walk the Camino.  There is something about the pace of walking, how it lends itself to reflection and contemplation, that attracted me.  I figured I could walk about 12 miles a day...maybe a bit more if I was pressed, and started researching the various routes, equipment needed, transportation needed, amount of time needed.  I settled on the iconic Frances route, which starts in St. Jean Pied de Port, France, goes up and over the Pyrenees, and about 500 miles later ends in Santiago de Compostela.  April 21st, I land in Paris.