What is the Camino? The Camino de Santiago, a 500 mile pilgrimage, begins in southwest France, crosses the Pyrenees into Spain, and then heads west across northern Spain to Santiago de Compostela. Legend and tradition place the remains of Saint James (Santiago in Spanish) in the massive cathedral of Santiago. In medieval times, the Camino was a most important pilgrimage, second only to the route to the Holy Land itself. If you couldn’t afford the trip to the Jerusalem, best avoided for other reasons during the crusades, you could still make a major religious pilgrimage by making the trek to Santiago de Compostela.
Our Decision: With retirement and a year of travel, we are marking significant, perhaps even drastic, change in our lives, made even more profound by the decision to sell the house and divest ourselves of most of our belongings (our stuff). Sara has been intrigued for a while by stories of those who have walked the Camino. Evan also has colleagues who have hiked the Camino. All have cite their Camino trips as profound and life-changing. Since we both loved our hike across northern England five years ago, and we’re both in good physical condition, we decided to mark this major transition in our lives by making our own pilgrimage.
The Camino Frances: With a little research you’ll find that there are many routes, many “camino’s” across Europe, all leading to Santiago. We’ll be walking the best known route beginning in St. Jean Pied de Port in the Basque region of southern France, the route known a the “Camino Frances.” Since the route has been established for hundreds of years, and of late has become quite popular with hikers and seekers from around the world, this is not a wilderness trek like the Appalachian Trail. There are villages and towns along the way offering places to stay, including “albergues,” inexpensive hostels of a sort, that are exclusively for pilgrims. So we won’t be carrying tents or leaving civilization. We’ll just enjoy a challenging hike through a beautiful countryside, immerse ourselves in Spanish culture, and meditate on the significance of our changing lives.
