On a Walkabout until June….
Dear friends,
I hope you are well and healthy!
As most of you know, today was our last session before I leave to walk the Camino.
Fellow Fit and Happy member Frankie and I will get on the train to Bordeaux on Wednesday, where we will meet my mom. Together we will drive (in mom’s car) to Porto, where we will meet our Elisabeth, another of our members. On Saturday the four of us will start our pilgrimage to Santiago de Compostela.
We will walk around 280 km along the coastal route.
It will take a little over 2 weeks, and we have planned two rest days after some particularly long stretches. We hope to arrive in Santiago on the 22nd, and will visit Finisterre (the End of the World) on the 23rd, before we make our way back to London.
Our sessions will resume from Monday 30 May 22
I look forward to see you again then!
Curious? Here is a bit more information about the Camino.
The first written description of the Camino de Santiago is from the Pope Calixtus
also known as Aimeri Picaud. The Pope described the route and the towns along
the route as an area where the mountains and rivers meet under way. Almost
like a small guidebook for the first pilgrims.
The pilgrims in medieval times always wandered the route for religious reasons.
They abandoned their home and embarked on a then perilous quest. They would
in all probability be exposed to theft or other far worse violence. The modern pilgrims’ biggest problems are sore feet, and finding time in a busy life to walk the route.
Modern pilgrimages tend to be less about religion and more about peace, about finding something in your own life, about time to think or just a challenge.
El Camino de Santiago means “the road to Santiago”. Santiago is the Spanish name for Jesus friend, and one of the apostles St. James, who is believed to be buried in Santiago.
