Stacey’s first post

And so it begins.  What should one’s first blog (ever!) be about?

Posts on the internet could be around forever, so it should be monumental.    Should it be a travelogue, or would a stream of consciousness be better?  Of course, THIS blog is just about a long walk, one that is undertaken by roughly a hundred thousand people a year, but this is our version.

The origin of this particular walk, centuries ago, was purely a religious pilgrimage, and probably still is for a few.  For most, I think, it starts as an adventure, and becomes a journey of contemplation – even for those that don’t expect it.  Certainly the scenery is great, and there is time and opportunity for conversation with those you meet, but there is still plenty of time for quiet thought.

Perhaps a bit of history/perspective is in order for those who have not already been bored to death by our enthusiasm for the Camino.

A true pilgrimage starts from your home, the way it was done in medieval times.  You kiss the wife goodbye, pet the cat, close the door and start walking.  A certain small number of people still do this – Europeans mostly, I expect.  It is more difficult from Victoria, so some accommodation must be made.  We chose Air Canada to London, a local flight to Biarritz, and chartered taxi to where we were to begin walking.

Today, the most common route starts near the Spanish border in France and progresses westward across northern Spain to Santiago near the Atlantic, a distance of some 800 kilometers.  There are alternate routes, and many feeder routes, but this is by far the most common.  A diligent priest in the 1950s got a bucket of yellow paint from the highways department and painted yellow arrows at every route junction to keep pilgrims heading the right way.  Local tourism organizations and the Spanish and provincial governments, have seen the tourism advantages, and upgraded the path considerably in the last few decades.

And so the walk begins.  More as we progress.