The Anticipation Builds

It's hard to describe the feeling I have realizing that in just less than a month I'll be on my way to Spain.  It was Pierre Teilhard de Chardin, a 19th century visionary French Jesuit, paleontologist, biologist, and philosopher who said,

“We are not human beings having a spiritual experience. 

We are spiritual beings having a human experience”

Maybe this, in part, helps to explain why I am drawn to be going on this trek.  If you have never heard of the Camino there are a number of sites that can get you acquainted (http://www.santiago-compostela.net/ ).  There is also a feature length movie with Martin Sheen that shows what it is like at http://www.santiago-compostela.net/ (you can find this one on NetFlix if you are a subscriber) as well as a documentary that just came out regarding the walk: http://caminodocumentary.org/ .  

I am doing a portion of the "French" way which starts in Saint-Jean-De-Luz, France and ends up in Santiago de Compostela, Spain. Santiago is noted as the location of the tomb of St. James from the Bible, and people have been taking the pilgrimage there for over 1000 years.  It's also thought the the Apostle Paul made a trek to Spain as part of his second missionary journey. 

This is nearly an 800 KM journey, and given the time it would take, I opted for a little less than half of the full walk starting in Leon and ending up in the same final destination (all Camino roads lead to Santiago de Compostela). 

I have mapped out a preliminary itinerary that will have me take 12 days to walk this distance and allowed for a couple of "flex" days in case of something that may delay us along the way.

Although the Camino is a personal journey, I am going with a member of my Master's Cohort and her husband (Brenda and Jim) who did a different "Way" a year and a half ago.  They started in Portugal and walked to Santiago.  I was attempting to arrange a trip with a few friends and it just wasn't working out from a timing perspective - when I heard from Brenda saying that they were going back to do another Way.  I asked if they would mind having a third on this trip and they were very gracious in allowing me to join them.  

I've been training for a number of months now: riding the exercise bike about 90 KM's a week, working out in the gym 4-5 days a week and going for walks in my hiking boots to break them in.  I'm feeling really good about the training and look forward to my last month of getting ready.

I intend to blog along the way, posting about my travels, dropping a few pics in here and maybe a few things about my sense of spirit as the journey progresses. I hope you'll follow along and even post a few comments as I make the trek.  In some way maybe I can share my experiences with you and maybe you'll decide to take your own pilgrimage.

Curt