On Wednesday I fly to Barcelona where I will meet my best friend, really my chosen sister, Marty Lawlor who will be flying in from California. Two days later we will start our pilgrimage on El Camino de Santiago de Compostella which has been several years in planning for us. Though El Camino has become quite popular recently ( see The Way starring Martin Sheen), it is a very ancient Christian pilgrimage road that traverses France, Italy, Portugal, and Spain. We will be walking the Camino Frances that starts in St. Jean Pied-de-Port in the French Pyrenees and ends in Santiago. The distance is 790 kilometers which I believe is somewhere around 474 miles. We won't be able to walk the whole distance because we only have 25 days to walk, and it usually takes 31 days for a reasonably fit person. We're both pretty fit, but we're old. We will start at the beginning- the hardest part - and we will walk the last 100 miles or so - the most important part to get our Pilgrim certificate. We are, of course, starting very optimistically -- hopefully we can maintain that optimism day after day. And, hopefully, I will be posting a photo and some words everyday.
As I said, this is an ancient Christian ( Catholic ) pilgrimage. Marty is a practicing Catholic, but I am not at all religious -- gave it up years ago...... too much death and destruction in the name of religion. But I do believe in a powerful universal spirit - maybe it's what some people call god. I am dedicating my pilgrimage in the name of this spirit to my grandson, Caellen who was recently diagnosed with Crohn's disease. I will be asking (praying) that he be returned to excellent health and that he learns how to maintain his good health for many years.
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