Imagine walking about 400 miles!
Why would you do that?
A friend recently walked one of the Camino Santiago routes, the Camino Francaise from St Jean du Pied to Santiago and in talking with each other I asked how she found the time to do that, a much longer distance than 400 miles. Her answer was, I made the time! That resonated with me, if there is something important to us we make the time to do it.
I have wanted to walk a trail for some time, I considered the Appalachian Trail but that took too long to take time off, although I know you can do parts that was not what I wanted.
But the Camino Santiago felt right. What I had not realized was that there are many routes. Each of these routes is a medieval pilgrim route, traveled for hundreds of years sometimes thousands. When I looked at the various routes the Camino Portugues, starting in Lisbon and going all the way to Santiago, with an additional few days to go on after Santiago Finisterre, the end of the world, this will take me well over 400 miles, resonated with me.
You may have heard of the Camino Santiago, it was made famous by the movie The Way with Martin Sheen and Emilio Esteves. Father and son, in fact Martin Sheen's real name is Ramon Esteves.
As I looked at the distance, I talked it over with Trudy and she encouraged me to do it. We recently had a very active friend who unnderwent some back surgery who is now using a walker as a result and awaiting further surgery. We never know what will happen to us.
Many people's first question is "why would you do that?"
Well, it appealed to me as I approach a significant birthday, 20 years ago I ran a marathon after talking about it for years, to do something challenging. To also take time to clear my head and consider what the next stage of my life will entail to get clarity on who I want to be for the rest of my life. I have not been as active with my blogging for several weeks, due in some part to losing my motivation, my why and feel a need to get that back or find what I want to do in the future.
I am hoping this will be a time for reflection, and also looking forward to who I want to be and to discover how I become that in this next life stage. So, I will be missing from Active Rain, but you can follow the journey by following me on Facebook.
I also never belive in missing an opportunity to help others, so am using this opportunity to raise funds for two charities, each year I do the Philadelphia Heart Walk, this walk is going to be a lot further but I am asking people to support me by making a donation at http://www2.heart.org/goto/CaminoHeartWalk.
There is also a fund raising facebook link as well.
Alternatively I am raising funds for Surrey Services for Seniors and asking people to send a check to Surrey Services for Seniors marked Camino on the memo line at 60 Surrey Way, Devon, PA 19333. I am trying to find someone to make a $5000 matching gift, so if we raise $5000 we will double it to $10,000. That is a work in progress and I have 14 days before I leave to get it done
Hope to see you on the way via Facebook.
Thankfully Trudy can cover for me while I get to go walkabout!
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