They say, whatever you ask of The Camino... it provides...

Today I leave London to begin my journey along The Camino (Compostella de Santiago).  For those who've not heard of it, it is a route that runs from St Jean Pied de Port (in the south of France) which crosses up over the Pyrenees and across the north of Spain to Santiago (on the west coast of Spain).  It is a journey which I have estimated will take me around 4 weeks or so and whilst I have every intention of walking the entire distance (around 900km), my focus will be less on the destination and more on the journey itself... quite a nice metaphor for life don't you think?

Physically, I'm not sure how ready I am for this, as I am told many people train considerably for the Camino... and well, other than the walking I've done over the last few months, I'm afraid my training will begin around 6am on Sunday morning during my first leg!  Mentally, however, I could not be more ready.  I am feeling really excited, inspired and motivated for this next leg of my trip, as it will very much allow me to digest all that I've seen, learnt and experienced during the last two and a half months and contemplate my next steps going forward.

This is a journey I have been wanting to take for some time now and I can't express how excited and lucky I feel to be in a place in my life to have this time for myself.  I feel like I am ready for whatever the path throws my way and look forward to the many revelations I'm sure I'll experience between my steps. 

Whilst I had every intention of catching up on my blog during this time, I have already come to value each and every gram I am currently carrying and unfortunately my little laptop is just adding too much to my load.  I have managed to pack my life for the next 4 weeks into approximately 8kg and I would not mind betting after my baptism of fire on my first day over the Pyrenees (which they say is the most challenging part), I may also loose my attachment to another kg or two too!

So, this morning, I have posted a few of the blogs that I finished off during my last few days in the USA and whilst I have a number of half written blogs about my seriously incredible adventure in the USA, I'm going to have to wait till after The Camino to finish these. Sorry there aren't any pix with these blogs - I've issues uploading photos through my laptop so will have to upload these when I'm next on a PC...

Also, just so everyone knows, in order to really immerse myself in the entire experience, without the distractions and temptations of everyday life, I have decided I'm going to somewhat recluse from the outside (and digital) world for the most of my journey.  I will have access to my emails at different points along the path if you need/want to contact me, however, I don't plan to access these all that much during this time.

So here is to putting one foot in front of the other and growing from all experiences and challenges the path decides to throw my way.

See you on the other side... wherever that may be!
Jo
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