Sandy Does the Camino - Part I

I started writing this post and realized it will turn out way too long to fit in one entry. So I will post part of it today and the rest in the next day or two.

My friend Sandy has recently returned from an amazing journey, and I must tell you about it. Sandy is my friend and coworker of over 20 years. I’ve always known her to be a remarkable woman, but now she has proved it beyond any shadow of a doubt.

Sandy recently completed walking the Camino de Santiago, a pilgrimage trail across Spain. The route begins in St. Jean Pied a Port in the southwest of France (Basque country) and heads west crossing northern Spain. It ends at St. James cathedral in Santiago de Compostela, Spain where it is said that the Apostle St. James is buried. You can see maps of the route here and here.

How far is that? The Camino route totals 439 miles or 720km. That’s similar in distance to walking from Seattle to Boise and then some.

This trail has been in use for over 1,000 years by pilgrims who traveled to Santiago to receive forgiveness for their sins. Today people take this journey for many reasons - some religious, some personal. Here is a page where you can read about the reasons why different people have chosen to walk the Camino: http://snipurl.com/xez8.

There were many challenges along the trail for Sandy such as the mountainous terrain, blistering heat (a week of highs in the 90’s), painful blisters on her feet, and rains from the after effects of a hurricane. The route took 30 days for them to complete walking 12 to 20 miles each day. An average day saw them traveling about 15 miles.

Sandy walked the Camino in the month of September. She started out as one of five women who were walking together. Two of her companions were her sisters and two were friends.

One sister and one friend eventually dropped out as the trail was a lot more intense than expected. But Sandy persevered, carrying her 19 pound pack all the way. By the end of the trail she had grown so much stronger than at the beginning - able to run up the side of a hill carrying her pack with ease.

The photo above is Sandy with an official waymark along the trail. Most of the waymarks on the Camino incorporate the scallop shell, the traditional badge of the pilgrims. Sandy tells me these waymarks are widely spaced and most of the time travelers follow more informal markings of yellow arrows which can be just splashes of yellow paint on rocks, building corners, or anywhere. I asked if she ever got lost, and she said no because the Spanish people are very friendly and kind to the pilgrims and they jump in to point you in the right direction if they see you going in circles.

If you would like to see pictures from the Camino de Santiago you can find some at this site.

For Part II go here.