What is the Camino de Santiago and Why are we Doing it?

The Camino de Santiago - sometimes referred to as The French Way or The Way of St. James is an 800 kilometer pilgrimage.  We hope to complete the walk in 35 days which equals about 24 kilometers per day with 2 days of rest.  At the moment we do not have our return flight booked so still have several options.  Most likely we will fly home from Amsterdam around the 20 of November. Our lodging will be either hostels (albergue) B & B's, inns or casa rurales (private rural homes).  We are not with a tour group , will try to manage as hundreds of thousands before us have done.

Many ' pilgrims' complete the camino for religious or spiritual reasons.  When friends and family ask why we are doing this Sid has the perfect answer "because we can"!  We are not getting any younger and we believe we have the physical and mental ability required for this journey.  That's not to say it won't be a spiritual journey - those perimeters are just not clear to me yet.  

I anticipate that we will meet people from all over the world with all sorts of life stories. How can that alone not be inspiring?  My brothers death this spring is still pretty raw....how does one make sense of a two year struggle with cancer anyways?  Lots of questions.....about so many issues.....

"A pilgrimage starts the moment we become conscious that life itself is a sacred journey, carrying with it the responsibility to act accordingly"

This is the link to a Camino de Santiago web site that I have found invaluable!

http://www.caminodesantiago.me/