First up, I’d like to thank everyone who supported Wendy and me in our fundraising for BCPP while we took on this Camino de Santiago adventure.
I know many of you followed along on Instagram and Facebook and know about the issues I had with my feet and that we cut the trip short with just nine days of walking left. For those not on social media, I’ll include a quick recap here.
We covered over 150 miles of the journey despite both of us suffering foot problems, so that’s something.
More importantly, we have raised nearly $10,000 for BCPP. So along with a trip recap, I’m sending one final appeal to help push us over our goal. Again, thank you to all who have already donated, and thank you in advance to anyone who is still willing to come through for this incredible organization committed to stopping breast cancer before it starts. Donate here.
The Camino Francés is not a walk in the park. My favorite sections were those that had trails and trees and hills and views of mountains. So much of the walk was not like that. There were days of endless, rocky, hard white gravel roads stretching through brown fields in 90-degree heat. There were cobblestones, asphalt and concrete sections that wreaked havoc on the scrawny bird bones in my feet.
Due to health issues and laziness in the year leading up to this trip, I was carrying an extra 25 pounds on my frame, and it wasn’t muscle. Due to a busy work schedule prior to my retirement, a very smoky wildfire season and, again, laziness, I was undertrained. Hence, foot issues.
So enough with the explanations and excuses. On to the things I loved about Spain and the challenges.
Loved:
The people — both locals and pilgrims on the way.
Gildas — a skewered treat with olives, peppers and boquerones. Salty and excellent with a cold beer.
Café con leche — really good coffee for about 2 euros.
Spanish wine — every glass was good, and a healthy pour was 2.50 to 3 euros.
Being able to communicate, however feebly, in the language of my mother and grandmother.
The train and bus system — efficient, easy to navigate and cheap.
Tiny villages — sweet little streets and alleys with cozy plazas.
Murals — everywhere there is art!!
Seeing Logroño, my grandmother’s hometown. For a city, it was not bad.
Challenges:
The Meseta — the heat and tedium of long, flat, straight, rocky paths with no shade.
Cities — I’m not a city person at the best of times, but when your final 2–3 kilometers of a long day of walking are through a city on concrete sidewalks, it’s even more challenging. Pamplona was not a favorite.
Late dinners — finding a meal earlier than 8:00 p.m. is a challenge. If it were a regular vacation, I’d say, sure, no problem. I’ll stay up till midnight and sleep in. But when you want to start walking at 6 a.m. to beat the heat, it’s hard to go to bed on a full stomach at 10 p.m.
That being said, the food was plentiful and cheap!! Most dinners were more than I could eat. They weren’t always delicious, but they were nutritious.
Some things I learned:
You can’t slack off on training when you’re 67 years old.
Don’t dim your light. I had a tendency on this trip to lose my normal Pollyanna attitude and let the difficulties of the trip weigh me down.
There is a church/chapel/cathedral around every corner.
I’m really not a city person. I mostly knew that, but I learned that I don’t need to build time in for cities on my vacations. We had originally planned to spend several days exploring Barcelona and, honestly, I didn’t feel like I missed out by not doing it.
I already knew from mountaineering that reaching the summit isn’t what makes a climb worthwhile. This trip was a reminder that the same is true of other journeys. I didn’t make it to Santiago, but I still walked the Camino.
And together, Wendy and I turned those miles into nearly $10,000 for Breast Cancer Prevention Partners. That part of the journey isn’t quite finished yet.
If you’ve been following along and haven’t donated, this is my final ask. Even a small donation will help push us over the finish line. We paid all of our own travel expenses, so the money raised through this adventure goes directly to supporting BCPP’s work to prevent breast cancer by eliminating our exposure to toxic chemicals and other environmental causes of the disease. Donate here.
We may not have made it to the end of the Camino, but I would really love to make it to the end of this fundraising goal.
Thank you for following along, cheering us on, laughing with us, worrying about my damn feet, and supporting a cause that will always mean so much to me.
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