What is this Camino thing?, Why are your doing this?, Why this blog?

One of the first questions people ask after they hear I am taking a sabbatical to walk the Camino de Santiago is: What is that?

Camino de Santiago – translates to “The Way of St. James.”  – Many people (pilgrims) have been walking the Camino de Santiago for thousands of years.  The Camino de Santiago is a pilgrimage to the town of Santiago de Compostela.  Specifically to the Santiago de Compostela Cathedral where the Apostle James is reputed to be buried.

While the pilgrimage has been going on for centuries, a resurgence began in the 1980’s and has grown considerably.  Today ~200,000 people are estimated to walk the Camino each year.

There are many different Camino routes.  The route I will be traveling is known as the Camino Frances; beginning in St. Jean Pied de Port, France and concluding in Santiago de Compostela, Spain.  The route is approximately 780 km (~485 miles).  I plan to walk about 15-25 km per day.  

Why are you doing this?
I learned of the Camino in 2012 when my brother-in-law (Kevin Wittmayer) did this journey.  As I followed his adventure, I caught the bug and its been on “my bucket list” ever since.

Why this blog?
I wanted to provide some place to post pictures and for friends and family to follow my adventure.  Some might say why not just use Facebook?…. Well, multiple reasons… mainly, I don’t do Facebook, and I wanted to maintain the history of the content etc.

When are you leaving?
I leave June 1st, and return July 12th 2016.

Well, that about covers the basics of What? Why?, and When?  If you want to get updates on my travels, enter your email address in the “follow by email” section on the top right to subscribe to get notified on new posts, or follow me on Google+.

Buen Camino!

Papa Stu