I guess two introductions are necessary here, perhaps three. While the word “camino” simply signifies a walk in the Spanish language, in Western Europe the capitalized version “Camino” means much more. For over a thousand years Christian pilgrims (peregrinos) would take a walk (camino) from various places throughout Europe to the final destination, Santiago de Compostela. This journey (pilgrimage), which might take several months, became known as the “Camino”.

Even today, many thousands of people take this trek. The reasons are no longer solely as a Christian pilgrimage, though for many that still remains the primary reason. For others, it is for culture, or health, or outdoors enjoyment, or all of the above. For Diane and I, it is for all-of-the-above.

While the journey ends in Santiago de Compostela, it can start in many places. The most popular location for starting is at the French-Spanish border, a French town called: St. Jean Pied de Port. Two years ago, we started the pilgrimage there. Here is a link to our blog: http://caminodewirewalker.com/

This time we are choosing to begin on the very northern coast of Spain, at the French-Spanish border again, in the Spanish town of Irun. The path is known as the “Camino del Norte” and will follow the coast of Spain along the Bay of Biscay for about 350 miles before dropping inland and finishing at Santiago de Compostela. It is about 500 miles in total length. Our hope, however, is to continue on to Finesterre, another 90 miles to the west of Santiago, making this about a 600 mile walk.

So now with two introductions down (“Camino” and “Camino del Norte”), I’ll work on the third. “Wirewalker” is the name of our old sailing catamaran that we sailed roughly 25,000 miles throughout the Western Caribbean and Western North America (mostly Mexico). “Wirewalker” came from a line in Bruce Springsteen’s “Born to Run” song, where he asks: “Will you walk with me out on the wire? Baby we were born to run.”

Enough for now …