So back in 2009 the financial markets had crashed , work had dried up and it was mid winter. One Thursday afternoon I found myself sitting on my sofa feeling sorry for myself and worried about the future when I remembered a conversation I had with a friend about The Way of St James, the ancient pilgrimage route that runs throughout Europe with all paths leading to Santiago de Compostela. I spent the afternoon doing some research and on the spur of the moment I decided that I would do the walk . On the Friday I went to Montpellier , bought clothes and the few things I would need and on Saturday I went for a walk which was the sum total of my training and on the Monday I left by train to Saint-Jean-de-Port which is the beginning of The Camino Frances, an 800km route running over the Pyrenees and then through northern Spain to Santiago de Compostela.
The world has once again gone crazy and for now the only travel is in our minds so I have decided to do a virtual exhibition which will run for 31 days which was the time it took me to do the Camino .
Today I will pull out my old journal and my Compostela which has a stamp from every refuge I stayed in and once a day I will post an image and try and give a description of where I was and how I felt at the time.
On the Tuesday I woke at 6 am , pulled on my new clothes , adjusted my rucksack and headed off for a brief breakfast and stepped onto the Camino for the first time. I had no idea of what I was about to embark on but I had two things in my mind , to walk and reflect on my life and to get to Santiago De Compostela on foot with no cheating . The picture here is the first I took after about an hours walk up the mountain heading toward Napoleon’s Route which is a high pass which takes you to the great monastery of Roncesvalles .
You can follow the exhibition here on Instagram https://www.instagram.com/markluscombewhyte/
