"For my part, I travel not to go anywhere, but to go. I travel for travel's sake. The great affair is to move." --Robert Louis Stevenson
When I was making preparations for the journey that begins tomorrow, through the generosity of a Swiss friend in Zurich I was introduced to a colleague of his who had walked the entire length of the Camino de Santiago across northern Spain. Healthy and trim, but not a frequenter of exercise classes or gyms, he found that as he walked, the burden on his back became lighter, and he even felt at points as though he was being spurred along by something other than his will. He returned from the trip drained of the cares he brought at the start.
He also spoke of a man he had met early on the road who had walked the Camino eleven times! He thought if very odd at first, but as he walked farther and farther he came to understand the appeal of a regular return to the pilgrimage route.
"This man had been widowed, his children were grown and did not live nearby. At home, what would his life have been? On the Camino, each year he met new people, each day was a new day, and he had a task right in front of him --to get to the next refugio. When he was not on the Camino, he could be planing for it. When he returned, he could be taking stock of the trip he had just made."
Sometimes, "the world is too much with us", as Wordsworth wrote. In such circumstances Noel Coward advised, "Sail Away! Sail Away! Sail Away!"
I embark on my journey in the spirit of all these travelers --the great affair is to move.
"There are only two mistakes one can make along the road to truth; not going all the way, and not starting." --Buddha
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