This time I am raising funds for a Stroke Charity as a year ago some very good friends of mine had a daughter who suffered a stroke at the young age of 17 - this was shocking and it made me realise how much a stroke can change lives.  She is getting better now and rehabilitating well - but it has been very hard work and she has had great support from all around her.  When mother died six years ago, having already lost my father about 24 years ago when I was clearing my parents house I came across a number of books on Santiago de Compostela and 'the Pilgrimage Walk' called the Camino de Frances together with a collection of newspaper cuttings and a small silver box with a scallop shell on, which she had given me as a present after a visit to the Cathedral at Santiago about 20 years ago.  I am convinced that it was something which my mother would have loved to have done herself……so since 2015 I have been on various Caminos in Spain and France - clocking up approx 2500kms in total - I am now a convicted Camino Addict! 

For over a thousand years, the Camino de Santiago has been an important Christian pilgrimage since way back in medieval times.  It is said that the remains of the apostle Saint James (one of the Twelve Apostles) are buried here in the Cathedral of Santiago de Compostela, legend has it that St.James's remains were carried by boat from Jerusalem to northern Spain where he was buried on the site of what is now the city of Santiago de Compostela. On the routes you will find pilgrims carrying their walking sticks and hanging proudly on their backpacks, a scallop shell.  This shell is a symbol that represents the Camino de Santiago and is seen as a metaphor for the pilgrimage, where the grooves in the shell coming together at a single point represents the various routes pilgrims travel arriving at a single destination of the tomb of St. James in the Cathedral.  Thousands of people set out on the Camino each year for many different reasons, not necessarily for religious reasons or spiritual reasons.  There are many who make the walk in order to literally and figuratively find "their way" maybe to find themselves or perhaps to gain a better understanding and appreciation for the value and simplicity of life.  The answer lies within each of us as we make our own personal journey.  I am very excited about the journey that I am going to make and where it will lead me.  I am extremely grateful to have the opportunity to walk the Camino again and hope that you will all be generous and donate either via my justgiving page or direct to one of our Musker McIntyre offices throughout Norfolk and Suffolk. 

I will be keeping in touch via a Facebook page

https://www.facebook.com/Walk500

and will keep everyone updated on my progress.  

As they say in Spain….Buen Camino!