Why I Walk - Nancy Hoxsie Mead

A little background information. I first walked the Camino de Santiago in the year 2000 from St Jean Pied de Port in France to Santiago and on to Finistetre. I was about to turn fifty. I wanted to reflect on where I had been in my life and to think about where I wanted to go. The Camino did all of this and more. It taught me much about myself.

Somewhere in the middle of Spain I met Barbara. Since then she and I have met nearly every year to walk for a month somewhere in the world.

The Camino del Norte is our fourth Camino de Santiago route. Why do I subject myself to long, rainy, muddy days, heavy backpack and sore feet? To push the reset button. To remember again what is important. To relearn life’s lessons. To walk off all the extraneous baggage that has accumulated in my life during the past year. To clean house and take stock one step at a time.