Via Lemovicensis: the Final Countdown

Just one week from today, I will be in France. Yowza! It’s odd but familiar, this countdown matching the one to Easter, just as it did in 2013 and 2016. It seems to give both things an even greater urgency, as if that were even possible.

Since I volunteer in our parish, this week – Holy Week – is already pretty busy. Now add to that my final Camino preparations, and you have one very busy week indeed. Walking a half-marathon every day for several months almost seems relaxing by comparison!

I’m on a bit of an emotional roller coaster. To all of the frantic preparations, it hits me pretty frequently that this time last year, Francine was sick with walking pneumonia. We didn’t know it at the time, but it was a symptom of the disease that was invisibly ravaging her brain and nervous system.

I walk this Camino with and for her.

On a logistical note, I did my final pack weigh-in this morning, and it’s coming in at just about 21 pounds (9.5 kg). Heavier than I would take for a shorter Camino, but I’m walking from what will probably be a cool, rainy Spring in France to a probably blazing early summer on the Meseta in Spain.