Walking the Camino

In May 2006, armed only with a small rucksack and a staff, Tony Kevin, an overweight, sedentary, 63-year-old former diplomat, set off on an eight-week trek across Spain. But this was not just a very long walk — it was a pilgrimage. Tony followed the Camino Mozárabe and the Vía de la Plata, two of the many pilgrim trails that crisscross Spain and Portugal and that all lead to a single destination. Every day towards noon, hundreds of hot, tired, and dusty pilgrims stream into Santiago Cathedral for the daily Pilgrim’s Mass. What, in our busy, materialistic 21st century, is this apparently anachronistic phenomenon all about? What drives tens of thousands of people of all nationalities and creeds to make long, exhausting walks across the cold mountains and hot tablelands of Spain, to take part finally in a medieval Christian liturgy of spiritual renewal and reconciliation with God? Walking the Camino beautifully captures the flavour of this epic journey, and is filled with fascinating observations and anecdotes about contemporary Spain. It is also a profound personal meditation on the nature of modern life.