Santiago de Compostela here I come!
A couple of years ago, in 2004 to be exact, we went on holiday to the North of Spain. We started in Bilbao and followed the coast until we arrived in Santiago de Compostela. While travelling towards Santiago we were surprised by the amount of people en route on foot. As we neared the city the number of pilgrims became more and more dense, because that what they were.
This, for some reason, stirred something in me. I became even more fascinated with the whole phenomenon when visiting the Museo das Peregrinacións, a museum in Santiago that tells the story of pilgrimage routes all over the world in general and pilgrimage on the route of Santiago de Compostela in particular. Ever since then I’ve often wondered what it would be like to go on a pilgrimage, not so much for religious reasons, but more because of the whole experience.
Recently I’ve taken to walking for an hour and a half on the days that I that I don’t work out. It helps me to relax and take my mind of things. While walking I started thinking again about that holiday and the pilgrims we saw walking on the route of Santiago to Compostela and decided that I should put thought into action. Which means that next year, 2010 (which happens to be a holy year), I’ll be walking from Leiden, The Netherlands to Santiago de Compostela. I haven’t decided when I’ll go exactly or whether I’ll do the whole journey in one go or in a couple of stretches (this would probably be more practical in terms of my job and the number of holiday days I get every year), but the decision has been made.
I still have lots of preparations to make. Becoming a member of the Dutch Confraternity of Saint James would probably be a good idea. Along with extra training. Getting a sponsor wouldn’t be such a bad idea (in case you know someone let me know 
). I’ll keep you posted.