It feels like my Camino has already started. I went to Bluewater to buy some gear from the trekking shop, and after trying on lots of different bags, boots, trousers and gloves, I now feel quite well equipped. Very uncharacteristically for me, I told the sales assistant when something he suggested didn’t feel right, even if it was the fifth time he tried to get it right, and it was fine. Maybe the old “characteristics” have suddenly dissolved and there is a new, UNcharacteristic me emerging… Who will dare initiate conversations with strangers, feel at home in dormitories, taking my space and my time to let each day and night unfold.
I have encountered two Camino Angels before even starting: the shop manager who gave me a 10% discount on my entire order, sales items included, and then the barista in the sandwich shop who didn’t charge me VAT although I sat to eat in their shop. Magic things are happening, and they feel completely natural somehow.
The countdown to the Camino has started… I fly to Spain on February 23rd! Then I will have till March 9th to get to Santiago de Compostela at whatever pace I can manage — hopefully in less snowy conditions than currently in London. Part of me is hoping to find traces and echoes out there, maybe by letting everything go quiet inside me.
An essential item will be a heart-shaped stone, which I will write our initials on with indelible paint, and then take to the highest point on the Camino and leave it there. It can be a meeting place for souls in other lifetimes or in other dimensions of being.
I really want to get my rucksack together soon so I can test it out for weight. Then I can do my first packing and bag weighing attempt, and whittle down the contents to maximum 10% of my body weight.
