Embarkment day is still 10 days away, plenty of time to read posted adventures and advice from the many who have documented their various Caminos, a term which does not necessarily have to mean the Camino de Santiago. I just read an account of a recent “camino” on a route which ties together Sweden and Norway, called St. Olavsleden. I don’t know anything about the trek, but the title of the post says a lot: “St. Olavsleden went South – assumption is the mother of all screw ups.” Here’s a link if you want to read the very well written post:
In a nutshell Purky, the writer of the post, bit off more than he and his wife could manage when setting out on their camino from Sundsvall (Sweden) to Trondheim (Norway). “It turned out,” wrote Purky, “that I am a pilgrim, and she is a hiker . . . I can embrace everything the path throws at me because overcoming discomfort and difficulties on the way is an integral . . . part of the path for me.” He continues: “Walking for her is about enjoying nature, culture, meeting people . . . it’s a holiday, for chrissake!”
Needless to say, Purky and his wife failed, victims of ill-made assumptions and disagreeable weather. What made me laugh out loud was toward the end when Purky warns “if someone wants to react to this story, please don’t quote ‘the camino doesn’t give you what you want, it gives you what you need.’ Please!”
I must acknowledge that Purky is a veteran pilgrim, so I don’t mean to make light of his experience with the title of my post – Failure is (not) an option. Rather, I just hope I don’t have to consider plans b, c, d, etc when adversity knocks me to the ground. My running buddy, Paul, knows that I’ll probably just get up and keep walking.
Camino de James 