Ten Years Later

Camino 2025 — Ten Years Later

Four Caminos behind me. Each one a teacher.

• 2015 — the rookie grind, where every step was new and uncertain.

• 2018 — walking with Tina, discovering a rhythm together.

• 2022 — stripped down, lighter, sharper.

• 2022 (Sarria) — a return to old roads with new eyes.

Now, 2025 waits.

This year is different. This is the ten-year reunion walk — a full circle back to where it began in Saint-Jean. Ten years of lessons carried on my back, ten years of memories carried in my heart. And this time, I won’t be alone. My friend Charlton from Wales, who I first met in 2015, will be joining me. Two pilgrims, walking again, ten years older, ten years wiser.

My pack is lean and tuned, shaped by mistakes and victories from the Caminos before it. What I carry now isn’t just gear — it’s experience, laughter, scars, and stories. The road will test me, as it always does, but I walk into it ready.

And when Santiago is behind us, the story won’t end. Charlton and I will continue to Porto, Portugal, where we will meet my friend Nuno from the 2022 Camino. A true pilgrim reunion — three friends from different years, different roads, brought together once again by the Way itself.

On my final day in Porto, another reunion awaits. Tina and Tonya will arrive just as I prepare to leave, and we’ll share that one evening together before I fly home the next morning. A fitting closing chapter: a journey that began alone ending surrounded by friends and family.

And always, there’s one more presence with me. Trixie — my Angel on Earth — will be walking at my side in her own way, watching over me as the angel she truly is.

But this Camino isn’t just about looking back. It’s also about new beginnings. My sister Lynne will be starting her first Camino at the same time. While my steps are a reunion, hers are a discovery. She’ll see the road with fresh eyes, and she’ll be sharing that experience in her own way — through a video diary, capturing her journey day by day.

If you’d like to walk alongside her story, you can find it here: My Second Spring 2025 on YouTube.

So this year the Camino will weave many paths together: reunion and first steps, old friends and new ones, memories and discoveries. Ten years after my first walk across the Pyrenees, I return — not alone, but surrounded in spirit and in fellowship.

Stay tuned — Camino 2025 begins soon.