As I am resting today in Leon, I booked all my remaining hotels/hostels all the way to Santiago. I have no remaining rest days, so will walk the next 15 days in a row, arriving in Santiago on May 30th and on the 31st planning to bus it to Finisterre (End of the flat world) and to Muxia (I will not have the extra 3 days to walk it). Then on June 1st will head to Madrid to catch my plane home on the 3rd.

I was reflecting today on how this whole thing started. Here is a very short version. As a TEC Chair I have the opportunity to be with many of my colleagues who have Chaired at least 10 years ( I am on my 18th) together every year in Boulder Colorado in what is called Keepers of the Flame, a conference run by the chairs for the chairs. The first year I was eligible and I attended was 2014. It was a special year and they invited David Whyte to be our speaker for a big part of a day. He is an English/Irish poet/philosopher ( you can google him or search YouTube to learn more). Someone ahead of the session lent me a DVD of his called PILGRIM. He described the poetry and the philosophy and made references to the Camino. First time I heard of it. From there I found out a few of my TEC Chair colleagues have done the walk. So for the last 8 years, the idea of me taking this on has been percolating. For those of you who want to learn a bit more about how David Whyte talks about this, you may wish to listen to his 20 Minute TED Talk . Enjoy. There is a lot more to why I am doing this, but thought to share its origins today as I am about to book my last leg to reach the Atlantic Ocean at Finisterre. Link to https://youtu.be/u9Lu85L111Y Video