The Camino de Santiago de Compostela is an ancient pilgrim's route dating from the Middle Ages and starts in St Jean Pied de Port (France), crossing the Pyrenees Mountains into Spain, passing through many villages and towns, over mountain passes and over barren, desolate plains en route to Santiago de Compostela, in the north-west corner of Spain. This town is the legendary resting-place of the body of the apostle St James. Margi's walk and fundraising initiative is fully supported by the Confraternity of St James in South Africa.

Margi began her 800 km Camino walk from St Jean Pied de Port and arrived in Santiago de Compostela (St. James in the Field of the Star) on the 22nd of June.

"For six years the Camino beckoned me.  As the years past the message grew louder 'You, Margi Biggs, need to do this Journey along the Camino' . Finally I set a date as May 2007 to start. Spent a year getting myself ready to go away for two months, leaving everything in place so as not to worry about home when I was walking. About two months before I left I had the idea to use my walk to raise funds for StreetSmart, a fund raising charity I had started some two years earlier," says Margi.

"My life has mostly been sedentary  enjoying beautiful places, people, things, food and wine. I had always enjoyed the occasional interesting walk when I got myself motivated to go... I'm not  what you would think of as a hiking type!"

"It took me 51 days to do the walk from St Jean Pied de Port to Santiago," explains Margi. This included three rest days. Averaging about 20km’s per day, Margi completed the 800 km’s of her El Camino de Santiago de Compostela. The target was to raise R50 000 and to date more than R60,200 has been raised.

"I loved

My internal journey enjoys a lot of solitary time."

 

"I carried only enough food for the next meal if I was not going to be near a cafe bar or shop. All my other material needs were just 7kgs which I carted on my back.  I started with 9kgs but soon found out what I did not absolutely need to be comfortable and happy.

At some alberques it was possible to cook but at most there was a little restaurant nearby where we could get a 'Pilgrims Meal' I must say that the Camino was not 'a gourmet experience'. Food was unimportant. One of the side benefits was that I lost more than 10 kgs while away!

Lack of privacy took a while to get used to. The most difficult aspect was the snoring and the fact that many prefer not to have windows open at night. Some like to rise very early and crackled their belongings while packing. But all in all it was fine when I got into the routine.  Ear plugs helped! I also stayed in private rooms for 12 nights. Finally I realised that if I am tired I can sleep anywhere and at times it was on just a thin gym mat in a church.

Research tells me that best time to go is in the Spring and Autumn.

July and August are very hot and many European students walk then, so it is very busy. Unseasonably, I walked in 20 days of rain. I started out on 3rd May and there were some pretty hot days.  On these I did a lot of resting under trees and drank more water than usual. On average I was drinking about 2-3 litres of water.  Every little town or village had fountains with fresh water for Pilgrims to fill up their bottles.

Northern Spain is very beautiful. The countryside varies tremendously. The Pyrenees Mountains, wine country of Rioja, the flat Maseta, Lush Galicia. The spring flowers and roses were unexpected and a huge variety.

The most important practical thing to consider is careful footcare.  I did not get one blister on the whole journey. I massaged my feet four times a day, changed socks three times a day.  Used "Thousand Mile" socks (Brand not yet imparted into SA so got them on -line from the UK). Used Compeed when I felt a hot spot coming up. Used raw sheep's wool for preventing blisters between toes etc.

 

Also, I walked with two walking poles with clip mechanism available from Orca in Claremont. These are much letter than the screw mechanism poles. All my clothes absorbed moisture from my skin so stayed dry most of the time. The most challenging aspect was finding ways to get the socks dry each day!"

 

The culmination of Margi's epic walk, her arrival in Santiago de Compostela (St. James in the Field of the Star) in the north-west corner of Spain was on 22nd June. Walking without aid or assistance, her way of identifying with so many marginalised children. The pilgrimage was a triumph of will power and determination.