I would complete the loop while I was at it – from Santiago to Muxia, then Muxia to Finisterre. I wanted to reach what was once called ‘the end of the world’ Finisterre. I was finally decided.īut this would not be the last of my adventure! Santiago was not my final goal – at least not the first time. It was a mismatch of Caminos, paper-mached together, and it was perfect. After a week of deliberation I would land on a 2200km hike that diverted away from the crowds, into the quiet I so desperately craved. Out came the notes again as I poured over my new potentials. Now all that was left was to figure out gear and – wait what do you mean there’s alternative variants to the routes ? I would follow the GR65 from Geneva, Switzerland across the entirety of France and Spain, ending at the ‘end of the world’ in Finisterre. A month turned to two, two to four.įinally, I had my route down. Two birds with one stone – both ends of my walk extended. I stumbled across a blog detailing one mans’ travels from Geneva to Finisterre. Gradually, my route grew, creeping steadily past Saint-Jean-Pied de Port to Le Puy.

Gone were thoughts of Italy and Greece, replaced instead by the concept of walking for months at a time. The further my ‘research’ went, the longer my plans became. I was falling in love with lands I had never entered. Every spare minute was spent reading about the history, the why.

So from that afternoon on, I became obsessed. What he did not think about was the fact that I am stubborn to the point of stupidity and have a habit of becoming extremely focused on certain ideas then deliberately making things harder for myself. Now, to give him credit, he was merely bringing up – as an example – a trek he had heard of from just beyond the Pyrenees to Santiago de Compostela. The key problem with this is that my father and I are far more alike than any of my younger selves could have ever imagined, so when he leans on the kitchen counter and says something along the lines of ,”that’s all well and good, but if you’re planning to diverge so much why not try a longer walk like say – the Camino ?”, I never stood a chance. Then my father made the mistake of Mentioning something. I would begin in the west of France and diverge from the route every other week in order to hike trails that were open year round – backpacking the rest of the way, finally ending in Montenegro three months later. Around six months ago, in early February, I was planning a trip (mostly) throughout the Mediterranean I had figured out a route that spanned around fifteen countries, and was almost entirely sure I could make enough money before I left to make it reality.

Paint and sip yellow brick road casino