Introduction

Welcome to my blog.

This is my first blog so excuse me if I ramble. Please forgive my sloppy grammar and spelling also. 

As most of you will already know me I will only post a brief introduction about myself, though if you feel that you know me well then feel free to skip this post. I am 23 year old recently graduated photography student - inactive, beer gut, speak only two languages (English and bad English) and never been abroad by myself . I have never really had a life goal or life plan, and I have never known what I want to do with myself. This has led me to make career decisions almost at random, such as A-levels and Uni Degrees, and I have found that the best course of action seems to be to pursue a path in something that you enjoy. I originally started a degree in Computer Science as I was told it would make me a lot of money but I hated every second of it and so I dropped out and began a photography degree.

I am not the most intelligent, highly motivated or confident person ever and so this has often resulted in me kind of drifting along in life, slightly unsure of myself. I find myself at a cross roads without any idea of what direction to take.

So this this leads me to the purpose of this blog. I decided during the last months of my degree that I wasn't ready to enter 'the real world' as I have lived at home for 23 years, have always been well looked after by my parents and I feel a bit unprepared. This coupled with the fact that I have to decide what to do with my life led me to the decision that I was going to go on an epic adventure. A trip that would be a baptism of fire and an odyssey unlike anything that I have ever done before. So I am off to walk the Camino de Santiago (The way of Saint James), an 800km (approx 500 mile) ancient pilgrimage route that stretches across northern Spain.

I stumbled upon the walk on the internet during the last few months of my degree and I took the plunge. I booked plane tickets and began to buy the necessary equipment. Mostly people have laughed at my plans, insisting that I will never make it to Santiago but being stubborn this will only spur me on. (Like when I began a paper round and my immediate family laughed and teased, saying I wouldn't stick it a week. I stuck it for around 9 years, sure showed them!).

Training wise I am virtually completely unprepared. I have been practising my beer arm instead in celebration of completing my degree. Luckily I have no time limit as I have not booked a return ticket so I can really take my time. A few of my closest are worried about my lack of training but I figure I can just take my time and break myself in slowly.

So this blog was created with the sole intention of recording my journey across Spain and ensuring that everyone at home could keep up with me. I do not intend to phone home as I want to be fully independent for the duration of my walk, so this blog will be the only way people at home will know that I haven't been ravaged by wild dogs (or old Spanish ladies). I will be posting regularly (as near to daily as possible) as internet access is frequently available along the Camino, and pictures will be posted where technology permits.

Whether you know me personally or not I hope that you all enjoy keeping track as I stumble across Spain, completely out of my depth in an attempt to 'find myself' on a trip that promises to be both physically and mentally challenging.



Thank you for reading and look out for my next two posts ('What is the Camino de Santiago?' and 'My packing list') before I depart on Monday.


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