Hey, I’m old. Stuff happens. We deal with it, but the crap keeps taking up more and more time as we get older. That eats into our time to do the things that we love like visiting family and walking long pilgrimages.

Between all the appointments this year with the dermatology, cardiac, urology and ENT doctors, we have also had a few bouts with COVID, flu, shingles, and more minor setbacks. In April, our planned Camino had to be postponed because my dermatologist strongly suggested that I get some chunks of skin cut off on both my shins. By the time she cleared me to sweat again, it was too close to our trip to visit our family in the US. We then penciled a Camino for the month of September. That timing also looked in peril in August when doctor diagnosed a faster growing lump on top of my head that she said she could only cut out on 1 September. She strongly suggested that I postpone the Camino until closer to winter or next year, but we don’t do well in the cold and how many more “next years” will we be able to walk? Eventually we reached an agreement. If she was able to cut out the entire tumor plus a reasonable margin and I managed to avoid any infection before my head was waterproof again, only then could we book our flights.

Nurse Melanie worked diligently to change my dressing like a pro twice a day. I took all my antibiotic prescription on time, showered with a swimming cap, slept with a skullcap, avoided any activity that would make me sweat and only whined a few times a day to Melanie about my future scar. To the doctor’s surprise, my wound had healed quickly and she gave us the greenlight to go. Santiago, here we come!!

Now, about the circumcision I mentioned. That has nothing to do with any of my doctors. That refers to the fact that we are starting this Camino in Pamplona rather than St. Jean Pied de Port. We are cutting off the bit of the trail that we don’t need. With no training done in the past month, we would have a lot of trouble on the first three days in the Pyrenees. We are just using a little common sense and starting in a place – and at a pace – that is easy to get to and provides a reasonable start to our Camino. We will still have some good climbs in the first couple of days, but we are making our plans so that we have the best chance to complete the whole 700km route.

Here we go!