Dear friends,

I’m so excited to be back! This will be my 6th Camino. It never gets old!

I arrived in Barcelona yesterday and met up with friends in Sitges who I’ll be walking part of the Camino del Norte with. I loved visiting Sitges for a day trip prior to my 2018 Camino, where I swam in the beautiful beaches, strolled the promenade, and had a refreshing meal. It’s a pre-Camino baptism ritual, and a great way to get over jet lag. I’m looking forward to doing this again today.

I am keeping a travel journal on the app “Find Penguins” as I have seen a few other pilgrims use this to post “footprints” along their journey. You can follow my adventures at: https://findpenguins.com/1utyxcfp4bgtj

A Bay Area pilgrim friend just called me a Penguina, LOL!

I’m experimenting with my first footprints at: https://findpenguins.com/1utyxcfp4bgtj/trip/644d11aa9e05b1-39422423

And will start tracking the Camino del Norte on May 6 at: https://findpenguins.com/1utyxcfp4bgtj/trip/642bbcb6ebb886-77525848

The plan is to fly to San Sebastián on May 3, and be tourists there for a few days before the hike begins in Irún. I will walk with them until Santillana Del Mar, and they will continue on to Santiago. I’ll return to the Norte in the future (maybe next year) and pick up where I left off. I’ll work my way back to Barcelona for my flight home on June 3. I’m leaving a little wiggle room in the schedule.

This will be the first time I’m not finishing in Santiago with a Compostela certificate. This will be my 3rd Camino with friends. I love walking both solo and with friends, but these are very different experiences.

I put my Etsy shop on vacation mode for the first time since 2015, so patch mailings will have to wait until I’m back.

I gave plenty of advance notice and I appreciate those who ordered their patches before I left. The 2023 patches are nearly sold out, but there’s 2024 patches for you early birds and dreamers of next year’s Camino.

So, off I go to explore Sitges! Hasta luego!