When walking becomes a pilgrimage

My first but not last Camiño

There is something so simple about the act of walking. It comes down to putting one foot in front of the other. Walking is humankind’s original way of moving through the world and therefore it is never just about what your feet are doing. By walking, we become a body in motion—an energy and force propelled through an atmosphere.

Through walking long distances, I began to understand how complex the practice of walking is. Place is essential to the practice. It is shaped by the path, colored by the landscape, and scored by the birdsong and chatter of companions. All these factors and more affect the pace and grace of a person’s stride. Perhaps, that is why there is not just one word to describe how we get from one place to another on two feet.

Let these words parade through your brain and tell me if you don’t feel the rhythm of your heart rate change: amble, barrel, hike, jaunt, ramble, saunter, trudge, wend. When I try to use “perambulate” in a sentence, I find my thoughts have wrapped a…