A pilgrim's idea

Trip Start Feb 15, 2007

Trip End Jul 17, 2007

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Flag of Portugal Porto, Portugal
Sunday, May 6, 2007

I have just set my project's engines in motion, by making the final decision on it and letting the information out. And the project is this: I intend to start from some point along the Galician border in the north of Portugal and walk all the way to the Mediterranean coast in the south. Of course I can not claim that I will make it, as I am not sure there will be enough time, enough strenght, enough disposition or enough good luck, but it is now completely certain that I will start this project and carry it to some end, if not the further.
I have scheduled my depart for the 21st or so of May, which leaves me four days short of two full months. That is the best compromise I could find between leaving early enough that I have a decent error margin for my walk and leaving late enough that I can accomplish my lingering goals (and prepare myself properly) before setting out.
Mostly what I have heard people say in response to this idea was that it would be a waste of time, that I should take buses or trains so I could see the most places or that I should concentrate my time on this or that city I can not miss. Well, for me, walking is an objective in itself, it doesn't really matter that much where I am going to and, besides that, I did not come to Portugal to see what it has of most beautiful, I came to experience it in a general way, and walking through it seems to be an excellent way of doing this.
My cousin's wife called this a 'pilgrim's idea', an expression that people use in Portugal to designate a crazy idea of sorts, a lot like the Brazilian expression 'programa de �ndio' (but to me the Portuguese one sounds softer). About this all I can say is that for the next two months I am a pilgrim. :)