Bonjour fellow pilgrims!

And here it begins, my journey on the Chemin de Paris (via Orléans). In 2013, by chance, I stumbled across the Camino de Santiago. Just over a year later I was stumbling into Santiago de Compostella after walking the 775km from St Jean Pied du Port. If you’ve been on pilgrimage, you will know it is only just the beginning, the growth and change continues every single day. Some call it an obsession, I like to think of it more as a way of life, one that you will never let go of.

That brings us to today, almost 7 years since I started my first camino out of St Jean Pied du Port. Although it will be some time before I actually make it back to France, I have many years of preparation and training before taking on the almost 2,000km across France and Spain.

This time I am taking a different approach…

• Physically… not even close.

• Linguistically… my Spanish is…meh… and my French is well… worse than my Spanish.

• Mechanically… nil.

Due to chronic medial sesamoiditis, walking the camino again is not possible. But lucky for me, my condition does not prevent me from mountain biking, and I plan to ride the Chemin de Paris and Frances Way all the way from Paris to Santiago de Compostella and hopefully on to the coast – something I was unable to do last time.

Why the Chemin de Paris? Just like the Frances Way, I discovered the Chemin de Paris by chance and have it pressing on my heart that it is what I am meant to do. If you’ve ever been bitten by the Camino bug, you will surely understand this feeling, if not, this blog is probably not for you…

The Chemin de Paris is an entirely different beast to the Frances Way, with limited pilgrim infrastructure along the way so I will be investigating gear and tech that will be able to keep me warm and dry the days no pilgrim accommodation is in sight.

To encourage me to be accountable and stay focused on this long and arduous journey to France, I have started this blog. Hopefully, it can give others insight to what it means to prepare for a Camino and when I eventually make it, what the journey is like.

Join me as I train, learn French, re-learn Spanish, and learn how to take care of bike problems I might encounter in remote areas of France.

Buen camino (or Bon Chemin)… my friends.