Walking a camino is about forward motion. Waking each day and moving. As we walk we put distance between where we’ve left. It seems that even those resting injuries tend to hop on a bus to move forward rather than staying put. While the previous town is in the past some of the friends we meet along the way are still very much in our present. In a small make shift cafe on the outskirts of León we stopped to order a coffee and guess who was ordering their morning cups of tea? Those wise Danes! We haven’t seen them for a few days. Can you believe the coincidence of that?? We shared our cuppa’s together of course bid each other farewell and Ultreya, again!

Days on the Camino – 19

Kms – Today 36 kms. Under 300 to go!

Starting point today – León, Spain.

End of the day -Hospital del Órbido, Spain.

Number of girls in Africa educated – 21

Total funds raised so far – $6,340.00 ($260 away from 22 girls). If anyone wants to meet me at an education – let’s do it $300 each.

If you’d like to contribute you can do so here.

Frances Antonia – Do it in a dress.

Thanks for the help Kimmy from the Women Who Hike team.

Today was dedicated to – Last year we campervanned around Europe, free ranging and living the dream. Along the way I hooked on instagram with Lix of Us and the big wide world. I know social media gets a lot of stick but used intentionally we can meet all sorts of wonderful people. People that can make a profound impact on our lives!

I invited Lix and her family to stay with us with their camper before they returned to Australia. I can firmly say it was like we’ve known each other forever! Bugger all the naysayers – as long as your trying to build something authentically then you will find something real in this online space.

One night on the couch I confessed to Lix that I am great at dreaming but nervous about standing up so publicly. She simply told me I needed to follow through. And so I did. It’s been an amazing ride and I am so grateful to you for that conversation. Look where we are. I can’t wait to visit you in Tassie one weekend in the future so the ten of us can pick up where we left off!

Accommodation – Tonight we are trying something else new! We are in a B & B (€20 each). The.Best.Shower.Ever!

Food highlight – Hands down – the buffet breakfast. We did make sure we packed snacks … we did not want this going to waste. I’m eating a lot of eggs this trip!

In a word(s) – A day of digging into the grit stores.

Moving forward is not about forgetting where you come from. We can’t leave that behind. It’s part of the tapestry of who we are. But sometimes we need to expand beyond who we are … when the time is right. We’re called to it. It’s about stepping up into our lives.

To expand there is only one way to go. Yep you guessed it – forward. Sometimes we have to leave people and some of the ideas about what we can and can’t do behind. We have to find our own way markers and find a way to be comfortable walking with them.

What drives me forward? Regret. I don’t want to live a life with regret. It easy to get comfortable and pretend we ‘have’ it all. But then what? When the time comes that we start looking back … will we be happy? Content?

Did we give our lives our best shot? Were we too busy accumulating that we forgot to live? Did we listen? Did we care about what mattered more than what didn’t? Did we value our heart? Our spirit?

Did we take that trip we always wanted to do? Write that book? Lobby that politician for change? Move interstate because we dreamed of a different kind of life? Take care of ourselves because we love ourselves enough to? Were we the mother, father, wife, husband, partner, friend, daughter, son that we should have been? Moving forward today what matters?

This chapter of my story still has life but it’s drawing to its natural close. You can betcha I’ll take the best bits and the best people forward with me. Where to? I don’t know … that dream hasn’t arrived yet. But my inner confidence is building. I have just about walked a camino and ensured that 21 girls have an education next year. The nervousness I had about this age, this phase of life is dissipating – fade to invisibility with regrets? Bugger that.

Buen Camino,

Fran xx