With six days to go before we arrive in Saint-Jean-Pied-de-Port, one of the most hyphenated place names I know, life feels surprisingly relaxed here – even if our flat does look like we’ve turned it into a second-hand camping gear shop.

From SJPDP, early(ish) on Sunday morning, Jeff, Simon, and I begin our awesome adventure.

We start by tackling possibly the most difficult section on day one: climbing up and over the Pyrenees into northern Spain, before continuing our journey walking roughly 900km all the way to Santiago de Compostela – and on to Finisterre if time and body permits.

It’s going to be a lot of fun, and undoubtedly a lot of work interspersed with frustration, joy, blisters, and great Spanish food & drink… but how often do three people in their fifties (only just for me, the youngster of the group 😄) get to do shit like this before retiring?