Eli Best and Colin Bowles, two writers, met at a literary festival. They respected each other's work and decided to write a book together.
Hey, why not walk the Camino de Santiago together and write about it? And let's do it the week after next.
At
800km long, the Camino is no leisurely dawdle to the local dairy. Most people prepare weeks or even months in advance, gradually adding weight to their backpacks and kilometres to their weekly training programme.
But Best was captivated by the thought of a personal and professional challenge, a test of faith, courage, strength, physical and mental toughness. She was tired of being the fragile person who had nearly lost her life a few years before.
Bowles had different reasons for undertaking this arduous journey. He had recently suffered tragic personal losses, and the ensuing grief and guilt were threatening to devour him. He needed to escape.
Bowles and Best intersperse their diary entries with the fascinating history of the Camino. We learn that in mediaeval times it was one of the most important pilgrimages in Europe. Pilgrims, desperate to have their sins atoned, walked from Rome across northwest Spain to the Cathedral de Compostela in Santiago, where the remains of the apostle St James the Great are said to be buried.
And in the past 20 years the Camino has become popular again. Bowles and Best encounter a large range of characters en route: a woman with multiple sclerosis who is being pushed in her wheelchair by a her much older partner; a man who promised his dying wife he would walk from their French village to Santiago and back again. They later discover that he died of a heart attack while walking home.
Best and Bowles have written a refreshingly honest account of their gruelling walk. They both endured terrible physical pain and emotional stress. There is no self pity here, however, just a good travel story well told.
*Arena, $35
- Sunday Extra, HoS
