My “Front Door” walk / next year?

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I have set a date for the start of my “Front Door” walk – walking out my front door, in Mudgee, and walking to Santiago.

This is what pilgrims did in times past – they walked out their front doors and they walked to Santiago de Compostela. And they walked back again too, but I’m not doing that!

I want to leave home on August 11th next year, on my 65th birthday.

By that time I will have completed my obligations to Penguin Random House on delivery of the three books in the Palace of Fires trilogy. I will also hopefully have my PGS Intuition film in release – and so I should have a free four months to do the walk.

I want to arrive in Santiago around Christmas.

I’ll walk from Mudgee to Mascot airport – approximately 300kms – then I’ll catch a flight to Heathrow. I’ll then walk to my birthplace, which is Wimbledon, in London. From my birthplace I’ll then walk down to the coast, most probably to Newhaven, where I’ll catch a ferry to Dieppe on the French coast. From there I’ll make my way down through France to the Le Puy Camino, and walk to Santiago from there.

All up I estimate the walk to be in excess of 2,500kms.

I’ll write a book too about my journey.

Why would I want to do this?

I really don’t know, other than it’s a compulsion which I’ve felt building for a long time, and I’ve been frustrated that I couldn’t leave earlier, because of work commitments.

The only thing which would stop me doing the walk next year is if I am filming either Defiant or my Camino movie. And I hope I am!! But I also hope that this Front Door walk happens sometime next year.

So I have set the intention – and we’ll now see how my path unfolds…

42 thoughts on “My “Front Door” walk / next year?”

  3. Hi Bill. My first thought was that you are barking mad. Then I realised there is a long flight in the middle. Now it seems more realistic. A bit like walking to the shopping centre. Walk out the front door down the driveway to the car. Drive to the car park then walk to the shops. Makes sense but you may still be barking mad. Good luck with the plan and we look forward to the book release and the film of course.
    Cheers
    Gary

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    • haha – thanks Gary. My wife is fairly dismissive. She saw this post come up as an email alert in her Inbox and deleted it immediately, saying: Good – more time to myself… then she said: Good luck finding the time to do this! I’ll find the time.

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  4. I love it Bill! You are such an inspiration!
    Could I be the first to wish you Buen Camino? May every path you take be a magical one and may you take joy in every step to from your home to Santiago.
    Love and Camino hugs to you and Jen –
    Jenny xoxo

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    • Jenny, thank you – but at this moment it’s just a desire – just like it was a desire all those years ago to walk my first Camino. I find myself starting to plan for it though, which is exciting! Oh – and I’ll need a bigger backpack. I’ll be taking a small tent because there’ll be sections where I’ll have to sleep out…

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      • Hi Bill – once the intention’s set it’ll happen on the date that you have set – roll on 11 August 2018! What an auspicious day for the commencement of your World Camino!
        Love and Camino hugs to you and Jen –
        Jenny xoxo

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        • Ah Jenny – YOU are the inspiration! Fingers crossed I can clear the decks to make this happen next year. It is something I have wanted to do for quite some time though, as you know… I just have to find the space…

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          • Thanks so much Bill! I hope so much that you can find the space … the timing of it all sounds ideal.
            Love and Camino hugs to you and Jen –
            Jenny xoxo

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  5. Bill,
    I certainly will be cheering you along! What a wonderful gift to give yourself for that milestone birthday.
    Arlèna

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    • Thanks Arlene – yes that’s what I figure too! And Jennifer can meet me 25kms down the track and we can have a birthday dinner out in a paddock somewhere! haha

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  6. Bill, that would be an incredible journey! I feel so much the tenderfoot (probably not a great word choice for the Camino) as I prepare for my first (mini) Camino which starts in 50 days. I have no doubt you will pull it off, if not next year, the following year.

    George

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    • George – best wishes for your first Camino. Mini or maxi, just getting out on the Way is the thing. The Camino resides in your heart, not in the miles you do! Thanks, Bill

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  8. Hello Bill,

     

    What an inspiring journey !!

     

    If I can help; let me know;Anyway I will be there to welcoming you on the french soil in Dieppe or organizing a thing at the foot of the Saint Jacques tower in Paris; maybe with french tv;

    Why not ?

    And shooting some rushes for the Camino movie in the same time ?

     

    Bises;

     

    marie dominique

     

     

     

     

     

     

    > Message du 19/03/17 03:41 > De : “PGS – The Way” > A : romarin64@orange.fr > Copie à : > Objet : [New post] My “Front Door” walk / next year? > >WordPress.com

    Bill Bennett posted: “I have set a date for the start of my “Front Door” walk – walking out my front door, in Mudgee, and walking to Santiago. This is what pilgrims did in times past – they walked out their front doors and they walked to Santiago de Compostela. And they wal”

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    • Marie – the would be so cool to meet up with you in France!! I am thinking that I will go from Dieppe to Chartres, and the Cathedral, and by-pass Paris altogether, then head to Orleans and then follow the Loire east and south until it becomes the Chier Nievre, then follow that further south until I can split off and walk to Le Puy. I think the walk will be easier if I follow a river course. What do you think?

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      • Hi Bill , I just read Julian comments about Vezelay and I think that could be a good option to forget about Le Puy and go, for Vezelay; or straight thru orleans, Tours Poitiers, Saintes and down along the Atlantic coast, till Bayonne; Doing so you will avoid the risk of bad weather and snow in Aubrac; then go thru the Camino del Norte; I could be your hospitalera in hendaye;

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        • Hi Marie – I have my heart set on the Le Puy though! Also, I want to tease out this walk as long as possible. (Perhaps I should start in St. Petersburg?!)

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  9. Well, Bill, if anyone can pull this off, it’d be you! Good luck with the planning and holding on to your intention and love the idea of a ‘paddock birthday picnic’! 🙂

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  10. Great news Bill !!

    … and I think it’s better to do this first, and the Camino movie second.

    It took me 77 days to do my last 2000 K one, though I was a bit faster day-to-day than you seem to be these days — 4-5 months seems like a good estimate (the Australian, English, and a good 40% of the French terrain you’ll encounter will be a lot easier than what I had to face on that one, which will be a blessing for you once you hit the more difficult stages later on, as your body and mind will be MUCH better prepared for them)

    I’m very happy indeed to see you’ll be doing the *real* Camino !! 😉

    Much (that is all true) has been written about the 3-4 physical/mental “stages” of “doing the Camino”, focused on the experiences on the Francès — you will discover some at least of the 5-6 + “stages” of the Pilgrim experience that are outside, before, and beyond just that portion of the Way ; and be forewarned, some of them are not at all easy to deal with.

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    • Julian – I need to talk to you more about these “stages.” And 2000kms in 77 days is insane! You must have been flying. If I subtract the 3 rest days I had on the Camino Frances because of injury, I did the pilgrimage in 28 days. I’m doing my estimates for this “Front Door” walk at averaging 25kms per day, with a rest day every two weeks. But I might go faster, as you say, particularly towards the end. Hopefully at the end of it I will be deemed in your eyes to be a “true” pilgrim! haha.

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      • hmmm, well in ’94 I did the 1800 K from Paris in 48 …

        Performances that are well behind me now of course. 😉

        I still think that down to Tours via Chartres, then walking up the Loire valley (which would be a VERY welcome break for you from the more “drudgery” side of things, because that walk up the valley is gorgeous and would feel a bit like a “holiday” in more ways than one) to rejoin the Vézelay Way, maybe at Saint-Armand, would be a better plan than the long detour down to the Puy Way.

        Paris is completely optional — but I *am* very familiar with the best route from the tour St Jacques to the Chartres Way, which is the quickest route out from central Paris to the countryside as well, with minimum suburbia. If you do go to Paris, make sure to be there on a day when the Pilgrim Office is open, anyway.

        OTOH, my feeling is that you have the English section pretty much sussed out. 🙂

        As for rest days sure, but I think you’ll find they tend to plan themselves, though of course those in certain particular places can be anticipated to some extent.

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  12. Bill,
    If next year doesn’t work out and you do it the next year you could consider it your “Route 66”. Ha!
    You will get it done, I’m sure of that.
    Hugs
    Dale and Lynda

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    • Lynda & Dale – thank you. Yes, you know what a determined person I can be, haha. And I LOVE Route 66 – haha – but hopefully it will be next year. Love to you both, Bill

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  13. Wow Bill what a Camino!
    We are planning to start at Le Puy at the end of September next year and hoping to get to Santiago 8 weeks later. Maybe we’ll see you there😊.

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    • Hi Michelle – if I leave Mudgee in mid August, I won’t probably be at Le Puy until maybe late October. So we’ll miss each other, which is a shame! No doubt you’re starting to get excited about that walk of yours next year – the Le Puy is supposed to be wonderful! Will you go all the way through to Santiago?

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      • We’re hoping to get to Santiago. We may have to hot foot it for a few legs but we’ll just see how we go.
        I have already walked from St Jean with a friend in 2014 but it will be a first for my husband, so I really want him to have the whole Camino Frances experience.

        We are also planning on walking from Porto to Santiago in October this year.

        What can I say- I’m addicted to this slow travelling life.

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  14. Hello Bill,

    I think going thru Chartres and Orleans is a great idea. Beautiful and easy. Less hotels and pilgrims accommodation is the problem though. People are no used to pilgrims so sometimes you will be looked at as the hobo in someplace, but it is so peaceful. You will have a shock entering in the Spanish part. Looking forward to see you.

    Bises. Marie

    Enviado desde mi ASUS

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    • I figure by following the river valley I’ll avoid all those massive mountains that cross your beautiful country from east to west. I know the Loire valley a bit, and yes it will be gorgeous!

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    • I’m unsure about Chartres and Orléans, Marie, though there actually is a reasonable DIY route between the two, three days or so IIRC. 🙂 (not much though in terms of organised accommodation, but such off-piste variants can often be surprisingly welcoming)

      You’re absolutely right about the “shock entering in the Spanish part“.

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  15. Hey Bill. I haven’t commented in a while but your adventure next year caught my eye. Keep me posted and maybe I’ll join you for a section or two.

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