Updated by: May 11, 2026
She Said Yes! I’m Walking the Camino
I want to walk the ‘Camino de Santiago’ in France in July. The Camino is one of the world’s great pilgrim routes, walked for over a thousand years by people seeking, something…
Clarity, adventure, faith or escape, and sometimes, all four at once.
The particular section I’m walking is called the Via Turonensis — one of the four historic French routes. My section starts in Saintes, a beautiful ancient town in Southwestern France, and finishes six days later in Bordeaux.
I mentioned that she said yes because I was genuinely worried my wife would say no! A week walking solo through rural France while she manages our two children on a family holiday takes a particular kind of generosity. Thankfully, she has it.
So, what am I actually looking forward to?
Walking into small towns with no agenda and no idea what I’ll find there? Being lost in my own thoughts for hours at a time — something modern life rarely allows? Broken French conversations with locals who will almost certainly take pity on me? And… the wine. Southwest France produces some of the world’s great wines and I intend to approach this as both a pilgrimage and a research project!
The route passes through medieval villages, vineyards and ancient pilgrim hospices. It crosses the Gironde estuary by ferry before arriving in Bordeaux, one of Europe’s great cities, and then on through the northern suburbs, following bronze shell markers in the pavement.
137 kilometers. Six days. One, very understanding wife.
The Camino has been walked for over a thousand years. I’ll be walking it in July, and I will let you know how it goes.
Paul Mercuri
Wake Up Here Founder
