Walking 'The Way'

SANDPOINT — How do you walk just under 500 miles?’

The answer: one step at a time.

Local resident and public radio personality Jim Healey learned that lesson this fall after spending a month journeying through the Camino de Santiago in northern Spain. Healey returned stateside with a new appreciation for world culture, history and the simple goodwill of a stranger met on the road.

He’ll be discussing the trip at a talk set for 6 p.m. Dec. 3 at the East Bonner County Library. He’ll also share his thoughts Dec. 2 in a 10 a.m. interview with Suzy Prez on 88.5 KRFY Panhandle Community Radio.

“What I’d really want to tell people is this is something anyone can do,” Healey said. “Hopefully, it will get some people’s curiosity whetted.”

For Healey, the overseas trip was a chance to spend some quality time with his older sister, Marie Milow. After turning 70, Milow decided she wanted to walk the Camino de Santiago, which has grown in the public eye since being featured in books or films like “The Way,” a 2010 drama starring Martin Sheen.

Although walking 490 miles by foot sounds like an intimidating process, Healey said the journey is set up to be viable for anyone capable of walking several miles a day. Every few miles, travelers will find cafes, bars, or pilgrim’s hostels ready to provide weary travelers with a meal or a roof and a bed. That means that travelers can largely set their own pace.

Healey and his sister typically walked between 10 and 15 miles a day, starting their journey Sept. 12 and ending it Oct. 23.

“We always knew there would be a roof over our heads and a meal waiting for us at the end of the day,” he said.

The experience was a lifetime milestone, Healey said. He’d tackled long-term hikes in the past, but never one that allowed for such a contemplative and thoughtful experience. As the two progressed along the trail, they encountered churches hundreds of years old and uncovered a new piece of history every day.

Despite being structured as a traditional pilgrimage, the trip is a profound experience regardless of how much religious significance or spirituality one attaches to it, according to Healey. And everyone can benefit from the new people met along the path.

One unforgettable acquaintance for Healey was George from France, an 84-year-old man making the pilgrimage for the third time.

Then there were Luigi and Roberto, two cousins from just outside Rome. Their trip ended early when one developed shin splints.

However, Healey helped them complete a major step of the pilgrimage by placing a rock inscribed with the names of their loved ones at an iron cross just off the path.  

Rounding out the incredible trip was the landscape of northern Spain. Healey didn’t quite know what to expect and was amazed by the green lushness of the olive orchards, rolling fields and vineyards. It was a serene, peaceful place that lives on in his memories upon the journey’s completion.

“It’s a part of the world I’d never been to and hope to get back to,” he said.