The Way, My Way

“I’d never done anything crazy like this before – a pilgrimage walk. I was not a hiker, and I wasn’t a Catholic. In fact, I wasn’t even sure I was a Christian. On the last government census when I had to state my religion, I'd said I was a Buddhist, mainly because they’ve had such a hard time in Tibet I felt they needed my statistical support. I was also not an adventure traveller. For me, adventure travel was flying coach. All this backpacking and wearing of heavy boots and flying off to France to walk ancient pilgrimage routes was a new experience, and not one that made me feel entirely comfortable.” And so Bill Bennett, an Australian based film director, set off on an 800 kilometre walk across Spain to Santiago de Compostela, not sure why he was doing it, and not feeling entirely comfortable. His discomfort increased markedly a few days later when his knee gave out – so the rest of the walk was a “pain management pilgrimage.” But he kept his sense of humour, and his memoir is at times hilarious but also deeply moving, and insightful. In the vein of Bill Bryson and Eric Newby, The Way, My Way takes you on a unique spiritual journey, and gives you a hearty laugh along the way.

Mixed feelings

Always love to read/hear anything about the Camino. This was a strange one though. Firstly, I am confused about his route from St Jean to Roncesvalles. He made it clear that the Napoleon route was closed due to weather and that someone had died the day before. But then he spends the chapter describing his day 1 walk as going past Orisson (impossible unless he went the Napoleon route), and then made a big deal about his efforts to get up the extreme climb over the Pyrenees. Doesn’t make sense… Hard to not think he made it up. Oh well, fairly entertaining anyway if you already know about the Camino.