Le Chemin du Puy 2024

This summer, I laced up my boots once again –  this time to walk the ancient French pilgrimage route known as Le Chemin du Puy (the Via Podiensis). Starting from the historic town of Le Puy-en-Velay, I journeyed across the heart of rural France. Through volcanic landscapes, sleepy villages, fertile farmland, deep river valleys, and sweeping vineyards until I reached the foothills of the Pyrenees in Saint-Jean-Pied-de-Port, where it all began. Though different in landscape and rhythm, the soul of the Camino is the same: welcoming, humbling, and full of grace.

When I first set out on my Camino de Santiago in 2023, I had no idea how deeply it would affect me. On just my second day, I met pilgrims who were walking their third, fifth even their twentieth Camino. I remember wondering: Why? Why would anyone feel the need to walk the Camino more than once?

I couldn’t understand it at the time. But two weeks in, something shifted. I found myself thinking about my next Camino. I had developed a deep spiritual connection to The Way. The simple act of walking, disconnecting from daily life, and immersing myself in nature became a kind of therapy I didn’t know I needed. I began peeling back layers of myself, discovering healing in the rhythm of my footsteps and the stillness between.

A week before I reached “the end of the world” at Faro Finisterre, I began to dread the end. I had embraced the simplicity of the Camino and the space it gave me to process emotions I had long tucked away. I found peace. I found joy in the challenge of each day, in the laughter shared with strangers-turned-friends, and in the quiet moments of awe and gratitude.

Coming home was harder than I expected. I missed everything about the Camino. The longing to return never left me and so here I am, walking again.

This walk was a slower, quieter kind of pilgrimage marked by solitude and simplicity, rich with history, kind strangers, and unforgettable moments of beauty. I turned 50 along this path, a milestone that brought reflection, celebration, and the gift of a night in a treehouse, thanks to a Camino angel I met along the way.

Walking Le Chemin du Puy felt like reading a letter to the sacred in the ordinary. It deepened my faith, renewed my gratitude, and reminded me once again that the road really does rise to meet us, even through rain, aches, and moments of doubt.

This is the story of that pilgrimage, pulled from my journal, told in steps, snapshots, and reflections from the trail.