Prologue

Less than two weeks prior to departure and all is not well. Therefore, all is as it should be!!

I have a left knee that is giving me pain on walking any distance. Three weeks ago I did a trial 15 km walk along Lake Ontario. On completion, I could barely tell which part of the anatomy hurt most. The whole of me had gone into protective spasm.

Patellofemoral pain syndrome is the most likely label to my condition and is to do with the way the patella tracks along the femur. Fortunately, I have a team of highly competent professionals in my clinic who are able to give me the care and attention that will take me to the starting point of my 'camino' at Saint Jean Pied de Port, at the foot of the Pyrenees.

Thank you to Norman, Richelle, Susan, Paul and Katherine for providing freely of their services. Acupuncture, massage, craniosacral, chiropractic and reiki have helped immensely, and I feel like a racehorse prepared for its day of glory.

I will need all the help I can get to complete my 800 km walk over the Pyrenees into Spain on the Camino de Santiago de Compostela. Everyone agrees: "strengthen the medial quads and lengthen the iliotibial band."

I wonder if the Pilgrims over the last millennium had the benefit of such sage advice: "Me thinketh that strongly thou doth pronate in promenade. Let me take stock. Tarry not, for with papyrus* in thy shoe thou shall grow wings and proceedith with God's speed"

*Foot notes: papyrus - a medieval orthotic