I happened upon my sobriquet of "journeycakes" several years ago when I was looking online for a recipe for cornbread muffins or johnny cake. In my search I learned about the probable history of the name "johnny cake" that originally probably referred to "journey cakes" that were baked prior to a trip to take with as food for the journey. A few years ago when I needed a nickname for a travel commentary website I discovered that nobody had claimed this term as a nom de plume or even thought of it perhaps, so this moniker has been my occasional alter ego ever since.
Nearly two years ago I read about a major Christian pilgrimage route in Northern Spain that has had a resurgence in popularity during the last twenty-five or thirty years. People have walked the route for centuries since the discovery of the remains of St. James at Santiago de Compostela - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Way_of_St._James. Reading everything about the pilgrimage and the people walking it became a compelling interest and I began to entertain the idea of walking the route myself. About a year ago I began preparing for the journey by walking frequently from my home in our rural community to the local small city 8 km (5 miles) away. The development of a walking track that circles the playing field at a neighbourhood park gave me a place to train near my home. With the acquisition of walking poles (that kick walking up a notch and help aging joints absorb the stress of each step,) some shoes I like, and yet another backpack (not too big, not too small!) the rest of my story is history in the making. Most recently I booked a flight to Spain for the purpose of walking the Camino.
(to be continued)
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