Taking My God For A Walk

The Story of a Pilgrimage to Santiago, in Search of the Holy...

In 2013, having worked over 40 years in publishing, commissioning editor Tony Collins was given a long-overdue sabbatical as a reward for long service. For most, this would count as an opportunity to take a well-earned break. Tony, however, chose to walk the 490 miles of the Camino, from French border to Santiago de Compostela in Northern Spain. He was deliberately stepping out of his comfort zone: undertaking a pilgrimage through a land whose language he did not speak, into a culture far removed from his own, in search of sources of reverence.

He had expected the way to be arduous, and so it proved. But he had not expected so bracing an internal journey, his battered soul laid down for examination, past errors offered up for scrutiny. He hadn’t expected such moments of intense spiritual encounter, or so many precious friendships, or so much fun. He discovered, above all, as many have done before him, that the Way leaves an indelible mark.