When I decided to walk the Camino de Santiago alone at age 71, it was on a whim. A year and a half earlier, I had had a hip replacement, but felt that I had become complacent in a comfortable retirement, and needed to shake up my life. And that's what I did.

I knew walking a Camino wouldn't be easy or pain-free. Despite months of training and preparation, there was no way I could plan for the unexpected.

On my third day of walking, an injury on the trail threatened my ability to finish my adventure. It would be more difficult and demanding than I ever imagined, forcing me to reach beyond physical pain and endurance, battle self-doubts, and draw from a spirit within me to finish the walk all the way to Santiago de Compostela. Along the way, I discover unexpected feelings and surprising emotions.

Walk by My Side takes the reader from the months of preparation in central Mexico to Portugal where I started a 100 mile journey on the Camino Portugues to Santiago de Compestela in Spain. I'll take you with me as I walk to the rhythm of the endless ocean surf, navigate sprawling suburbs that have engulfed the ancient Way, traverse the Camino's paths and the back roads of Galicia, and savor the tastes of Galician food and wine. Along the way, I meet a variety of characters, pilgrims from around the world, who are walking for their own personal reasons, and observe a Camino that is changing to accommodate expansive growth and ever-increasing numbers of pilgrims.

When I first started writing this book I had a friend read an early chapter where I started walking the Camino. Her comment to me was "I felt like I was walking with you, walking by your side." That comment inspired the book's title and a promise to the reader to maintain that feeling throughout the journey.

Read this travel memoir and you'll be there with me...walking by my side.