How did we get into this situation?

I suppose I should have started this blog long ago, when the idea was first mooted, and not waited until the moment of truth ( i.e we are leaving within 30 hours) but I didn't, so we will be playing catch-up for a while.

So there we were, sitting around the table in my sister-in-law's kitchen one Saturday night in September.  She was feeling philosophical: as one gets older, as responsibilities come and go, as one contemplates the end of life, maybe one should take a more spiritual view.  She was considering a pilgrimage. I was thinking Canterbury but she was thinking Santiago.  Not the pilgrimage route through Spain but rather the unknown (at least to her) route through Portugal.

I was joking when I said we should hire a camper van and "he" (the brother, the husband, the driver) should drive and I would shop and cook and facilitate.

About three weeks later, after the sister-in-law (hereinafter referred to as "The Pilgrim") had decided this was a good idea, flights were booked, a camper van was hired and planning began in earnest.