Our Moveable Feats

June 12, 2026 – from the desk of TLid

I have been asked why walk the Chemin.

I wrote about this two years ago on our first experience on the Via Podiensis. Truthfully, I was asked by Mother Superior at the Couvent de Malet where we were staying in the town Saint Come D’Olt in 2024. I struggled to answer. I think today I found a bit of the answer. There is undoubtedly a spiritual, Godly realm at work here. For some it is the lens to look through, for others it is the canvas on which they paint their path forward. For many it is simply a journey of self-discovery, of pushing beyond comfort.  I am not sure which I am but I can attest to the humbling, awe-filled experience of stripping away the chaff and pushing beyond the pain.

I think the ‘why’ also goes back to a post of mine in 2024 when I rambled on about space and time being a gift of the Chemin. Today I felt the soul- cracking effect that space and time can truly have. 

One year ago i was diagnosed with a Renal Cell Carcinoma. It was found incidentally, thanks to a good friend and physician. The subsequent surgery went smoothly and I continued on my way with an excellent prognosis.

Several months later I found myself trying to make sense of what I had been through and experienced anger and frustration more than the gratitude I know I ‘should’ have felt. I pushed it all down and carried on.

Today on the Chemin, after the previous 25 km, 1000m elevation day, I was tired and sore. Although it was a short day, I needed to focus on the meditative metronome of shoes and poles to carry my brain to a deeper place. In that place I found frustration and mistrust with my body that I think has truly hampered my ability to feel the gratitude that I am healthy, that I am alive, that I can climb mountains.

It broke me open. I let out that frustration and sadness in tears as I took each step and I am hopeful that I’m on the path to true gratitude. 

So, why do we walk the Chemin? Perhaps to find the time, the calm, the meditation needed to go to those deeper places. To do the work that busy life precludes us from doing. Or… maybe we just do it for the endorphins!