I suppose this adventure really began back in 1979 when my parents and I walked the Pilgrims’ Way from Winchester to Canterbury. In those days the idea of going on pilgrimage was less common than it is today, but somehow I had heard about the pilgrimage to Santiago de Compostella – in Medieval times the third most prestigious destination behind Jerusalem and Rome, and announced that one day I would do it! Well it was thirty years later that I actually set out one Saturday morning from St Alban’s Cathedral, and since then I have been making my way south towards Spain, doing a little more each year, and noting my thoughts and experiences in The Diary of a Scruffy Little Pilgrim – (- the title arose on the first day when I rounded the corner onto the courtyard in front of All Saints Centre, London Colney and found myself in the midst of a wedding party without a wedding garment!) Now I am preparing to complete the whole of the Camino Francés through Northern Spain, in one go. My transport is all booked. My accommodation is all booked and my luggage will be transported, so this will again be different to all the other legs: but this has been the case all along. If you regard pilgrimage as being a sort of reflection of life’s journey, that is true of life as well: all along things change and we make adaptions. Another difference is that I am asking if you would like to mark my journey, by making a donation to Christian Aid. Christian Aid Week will take place while I am away, so I will not be around to support it in the usual way. This year’s ‘slogan’, “We’ve been there for refugees since 1945”, is still so horribly relevant. We are also confronted with the unfolding disaster in South Sudan and surrounding countries. Christian Aid is part of the Disasters Emergency Committee through which funds are channelled to relieve the suffering there. Visit the website, www.christianaid.org.uk, to learn more about the work of Christian Aid.