Thanks for taking the time to visit my JustGiving page.

I am Chris @PilgrimChris on Twitter and have been planning on walking the 500 miles to Santiago de Compostella from St. Jean-Pied-de-Port for over 3 years now. I am a keen hiker and walker as well as a cyclist and have walked and cycled many 1000's of miles in the UK over the years. I am also a wild camper liking nothing better when out hiking that to pitch my tent wherever I happen to find myself when the light fades. So why am I hiking and wild camping the Camino de Santiago (The Way of St. James)?

Originally I was meant to do this pilgrimage back in 2009 although in hindsight that was wishful thinking - I wasn't really prepared. However the idea remained although the purpose was unclear. Why was I driven to walk fo 30 days over 500 miles in a foreign country? The original idea was to make a religeous pilgrimage (I am a Catholic) yet this in itself didn't seem 'right'. Then last year a close family member discovered she had cancer and I was going to walk in honour of her. But still this didn't feel right. So why am I going now?

I don't know is the simple answer. I just know that I need to do this walk. Life itself is a pilgrimage and that is enough - maybe the 'why' will reveal itself to me on my journey?

I wasn't going to do the walk for a particular charity either, indeed I was keeping it relatively low key - only a few family and friends were to know and my hiking twitter followers. But then I discovered @SocialHiking - ShareYourAdventure.com and this web app changed my life. I could share my hikes with other people and over the past 2 years I have made a number of very good friends through this website. Mountain Rescue England and Wales offer an incredible service, their members often risking themselves to save the lives of others and as a hiker I am all too aware of the potential for being caught in a dangerous situation when hiking. Knowing that MR are there should I be so unfortunate to need them is very reassuring and this is why I have decided to use my long distance hike to help raise much needed funds for this charity. I ask you humbly to donate whatever you can!

You will be able to follow my pilgrimage live on an interactive map that I will be producing as I walk. There you will see where I am at any given time, be able to view photographs I take, videos I make and audio recordings of people I meet along the way. Simply bookmark the following link and click on it anytime to see what I am up to, where I am and even chat with me.

LINK COMING SOON!

Donating through JustGiving is simple, fast and totally secure. Your details are safe with JustGiving – they’ll never sell them on or send unwanted emails. Once you donate, they’ll send your money directly to the charity and make sure Gift Aid is reclaimed on every eligible donation by a UK taxpayer. So it’s the most efficient way to donate - I raise more, whilst saving time and cutting costs for the charity.

So please dig deep and donate now.