Heather Thomas' Camino de Santiago story

Every year, hundreds of people take on the incredible challenge of walking one of the world’s most famous routes; the Camino de Santiago. In October 2024, Heather Thomas took on the 67km trek in support of Penny Brohn UK. These are her words on her experience undertaking the challenge.

I’ve known about the Camino de Santiago for some time, and just before I was diagnosed with breast cancer a friend and I had started to plan walking part of it. So, I already knew this is a pilgrim’s way that’s been popular amongst walkers since medieval times. I also knew that there are 7 routes from France and Portugal, with one of the French routes being the most popular. All of it is challenging, culminating in all 7 paths coming together at Santiago Cathedral, situated in a lovely square in Northern Spain.

My treatment for my cancer put paid to the original plan to walk the Camino, but it has been niggling the back of my brain ever since. A good friend of ours has recently retired and when he invited my husband, Bill, and I round for afternoon tea one day he enthused about his new favoured activity – walking. He was loving it and had just completed walking Hadrian’s Wall for pleasure.

The following week I received an email from Penny Brohn UK that asked if people would be interested in taking part in the Camino de Santiago to fundraise for them and it seemed like a moment of serendipity. I talked it over with Bill, who was very positive and that was it, I signed up through Global Adventure Challenges. There would be a group of us all walking for different charities and all I had to concentrate on was training and fundraising. It was great to know they sorted out flights, accommodation and meals etc.

A good friend of mine who had been diagnosed with breast cancer a few years before me was a huge supporter of Penny Brohn UK and the help that they gave, so towards the end of my treatment I accessed some of the services on offer and was blown away. The friendliness of everyone and limitless services available to you, for free, was amazing and something I will never forget. I felt this was my chance to give back.

Bill and I planned a training programme carefully, building up my walking distance and speed gradually. I had about 6 months to train, which felt like an achievable goal. I live in Bristol and found good walking spots in terrain that I thought would be similar to where I was going to be walking along the Camino. I also invested in a good pair of walking shoes, a poncho (great tip from Global Challenges!) and a foldable trekking pole – all turned out to be essentials! What I hadn’t anticipated were the times I didn’t feel well along the training programme – suffering with colds and flus, and the training is very different to the usual dog walks that we do.

However, I tried to be disciplined and not beat myself up too much when I felt I hadn’t done what was needed. I also started to see a personal trainer, who was very supportive, to help with additional strength and mobility exercises. In addition, my son gave me some good advice, in that I needed to be able to walk for 7 hours before I as this was going to be the longest leg of the challenge over the 3 days.

I fully admit that I was very nervous before the start. I was worried that I hadn’t done enough preparation, but this just wasn’t the case. Yes, it was challenging. 67km in 3 days is never going to be easy – especially taking into account the terrain you’re walking along, but I managed a lot better than I thought.

There were 31 of us walking in the group and I found myself towards the middle of the pack. I was also one of the oldest amongst the group, so I don’t think I did bad at all. 4 of the women didn’t manage to do the whole thing so I felt pretty proud of myself when I crossed that finish line. I will never forget the friendly locals, and when other pilgrims are passing, who all call out “buen Camino!” to each other. One of my concerns was whether there would be enough ‘loo stops’ and I was very relieved that there were many cafes in small hamlets on the way (phew!)

There were so many highlights or memorable moments from the trip, with a few of these standing out the most. 2 of our ladies actually missed the Camino guidance arrows and got lost! They were found again pretty quickly – thank goodness for mobile phones!

Another was my surprise at how well I managed the walk, largely thanks to the people I walked with and our guides (we had 3 on foot and one in a support car) The last day’s walk was in horrendous rain but we all kept each other going to the end.

Global Adventure Challenges had organised a celebratory meal on the last evening when it was all done and with relief we were showered and dry. There was a feeling of euphoria and fun had amongst the group, with lots of good food and beautiful singing by one particular individual.

It has been 6 years since my treatment and I’m pleased to say that all is going well. So well that I wanted to do this for Penny Brohn UK to show my thanks to them for all they’d done for me.

We’d like to thank Stephen for sharing their experience. The words used are preferred by Stephen. Penny Brohn UK encourages everyone to use their own words to tell their story. If you have any questions about any of the language used, please email comms@pennybrohn.org.uk.