Never say never

Sub-title: there's only so many years left

I don't think that it's equivocation to keep one’s options open. My justification – if indeed that’s what it is – is that one can’t be certain what’s around the corner. With a few fundamental exceptions, locking yourself into a closed position may not necessarily be all that smart.

That’s not to say that I’ve haven’t actually done it a few times – the most notable being when, in 2010, after an incredibly special trip to the Himalaya I said something to the effect of “that was awesome but I won’t do it again”, only to return to the mountains another six times. That experience, with the benefit of wonderful hindsight, told me that saying never was not only untrue but potentially limiting. My subsequent trips to the Himalaya have been wonderful in so many ways, and I could have missed them had I stuck to that very first assertion. The lesson: never say never.

When we finished the first half of the Via Podiensis in October 2024 (refer to https://www.an-impossible-dream.com/post/yin-yang for an overview), I thought that that would be the end of my travels in that part of the world. I didn’t say so, at least not explicitly, but I did believe that to be the case; even though on that occasion I don't recall that I actually said the “never” word. And so it’s funny how the world evolves, because over the last many months we have decided that doing the second half of the walk – in my case finishing that which I didn’t complete two years earlier – would indeed be a good idea. Sure, I had my fair share of physical challenges over the first half, and maybe they'll pop up again, but hey, never say never.

So in just 49 days we’ll board a bus from home here in beautiful, peaceful rural Yallingup to Perth International Terminal for multi-hop trip to Paris, and then a couple of days later on to Cahors, our end point a couple of years back. We’ll spend another couple of days there before crossing Lot River over the 14^th century Pont Valentre (pictured), climbing up what looks like an impossibly steep hill, and then strolling for 23 days and some 400 klms to St Jean Pied-de-Port, the end point of this journey and the start point of our very first Camino in September 2015.

As the start of the journey gets closer I realise how thrilled I am by the prospect of the walk. I’m certainly logistically prepared (transport, accommodation and all those things) and maybe sort of physically prepared (well maybe not as fit as I probably ought to be). But mentally, psychologically, spiritually, I’m set to go. I think that that’s why I can now write this – these words have sort of been rattling around my head for several weeks, and now they’re ready to come out and show themselves to the world.

Which brings me to a rather sober here and now viewpoint. Realistically I have relatively few years left; at least three-quarters of my life is behind me – perhaps 80%, or maybe even more. That leaves only so many years left to embark on a journey like this, and the other things I’d like to do before it’s too late.

The world is an extraordinary place, notwithstanding the craziness being wrought upon it by the madman in the White House (I shake my head in disbelief and hope that somewhere, somehow, a level of common-sense might prevail, not that I’m all that optimistic). We all have some sense as to how extraordinary it is, but just in case you'd somehow missed that, the crew of Artemis II proved it with some of their amazing photos, like the one below.

And even if I’ve only got 25%, or 20%, or even less of my life left, I’ll give it a good shot to get out and live it as best I can.

Never say never, you just don’t know what’s around the corner.

Nighttime picture of Earth taken on April 2, 2026 from Artemis II. Photo courtesy of NASA

I’m not normally a regular blogger, and I’m far from being an influencer by any definition of the word, but if you are interested in following this little journey please feel free to subscribe if you’ve not already done so. I promise you some nice photos, a few anecdotes about French food and wine, perhaps some tales of joy and woe from the path, no doubt some stories about Janet, and maybe some life lessons gleaned along the way.

And all being well, there'll be an update every day ...