Episcopalian Church.

[David hiking El Camino de Santiago]

> is it really the Camino which detonates certain particular changes in
> certain particular people who has been consciously looking for that journey
> for whatever reasons,
> or it is more likely that the people that go in the journey are a particular
> kind of
> folks that actually took with them something that they "place"
> or which what they invest with the Camino on a special meaning?


Based on what I've seen in a secular context with the long-distance hikers
in the US, the Pacific Crest Trail in particular, I would guess that the
people who undertake it are ripe for a change and the long-distance hiking
experience certainly draws the change out of them.    So whether they are
looking for it or not, they find that they change.

My own private theory is that many long-distance hikers tend toward
depression and
the daily physical exertion is a legal form of drug treatment that counteracts
that.    It seems consistent with the observation that many long-distance
hikers become depressed after their walk is finished.   They're glad it's over -
but they can't wait to begin the next one.