In February 2009 work was thin on the ground and winter was in full swing. I awoke one morning with an urgent desire to do something that challenged me and so on the spur of the moment I decided to walk the old pilgrims route from St Jean Pied du Port to Santiago de Compostela a distance of 800km. I left two days later carrying a small rucksack with a few changes of clothes, my Hassleblad XPan and my last 20 rolls of Agfa APX 400 which were already out of date.
My walk began on February 28th and I did not get off to a good start as on the first day I encountered a combination of deep snow and short days and it was only by chance that I avoided serious trouble. I quickly got into a rhythm, rising with the sun and heading off into whatever weather was being thrown at me that day. I decided that I was only going to take pictures whilst I was actually standing on the Camino and produce a picture a day for the length of my walk. The first ten days were hard, the weather was atrocious, wind, snow and rain and most days I was soaked to the skin by the time I arrived at a refuge but every morning I was itching to leave again. I loved the solitude and tried to express this through the photographs I took. After ten days the weather changed and the snow and rain receded leaving me to walk in excellent conditions for the last three weeks and I finally arrived in a village 30 km from Santiago de Compostela on a Friday evening having walked for 31 days. I found that it was impossible to sleep on the last night as I realised that in fact I did not want to stop walking and that I was truly happy being wherever I was just carrying all I needed on my back. I got up in the middle of the night and headed off into a forest in the dark finding my way by torch light and arrived early the next morning in Santiago de Compostela where I attended Mass in the cathedral, the first time I had been in a church for 25 years. Needless to say I did not find God but I certainly rediscovered a part of myself.
Mark Luscombe-Whyte is a British location photographer based in the South of France.
