Hi, I'm Willow Belden and you're listening to Out There, the podcast that explores big questions through intimate stories outdoors.

A lot of times when we talk about long-distance hiking, we think of the wilderness, you know, the Appalachian

Trail, the Pacific Crest Trail, these really long backcountry adventures where you're

out in the woods for weeks or months on end, and you sleep in a tent every night, and you carry

everything you need on your back. But long-distance journeys don't have to be like that.

Today, we're going to hear about a very different kind of walk.

It's a walk that follows an ancient pilgrimage route in Europe, called the Camino de Santiago.

Back in the Middle Ages, the church claimed they discovered the remains of one of Jesus' disciples in this town in northern Spain,

and so people started making pilgrimages to the site.

Hundreds of thousands, if not millions of people, came from all over Europe.

Fast forward to today, and the pilgrimage route is hugely popular again.

And that brings us to our guest for today. A few years ago, a woman from Seattle named Beth Jacino decided to do the Camino with her husband.

And if you have in your mind the kind of person who would do a pilgrimage like this,

Beth is probably not who you're thinking of. She was not outdoorsy.

She was not religious. And yet something drew her to this trek. She wrote a book about it called

Walking to the End of the World. And she joins us today to talk about it. Beth, welcome and thank

you so much for being here. Absolutely. I'm excited to be here.

So one thing that was interesting to me, so a lot of people I think who do long journeys,

like I'm thinking people who choose to do through hikes on like the Appalachian Trail,

a lot of people do it because they are grappling with major issues in their lives,

whether that's, you know, romantic disappointment or career questions, or maybe they are dealing

with loss of a loved one. But it sounds like for you, that was not the case.

...