Julia Doherty

A few years ago, a friend of mine decided that she was going to walk the Camino. She was older than me and I thought “If Jane can do this, then so can I”. Anyway, life and business got in the way, and even though I had every intention of walking this trail it never happened until 2016.

I don’t have many regrets in my life, but if there was one thing that I could change it would be to have travelled more and explored the world. I never went to Uni, and I was in full-time employment from the age of 16. I bought my first house at the age of 19 and before I knew it, I had financial commitments and a lifestyle that I needed to keep up with. Travelling was just something that other people did, until now.

I have the best family in the world! My husband is 100% supportive in all of the challenges that I decided to embark on, and I am also lucky that my daughter shares my sense of adventure.

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In January 2016, after a return trip from Dubai, I mentioned to my husband that I have been thinking about walking the Camino, and he said: “if it is something you really want to do, then go for it”. He was comfortable with me taking our then 13-year-old daughter with me, but he said he would feel better if there were more of us going, so I asked my best friend Julie. I have known Julie since I was four years old, and we have a special relationship. If I was going to do this challenge, I could not think of anyone better than my best friend to be by my side. I did a little dance when she said yes!

There are two types of "journey" that you experience when hiking, the inner journey, and the outer journey. I learnt so much about myself on that first hiking trip that I was totally hooked. Someone once said to me that your real Camino starts when you get back, how right they were.