Lars Eklund

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A way of life

Adventure, nature, and photography are three cornerstones of my life. When I was 19, I had my camera with me when I climbed the southern peak of Kebnekaise, the highest mountain in Sweden. Rapidly descending the mountain in the snow on a rain cover was perhaps reckless, but it was awesome. Hiking on Kungsleden and in Sarek National Park also was magnificent. I thrived in our northernmost landscape of Lappland, so it was natural for me to do my obligatory military service near the mining town of Kiruna. I went on to earn a Master’s Degree in mineral and mining engineering in Stockholm in 1970. A few months before my first Camino, as I was approaching retirement age, I increasingly felt that the policies of the company where I worked and the assignments I was being given no longer suited me. One of my best customers joked one day and said to me, “You’ll soon turn 65! Why aren’t you doing something else? Anything. For example, a pilgrimage…in Spain.” I thought, “Why not? She’s quite right!” A month later, I resigned from my job and ended my career life. I spent much of the next seven years walking Caminos on the Iberian Peninsula: nine of the longer pilgrim routes and two of the shorter ones. To close the circle, I walked parts of the French Way again in 2015. I began writing the text for this book before the Covid pandemic broke out, and part of me thinks that this is probably not the best time to publish such a work. But maybe I am wrong…again. During one of my many lectures about pilgrimages, I asked an elderly man who could no longer walk unaided why he was so interested in the topic. He responded, “But Lars, you don’t understand how important it is to walk in the mind.”