About Us!



We are Katy Murray, Jeff Volk, and Bodhi Fell Murray-Volk, and this is our first time walking the Camino de Santiago.  It has been a dream of ours since we first met each other in Barcelona in 2007-8...

Katy

Katy (33 years old) is originally from Alston, Cumbria, England, with plenty of ties to nearby Newcastle.  She lived in Spain for several years, based in Barcelona, Cadiz and Bilbao.  She has WWOOFed in Ecuador, Peru and France, and cycled from Newcastle to Alsace to Brittany the long way (2014-5).  Her long-distance walks to this point include the Pennine Way (2012) and Hadrian's Wall (2013) in the U.K..

Jeff

Jeff (41 y.o.) is originally from Philadelphia, PA, USA.  He has been a Peace Corps volunteer in Senegal and an English teacher in Barcelona, not to mention a seasonal wanderer of the American West.  He has cycled from Senegal to South Africa and Alaska to Argentina, and most recently around France (2014-5), amongst other trips.  His long-distance walking experience includes thru-hikes of the Pacific Crest Trail (USA, 1999), Appalachian Trail (USA, 2001), Pyrenees GR11 (Spain, 2008), Pennine Way (U.K. 2012) and Hadrian's Wall (U.K. 2013).

Bodhi Fell

Bodhi entered the scene in May 2013.  His first long-distance walk was at the age of 3.5 months: the Hadrian's Wall Footpath in northern England!  He later learned to hike and ride his balance bikes in France, where we cycled and WWOOFed around the country for over one year between 2014 and 2015. 

HADRIAN'S WALL (2013):

Not a bad way to travel for your very first long-distance walk.

A perfect introduction to camping...

... and camplife.

This picture speaks a thousand words.  Nearly everyone had told us it was impossible to do a long walk with a young baby.  How wrong they all were, and how sad that people think this way.  Bodhi was in his element and really came alive during this walk!



CYCLING and WWOOFING around France (2014-5):

We spent a total of 7 months on organic farms, eating heaps of fresh organic vegetables and getting our hands dirty all over France.



Bo was able to spend one whole year (at a prime formative age) completely immersed in the countryside...

... with all its advantages.

Our tour went from Alsace to Provence to the Pyrenees and up to Brittany, always taking bike routes or quiet country roads, and performing 15 WWOOF stays en route.





Bo had the choice to ride in the Chariot trailer or in his bike seat.

Hiking for real for the first time, age 14 months, in Alsace.

Steady improvement, hiking in Herault, age 19 months.





As for the balance bike, he learned his skills in natural settings...




... and urban ones.

Camping all over France's rural lands.



It doesn't get any better than this.



Best of all, an early taste of the sense of freedom, adventure, and the open road!

OUR "VEHICLE":

It would only be fair to say a few words about the most important piece of our kit, our trekking machine.  A Chariot CX-1 multi-purpose child's carrier, chosen above other child-carrying options (such as a backpack suited to carry a child) for 3 reasons: comfort for the child, space for storage and transport of items, and complete protection from the elements (cold, rain, wind, sun).



It was already tried and tested during our journey around France (here shown as a bike trailer)...





... but we made a few significant changes to transform it into a trekking warrior for the Camino (shown here as jogging kit).  This meant throwing on the front jogging wheel, removing the bike attachments, and finding some inexpensive saddlebags (purchased in several videgreniers around France). 




We also frequently used the trekking kit, involving a harness and two extension arms.  Although this kit is more suited for long climbs, in general we preferred the 3-wheel jogging set-up as it provides much more freedom of movement for the user. 

     Yeah, trust us, nearly the whole planet told us we had too much stuff, and of course they were right, but whatever, might as well live it up... Truth be told, we wanted to camp (predominantly wild camping) and be self-sufficient, and this with a child is not so easy to organize.  It requires 3 sleeping bags, 3 mattresses, a spacious tent/shelter, toys, kids' books, outdoor clothes for the three of us, guidebooks, cooking equipment, water storage capacity, and especially loads of food, amongst lots of other stuff.  Throw in the balance bike and the guitar as luxury pastimes and there you have it.  We may just have been some of the first and only pilgrims to walk over 1000 miles with a toddler and wild-camp nearly the whole way.