Hi Mahoney & Barbara
My walking companion was my 10 year old daughter. I was keen to walk about 18 - 20 km a day. She liked the idea of walking 12 - 15. She won. The slowest always wins.
I am so glad. We walked at her pace for over 3 weeks. We saw things, we talked to people, we experienced a whole new world. People would come up from behind, walk for 10 minutes with us and bolt forward. We started at 7 or 8am, we stopped at 2 or 3pm, and we stopped EVERYWHERE inbetween: sometimes towns, sometimes nowhere, sometimes with people, sometimes alone... Once I let go of the need to 'get some kilometres under our belt' it was wonderful. I"m glad that moment came the first day, otherwise I could have made her walk with me across Spain a nightmare she'd rather forget. She helped me stop and smell the flowers.
Due to the slow pace, we did have to make up for lost time at around 400km. There was a moment after 4 days of some blistery wind chill factors where we finally decided to catch a bus to the next major town. Alone, I may have kept walking - but I can't say that for sure, but nothing makes your heart break like seeing your sweet girl who has walked 400km through rain, snow, sleet, hail, snow and now ice-cold, unforgiving, relentless and harsh wind........finally crack and say "I hate this".
A bus ride and a day in a major city looking at sights and being a tourist for a moment piped us both up. We were derided by some people, and laughed at by others, but we know what we did. And so does the one we walked for. We did our Camino, but I also did mine, and although I never intended for Georgia to suffer in the walk across Spain, so was prepared to stop, catch buses, leave early, give up - whatever - if she was really miserable, it never happened, and so... Georgia too, did her Camino, though some purests would rob her of that amazing feat. Just let go of your agenda and walk with your wife. You'll know when to do anything else. It's nobody else business what you do or how you do it. This forum is for information, but can offer far too many judgments too (of which, that was one right then, from me... sorry). It wont be easy, but it's not impossible, and you'll be very, very glad you did it together.