hi peter,
I am afraid my motivation the first time was not of a "higher lever," - I was a student and my flat mate kept on going on about this bloody walk across the north of spain that he had already walked a couple of time - once he walked from amsterdam to santiago. He got me to look at it and oh noooo I thought, walking with ruck sack every day, sleeping in hostels every night with loads of other pilgrims, not for me was my first reaction.
Not having much money and faced with the choice of what I do for the summer I thought I would give it a go, with one major caveat in place. If I did not like it I would leave and go somewhere else. But hey the dam walk changed my life - that I certainly did not expect, and I have walked again since, and now I feel like a tourist information office for the Camino here in Dublin, which I love.
This perhaps for me is one of the reason that I don't care how people start on the road - just that they get on the road, the outcomes in life, I understand, are not down to me.
But now back to cold rainy dublin, and get the rest of my christmas shopping done. Have a good one.