Pilgrimage is the art of ancient travel....

Could not have put it better myself, guess thats why you write books and i don't...Thank you

Pilgrimage harks back to forever, when human beings set out on journeys from which they might not return, journeys they knew would transform the rest of their lives – journeys that were worth every risk because, live or die, to deny the call was to close the door on life and that meant certain death anyway: death to the spirit.

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I don't think we can say "forever." Pilgrimage is a post-agriculture activity, maybe even a post-Jesus activity. For five million years before that, we wandered in search of food, water, and climate, not a holy destination. Even in the last thousand years, I am not sure that the door on life was closed absent a pilgrimage. Disease and death may have been more prevalent on a pilgrimage than at home, given cholera, small pox, and bandits, thus a bit more of a door-closing than a door-opening. Billions on earth right now have never heard of a pilgrimage, and I doubt that most of them think that the door on life has been closed to them. To themselves, their spirit is quite alive. As much as many of us love the Caminos, if kept in perspective, it is a bit of a self-indulgence (poetry aside). I am quite proud of my achievement, but I sincerely doubt that any transformation elevates me above anyone else.

African Animists trekked to sacred places long before Christendom. Aboriginal animists certainly made 'pilgrimages' to holy rocks and places in Australia too.
Pilgrimage is not the preserve of Christians, Hindus started building temples over 4000 years ago and I'm sure many thousands of pilgrims trekked to see them.