A few years ago, I found myself standing in a Portuguese town square, completely lost on day one of a solo pilgrimage along the Camino Portugues. The yellow arrows marking my path had vanished, and my inner voice was having a field day: “This is what happens when you try things you’re not prepared for.”

At nearly fifty, I had chosen to walk 120 kilometres alone through Portugal and Spain – something utterly unlike me. I’d always been the woman who only attempted things I could excel at.