Keith Wray

It is because of Keith that I decided to embark on this adventure, below is a little bit about him and why I dedicate my upcoming Camino to him….

My brother Keith was a sailor and lived what many would consider an unconventional life.  He was born in Barbados but grew up in England and along with the rest of us siblings went to boarding school. He was gifted with an engineering brain and received many awards at school for such. As a young adult he became a Honda engineer and raced motorcycles. I clearly remember his transit van with “Keith Wray Racing” emblazoned on the side and thinking he was so cool! At the age of 23 a financial recession hindered his motorcycle racing career and feeling disillusioned he decided to sail solo from the UK to Florida on a yacht my Dad built in our backyard as a hobby (Keith apparently made the Guinness book of records for this trip).  He subsequently lived in Florida, Saint Lucia and then ultimately Mallorca, Spain.  His main source of income was skippering boats and as a mechanic but within his short life and along with racing motorcycles he owned a beach bar where he taught tourists to windsurf and more recently had a business renting out motorcycles and perhaps recklessly offering the freedom of racing at the Renn Arena Circuit, Mallorca.  Keith did it all!   He told many stories of adventure and pirates and however crazy they sounded I believe every one of them to be true. 

Although I was not close with Keith (he was 13 years older than me) I am acutely aware that we are very similar in nature. We both have the desire to explore and equally carry the demons of never feeling content, it is also clear that we do not tolerate bullies or unfairness. As mentioned earlier Keith at one time owned a beach bar in Saint Lucia. He poured his heart and soul along with all of his savings into this bar and it was becoming very popular. Sadly a group of locals were not thrilled that a British guy was operating a successful business and he endured countless attacks including being shot at, both his dogs were killed, constant threats and then ultimately his bar going up in flames. Keith was devastated and lost everything. The local authorities did not help and the insurance company refused to pay out. My brother knew many of the business owners on the island and was aware of the undercurrent drug culture, if you did not comply to requests from certain people, you had to deal with the wrath. Feeling helpless he temporarily moved back to the UK and went on a mission to expose the unjust in the legal system in Saint Lucia which is part of the British Commonwealth, he protested on the steps of parliament and wrote numerous articles but ultimately got nowhere. Feeling bitter and unheard he subsequently moved to Mallorca, Spain. I feel I have led a somewhat parallel life to Keith with regard to seeking Justice and exposing wrong doings.

We will never know the reason he decided to end his life but I feel he lived life on his terms and can only conclude that death was too, one thing for sure is his life was full.  It was shortly after he died my Mum sent me an article he had written for a travel magazine regarding walking the Camino Francis in Spain. 

I was surprised at this endeavor as my recollections of Keith include a man that was either on a boat or at the bar and it was hard to picture him as a backpacker!  His article explained his reasons for his decision to embark on a camino and ultimately how it changed his life. After reading about his experience I knew instantly I had to do something similar. My spirit was dulling and I was/am scared for my future, ironically Keith’s death and his article has given me life and I dedicate my camino to him.   I have decided to walk a different route than Keith and chosen the Camino Del Norte but like him I will continue on after the official end where I plan to spread some of his ashes at the “end of the world”.

Below is the article Keith wrote. 

Click on any of the below pictures to be directed to the actual article.