They say you never forget your first Camino. Mine was pre-pandemic and I had no real idea of what I was getting myself into.
Somehow I managed to make it to Santiago amidst the Easter mayhem and told the people at the Pilgrim’s Welcome Office I had walked all that way as a means to enjoy nature during my time off.
I didn’t know it at the time but I was suffering from severe burnout and the fact I completed the journey at all felt like a miracle in itself. Spiritual thoughts and intentions were the last thing on my mind during that trip.
Fast forward a few years and I found myself at a time of transition, with a need for some quiet pondering, eager to feel my feet on the trail again.
The Camino felt like the perfect place to map out my next steps, and so it began. For the second time, I set out towards Santiago.
Starting in Ferrol, the English Way is one of the shortest routes and far less travelled than the popular French one. It can be completed in 5-7 days, depending on how far and how fast you want to walk each day and it makes a lot of sense if you have a tight schedule or budget.
The first part follows the coastline offering beautiful views, then heads inland with some gorgeous countryside, although there are a few stretches with quite a bit of tarmac.
Still, it’s the perfect place to get a feel for the Camino experience and offers the same benefits as the longer or more popular routes: time in nature, community with strangers and a new appreciation for the basics in life.
I met a French grandfather with his teenage grandsons who’d been walking the Camino since 2006. Every year he’d take to the path in April or May, first with his wife, now with the next generation, and walk one of the many routes to Santiago.
He’d done them all, not just the official ones but also the many variants. His first encounter had been after retirement and we were all labelled lucky since we had come to it far younger than he.
Other fellow walkers included an American from Cleveland, Ohio, and a Spanish couple from Madrid. You’d see plenty of familiar faces again and again as you passed each other on the road or bunked together between stages, united by the same purpose.
Reasons for walking the Camino vary and I was aware that this time was different from my last. It was about more than seeing the sights Galicia has to offer, yet when asked why I had chosen to do the Camino I struggled to phrase my intentions.
Maybe I was looking for answers but I wasn’t even sure of the questions.
Arriving in Santiago this time was anticlimactic. I felt like I wanted to keep on walking, like I wasn’t quite done yet. Then in a souvenir shop I found the perfect tagline: ‘O camiño empeza agora’ i.e. the way begins now.
While I don’t intend for this to be my last Camino by any means, there is no need to wait to be back on the trail to apply its philosophy. The thoughtfulness, the slowing down, the appreciation for the small things, the spiritual mindset, can all be brought into daily life wherever it may find you.
They say the Camino is a metaphor for life, a journey we are all on every day. So as I swap the hours of walking for a new routine back home, I’ll be sure to include some of the principles I adopted along the way.
Have you walked the Camino de Santiago? What was your experience?
The Spanish Berry 