As the two previous blog posts have shown, there was no shortage of wonderful scenery or amazing “little things” along the Camino de Santiago to fill every moment of my walk. In this post I would like to give you an idea of what it was like to be a Peregrino (pilgrim) on the Camino.

I also want to include some basic information just in case you’re interested in doing the Camino. I know I was very frustrated in my initial research because it was hard to find useful information on what I needed to carry when walking the Camino. Perhaps it was there and I missed it because it was buried in the narrative about all the places I should stay an extra day to check out this and that building.

To begin, even though the Camino came about as a religious pilgrimage, there is no requirement for anyone to be religious or to have a religious intention for their walk. It’s quite acceptable to be just on a walk. Regardless of one’s reason for being on the Camino, it provides an amazing platform for a long walk.

Sustaining a long walk comes down to logistics: places to stay, food, water, and what to carry. And the Camino excels in all of these.

I typically walked through three, four, or more towns a day while on the Camino. Almost every town had at least one low-cost (five to ten euros a night) albergue. Having a low-cost place to stay every night meant that I did not have to carry a tent or a sleeping pad.

The huge and new albergue in Rocelvalles!

Continue Reading →

As you saw in the previous blog post, you would be hard pressed to find landscape more inviting than the Camino de Santiago. But landscape was not the only thing that made the Camino special for me. There were also the wonderful little things all along the way that animated my Camino experience from beginning to end.

Animals were a huge part of my Camino experience. A day did not go by without seeing lots and lots of animals. They ranged from seeing farm animals to getting a needed dog or cat fix several times a day.

The German Shepard in the picture had been sleeping on the Camino until there was work to be done.

Continue Reading →

A little over a week ago I finished walking the Camino de Santiago from St. Jean Pied de Port on the French side of the Pyrenees to Santiago de Compostela in the far northwest corner of Spain. For me it was a wonderful experience of spending 28 days walking through a beautiful landscape that was always changing; meeting people from over thirty countries; becoming friends with many of them and forming a “Camino” family that gained and lost members as the walk progressed; and finally participating in a shared experience with many many others.

Everyone walking the Camino will have their own Camino experience and reason for doing it. Some will do it for religious or spiritual reasons; others will do it to have some space to think about what they want to do with their life; and many others will do it just to go on a long walk. All of their reasons are good.

Regardless of why someone may start the Camino, it would be very difficult for someone not to develop some sense awareness or spiritual awakening when they have spent a month or more walking every day, day after day, all day long, through fields, hills, mountains, and communities while listening to birds and spotting animals throughout the day.

Over the next few blog posts I hope to share with you some of the aspects of what makes the Camino so special. In this blog post I would like to show some of the landscape that you will pass on your way to Santiago. In other posts I’ll address what it’s like to be a Peregrino on the Camino, how every day was special, stairways along the Camino, and many other topics. Continue Reading →