Another Camino

In 2018 I spent over a month walking the Camino, a five hundred mile route across northern Spain from the Pyrenees to Santiago de Compostela. That pilgrimage route has its origins in medieval Christianity although today it is walked by many tens of thousands each year and for a wide range of reasons other than religious. Five years ago I was one of those thousands and it is an experience that holds many fond memories for me. I made a point of keeping a regular diary, recording my thoughts and experiences each day and now, some years later, I am glad that I did. When I revisit this record of my travels it helps untangle merging vanilla memories and reminds me how, despite the daily and repetitive cycle of walking, of finding accommodation and food, each day brought something different. In particular it is interesting to read my thoughts and reflections during that month of walking and note the subtle progression of my thinking during an extended physical and personal journey, details that might otherwise have been lost to a singular and final, well-formed memory of that experience once time had blurred its detail. 

  
I also learned that this northern Camino, the Camino Frances to give it its proper name, is not the only historical pilgrimage route to Santiago de Compostela. It may be the most popular now but it once served pilgrims coming from France and Europe and only a little thought is needed to realise there must be other routes to serve people coming from elsewhere. One of these served pilgrims coming from the south of Spain and nowadays is known as the Via de La Plata. Some years on from my original walk I have decided to tackle this route, the longest and in some respects the most remote of today’s recognised pilgrimage routes. I am hoping for more of that uplifting camaraderie I experienced while spending time with likeminded individuals, albeit strangers, more of the enjoyment that I personally draw from spending day after day outdoors and with it the simplicity and focus that a long distance walk brings. Nevertheless, while I may find these things, and more besides, I know that given its relative remoteness and the fact that far fewer people do this particular route it will also prove to be a very different experience. If I am honest another, albeit not driving, reason that lurks in the background is an element of proving to myself that, despite the passing years, such challenges are not beyond me.