My best friend and his wife keep sending me pictures of Spain. Pictures of them exploring small villages in Andalusia. Pictures of the Moorish and Gothic-inspired architecture. Pictures of tapas and wine at cute little cafes. And each time I receive a new image on WhatsApp, I’m bursting with a wistful longing to be there too.
These two friends of mine are currently walking the Via de la Plata (or Silver Way) from Seville to Santiago de Compestela. And these fantastic photos were making me desperately wish I was there with them in Spain walking too.
Back when I walked the Camino Frances in the autumn of 2018, I fell in love with Spain. Even now, I miss drinking a warm cup of café con leche in the morning as the day is getting started. I long for the European bakeries with their buttery pastries. I think about the slower pace of life and afternoon siestas. But most of all, I miss walking the Camino day after day.
Being on the Camino de Santiago was a pivotal experience for me. I chose to walk it immediately at the end of my career in the Army. After more than two decades, I’d gone from an extremely regimented lifestyle to having overwhelming freedom with every decision in my life. The Camino helped me tremendously with navigating the passage between those two chapters of my life. And I credit it with giving me clarity and helping me settle into “life after the Army.”
After walking the Camino, I continued to pursue long-distance backpacking on other scenic trails in search of this same feeling. I thru-hiked the 2,220-mile Appalachian Trail in 2019. I wandered around the US in an RV with my husband and son for three years while continuing to hike other long trails.
But it wasn’t until I was thru-hiking the Arizona Trail in the spring of 2022 that I met someone who inspired me to walk the Camino again. This fellow hiker shared stories with me about the various Camino routes he and his wife walked over the years, and suddenly I was longing for that first epic journey on foot.
All that reminiscing led me to book a plane ticket to Spain so I could experience another Camino route in the autumn of 2022. But this second time around, I decided to follow the 842-km Camino del Norte along the Cantabrian Sea on country’s northern coast.
The Redux Trap
Nostalgia for prior adventures can be a tricky thing. If you read my trail journal from that 2022 trek, you already know I almost quit the Camino del Norte because of the weather. Barely a week into my hike along Spain’s northern coast, it started to rain. And the rain went on for days and days. Nine consecutive days to be exact. And I was miserable!
By the time I got to the town of Llanes – two weeks into this second Camino – I was ready to throw in the towel and just go home. This Camino wasn’t the fun trek that I remembered or longed for. And now I had a growing list of grievances.
- The terrain on Spain’s northern coast was far more physically challenging than the Camino Frances.
- The never-ending rain was putting a damper on my mood.
- Finding lodging was difficult given the booming popularity of the Camino, yet fewer albergues seemed to be open for business following the pandemic.
- And the sense of community didn’t feel the same to me this time around.
Simply put, I was fed up with the whole experience by the time I got to Llanes. That evening, I reached out to a fellow hiker in the US looking for some comfort and sympathy. But instead of telling me what I wanted hear, she reminded me of a popular saying on many long-distance trails:
You may not get the hike you want, but you will get the one you need.
“Was that what was happening here??” I wondered. “Was my misery on the Camino del Norte part of a life lesson that I’d yet to learn or understand?”
Like most hikers, I’d gone into this outdoor adventure with pretty high expectations. I did my research. I planned my itinerary. I carefully selected and packed all my gear. And then, all that was left to do was fly to Europe and the walk the miles.
During any long-distance hike though, there’s another skill set that is critical to your success. You have to learn to just let go. Adversity is going to happen. You cannot control the journey. Maybe you discover you packed too much gear (or not enough) for the hike. Or perhaps you get an injury that nags you for days or weeks. Something always goes off the rails on a trip like this. That’s why it’s called an adventure, not a vacation!
Any real adventure worth its salt will force you to experience the unknown. It sends you down a bumpy path where you have to make choices and take risks. It may not always turn out perfectly. But it teaches you something about yourself that you didn’t know.
And once I finally stopped trying to turn my 2022 adventure into a sequel to my 2018 Camino, my experience in northern Spain turned around significantly. I began to see the walk with new eyes. I gave up on the comparisons and embraced the differences. And soon I was falling in love with the Camino once again – even in the rain!
Camino Portugués
Looking at my best friend’s photos of his own Camino, I could feel myself getting sucked back into those same nostalgic feelings yet again. The Camino was calling me, and I knew better than to resist the pull. After two weeks of deliberation, I made the decision to return to Europe and walk it once again. This time around though, I was determined to walk the Camino Portugués.
In an effort to learn from my past mistakes, I decided not to spend any time dwelling on my prior Camino experiences. I had the wisdom to know this particular Camino will not be like the others. Part of the “magic” or “misery” of this adventure is the combination of all the factors that are outside your control – the time of year, the people you meet, the novelty of seeing a place for the first time, and so much more.
So instead of foolishly trying to re-create everything I did the last two times I walked to Santiago, here’s an overview of a few factors I know will be completely different about this upcoming Camino.
- Distance. I will be starting this adventure in Porto, Portugal – making for a significantly shorter trek than the Camino Frances or Camino del Norte routes. From my starting point on the central Portuguese Coast, it is roughly 280 km (~174 miles) to Santiago de Compestela. This Camino will only be 1/3 as long as my prior routes, thus the journey should take me less than two weeks’ time.
- Direction. My first two Caminos began in the Pyrenees on the border with France and Spain, and headed west toward Santiago de Compestela. Each morning, I began with the sunrise at my back. And I always knew it was time to call it a day when the sun started to drop across the horizon ahead of me. This time around though, I will be walking northbound and following the Atlantic Ocean toward Santiago instead.
- Culture. Starting my journey in Porto means that I’ll be walking 40% of this Camino route in Portugal. Thus, I will be experiencing an entirely new culture, a new language, new foods, and so much more. I know these aspects are going to make this Camino feel entirely different, but I’m excited for this new challenge nonetheless.
- Season. I plan to walk this Camino in early May, which is a major change from my two prior autumn Camino experiences. The days will be getting longer and warmer. The trees and flowers should be in bloom. And the number of pilgrims will likely be higher than what I’m used to, since I will be going during the most popular season.
- Choose your own adventure. Unlike the other Camino routes I’ve already walked, the Camino Portugués has several parallel routes for pilgrims to choose among. There’s the Coastal Route, which sticks closer to the Atlantic Ocean. There’s the Central Route, which remains inland, but merges with the Coastal Route in Redondela, Spain, after 188 km. There’s a ‘littoral route,’ which leaves Porto along the Duoro River and merges with the Coastal Route after 33 km. And there’s ‘Spiritual Variant’ a 72-km deviation near the end of the route. Picking my routes each day from among these choices means my Camino will undoubtedly be unique.
- Water Route. When I was on the Camino del Norte, I had the opportunity to take three ferries across different rivers or bays. The Camino Portugués also has a ferry when pilgrims cross the border from Portugal to Spain over the Rio Minho River. But I also intend to take the water route on the Spiritual Variant, which includes a 28-km boat ride up the Rio Ulla.
Final Thoughts
With all these differences in mind, I’m genuinely looking forward to many new experiences on the Camino Portugués. But I’ve also set myself some very specific goals for this shorter adventure too.
Goal #1: Pack lighter. Like many pilgrims, I always seem to overpack for my Camino treks (here’s my packing lists for 2018 and 2022). And no matter how mindful I try to be during the packing process, I always end up carrying a lot of “just in case” items. I usually regret this over-preparation around day 3 or 4 of my Camino when my back and shoulders ache under the weight of my pack. This time around though, I’m trying to embrace a more minimal journey. I want to test the idea of paring down to the essentials. Perhaps, like many things in life, subtracting things rather than adding them, could make the journey richer.
Goal #2: Try new foods. I’m a pescatarian, and my Camino fare is usually comes down to lots of relatively safe (but boring) salads, pasta dishes, and pastries. Eating the same handful of foods over and over isn’t very adventurous. So I’m vowing to push myself to experience more of the local cuisine on this Camino. While I’m in Portugal, I’m hoping to try several new foods, including pastel de nata (a custard tart), balcalhau (salted cod), and ginjinha (a sour cherry liqueur). And naturally, I’ll need to try a small glass of Port wine in Porto!
Goal #3: Stretch. On my last Camino, my plantar fasciitis was flaring up, and the arches of my feet hurt with every step into Santiago. Part of the remedy for this problem is to start using my orthotics in my shoes during my longer treks. But the other half of the equation is the advice every physical therapist I’ve met gives me. I need to stretch daily. Stretching out my calves and achilles’ tendon does wonders for the pain. So I am making a solemn promise to my feet. I will stretch every single day on this Camino.
And with that, all that’s left to do is catch my flight to Portugal and begin walking. Bom Caminho!
