My Camino Journey 2025

My journey to the Camino began many years ago. In the fall of 2011, we had just moved from Philadelphia to Chapel Hill.   We got settled in and then headed off for a barging trip on the Canal de Midi in the south of France. Our barging route took us past Moissac on the Canal de Garonne.   We stopped at the old church and learned that it was a pilgrim church for the Camino de Santiago.  (I now know it is a stop on the French Way- the Le Puy Camino.) We even received a credential (pilgrim passport) and had it stamped with a sello  or a stamp saying we had travelled as a pilgrim to this spot.  Along the canal route,we'd sometimes see pilgrims walking with their big backpacks.   Thus a seed was planted. Fast forward to 2019. Two friends asked me to join them in an Ollie class about the Camino de Santiago, offered by John Saxon, an inveterate pilgrim.  I went and we all were hooked.       We began planning a trip for 2020 and ...

As the world began to open up in 2021 and 2022, our group of 7 kept discussing  whether not to try going on the Camino.Alas, some folks had illness and injuries that make doing the Camino more daunting than before. We all agreed that being together was more important than the route and so ended up planning a 10-day walk in the Cotswolds  for the fall of 2023. We had a marvelous time on that walk which I'll write about separately.  Alas, even after this Cotswold walk, my friends were unable to join me in walking the Camino in 2024. But the Camino kept calling to me.  I loved our Cotswold trip.  I loved getting up every morning, putting on my boots and a day pack and heading out to the next town, walking with friends in the beautiful countryside.  I kept thinking, could I do this alone?   I decided yes.   For our Cotswolds trip, we had booked via Contours, a company that will arrange your lodging, luggage transport and provide maps. We qui...

    The Way, MY WAY The Camino de Santiago translates as The Way of St James.  And there is a strong Camino culture that everyone does the Camino that is right for her or him.   Some folks walk the Camino for spiritual reasons, which was the orginal purpose of pilgrimages. There is a 1000-year history of the Camino de Santiago. (See this link for a history of the Camino:  https://americanpilgrims.org/history-of-the-camino/ )   Others walk the Camino for exercise, for fun, to get away, to meet others, to have a space apart from their everyday world.  I'm walking because I like to walk.  I'm walking now because I've wanted to for so long.  I'm walking now because I might not be able to next year.    And I'm walking my route from St Jean-Pied-de Port over the foothills of the Pyrenees so I can see the sun rise over these mountains. I'm only walking for about 2 weeks.   This is, I hope, my starter Camino. If all goes wel...

There are many, many, many sources of information about the Camino- and soo many people happy to help you. I started with that OLLI class back in 2019.   John Saxon led that class and he has walked many Caminos.  He's one of coordinators of the Raleigh Chapter of American Pilgrims on the Camino . This is a national organization with chapters all across the country. We have 3 in North Carolina- Raleigh, Charlotte and Asheville.   https://americanpilgrims.org/ Chapters provide information, hold monthly meetings, organize hikes, tertulias (coffees) and offer newsletters full of information.  Our chapter can provide mentors- experienced Camino pilgrims who are happy to help newbies learn the ropes.  Our chapter has been great. This month, we had a "Gear" meeting, where experienced pilgrims came dressed in their trail clothes with their backpack and went through how they figured out what to talk - and more importantly - what to leave behind. They also shar...

The Camino Forum offers a calendar who is traveling when.  if you wish, you can add your trip start date and starting point to a monthly calendar on the Forum.  Since you sign on with an alias, you can post that information without exposing your email address etc.  If you wish, you can then write to others who are travelling from the same point and offer to connect when in Spain. I've heard tales about arriving in Paris or Madrid or Biarritz as a solo traveller embarking on a Camino and being greeted by others with backpacks about to do the same thing.   Pilgrims walk different routes- there are many many Caminos.  I'm walking the Camino Frances, which starts at the foot of the Pyrenees in France, at St Jean Pied-de-Port.   Others walk the Primitivo, the Portuguese, the Norte, the Angles, Le Puy, La Via de la Plata - these are all various Camino routes that funnel into the destination in Spain- Santiago de Compestella      And LOTS of pe...

I'm deeply enmeshed in trying to plan and schedule the very best Camino .  ( That may be antithetical to the whole idea of the Camino, however.) Two concerns:  Do I carry my backpack or have it transported?  And how far can I actually walk day after day? Having my bag transported is an acceptance of age and impending disability.  I now have a spine doctor, foot doctor and knee doctor to address various aches and pains.  Perhaps 71 is too old to start this? They are all encouraging me to do this walk but suggested not carrying a back pack.  I'm listening.  Meanwhile, I wear orthotics and clown shoes (aka Hokas) to address foot pain.      https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/how-hoka-went-from-clown-shoe-dominating-running-market-nguyen-lcowe How I wished I had done this walk before I had to think all of these things.  But also, how grateful I am that I can still get to do this. So, back to planning. Going in May means I...