I've always appreciated that both the forum and Camino are, for want of a better phrase, a broad church. This sites rules stress the inclusive and respectful nature of the Camino and I hope you read and respond with this in mind. I've started this thred to answer the question we are often...
I returned a couple weeks ago from walking the Portuguese from Porto to Santiago with my husband, Stuart.
On my 9th day of walking, somewhere near Caldas de Reis, I got news from my sister that my mother died that morning. I knew that she was in decline before I left for Portugal, but did not...
I'm writing on behalf of documentary-makers travelling along the Camino de Santiago/St James' Way in northern Spain throughout the month of June this year (2017). We are looking for good stories as to why you are walking the Camino and what it means to you. Please get in touch if you'd be...
Hi my friend and I live in Sacramento California but my friend, I call him Hombre, grew up in Madrid Spain and I am trying to talk him into doing the Camino Frances, but he keeps on obsessing about bedbugs and people snoring and farting in the Alberges and saying that he can't do it because of...
This has been posted before but I think it deserves another mention as it will be of interest to anyone doing the Camino this year. It is one of the finest pieces I've read about the walk. It was written jointly by Jeff Carver, a high school teacher in New Orleans and Josh Jeter a lawyer in...
Hello all! Last I posted on the forum, back in September, I was contemplating walking in July/August 2017, concerned about being so young (18 y/o). Since then, all those concerns have been allayed with encouragement from the forum. Furthermore, having told my parents my plan, they have been...
Deep winter has arrived in the southern mountains of Colorado where I live. I am longing for spring and the Camino that I have planned from Lisbon to SDC with my husband. Being holed up inside for several days has created a contemplative heart.
I am asking the question: What is a pilgrimage...
I completed my Camino at the end of September and have been home for over a month now. I want to continue walking daily, because I love to walk, but it's just so different from walking on the Camino.
This quote that I took from a blog post really sums it up for me
Most of all, I miss the...
I've come across a very engaging and fascinating book On Trails: An Exploration by Robert Moor. One for the philosopher's corner of the forum.
The author writes for many outdoor publications which is where I read his piece on the Appalachian Trail: Here’s What Happens To Your Body When You Hike...
"Thinking is generally thought of as doing nothing in a production-oriented culture, and doing nothing is hard to do. It’s best done by disguising it as doing something, and the something closest to doing nothing is walking. Walking itself is the intentional act closest to the unwilled rhythms...
My only son, my beloved Mike is gone with no warning. So I walk this El Camino to find life, purpose and a will to live if it is meant to be. This is what I have so far--This is a journey for me, not a race, as it is the journey of my life right now.
I plan to leave Austin, TX to...
I am a writer (4 published novels, TV including adaptation of Gormenghast) and I walked the Camino in 2009 because I decided I wanted some time to think about my life. I was just over sixty and had spent the preceding forty years racing around, trying to get work and/or commissions to earn...
What inspired me to want to walk the Camino.
This is where it gets personal. http://thecaminoprovides.com/2015/10/27/planning-part-7-what-inspired-me-to-want-to-walk-the-camino/
Hi All,
On the 23rd August I completed my very special camino journey from SJPP to Santiago de Compostela for a number of reasons. During my journey I was intrigued at just how many diverse reasons people had chosen to walk 'The Way"...
As a travel journalist I am always eager to write about...
I have yet to walk the camino, but want to and actively research this topic. I have friends (husband and wife) who have listened to me talk about my desire to make this pilgrimage. They come just short of making fun of this. The wife tells me the camino is no different than any other hiking...
I am building myself up to walk to the resting place of St James in 2014.
I know that for me, this is a deep calling and I wish to ensure that I do all I can to be appropriately prepared for the pilgrimage - the walking will be arduous and I know there will be privations. - They do not concern...
I made that categorical statement in another thread, and a wise moderator suggested we take it elsewhere so as to not derail the subject under discussion there.
Still, by popular demand, I will explain myself.
The first part is a no-brainer: There are some people who simply are not cut out...
Hello,
I consider myself an agnostic, from a catholic family. I have agreed to join my Uncle on his journey.
He has been travelling from Le Puy in several stages. He was travelling with a friend who can no longer continue. The last stage, for which will be joining him is from Santander...
Initially, I included this question in a "welcome" note to new pilgrims on the Forum.
In doing so, I thought that if I slightly reworded it...I could open it up to the Forum at large.
As many of you know, the Forum is experiencing a record number of "hits" these last few months.
There are...
My beloved is, I realise belatedly, stressed and distressed by my planned pilgrimage. I am taking the Camino Frances in April. We have been together some thirty odd years now and have never been apart for as long as the five weeks or so that it will take me to reach Santiago and Finisterre.
I...