Last night blues

[KariannNor]

Seems like everyone is longing to go home. I don't! I want to just walk and walk and live the Camino. Anyone recognizes?

Greetings to you wonderful people from a heavy rain Santiago.

And thanks to Victoria at the Pilgrims House for listening and solving my last minute stupid problem with wrapping in a painting.

 

[Peterexpatkiwi]

I most definitely recognise the feeling. The Blues suck....

 

[Dani7]

I can so relate to that feeling. Guess you may have to plan another one . I am not sure there is a cure for that feeling of loss, except to stay fit and keep on walking back home and spend time outdoors.

 

[woody66]

Seems like everyone is longing to go home. I don't! I want to just walk and walk and live the Camino. Anyone recognizes?

Hi !
Yep every time i think the same at the end!
I think it's the new day everyday; you set of into the morning and wondering what it will bring!
Where i live i have walked the same routes here for 24 years same scenery, same people .

 

[Takahiwai]

Seems like everyone is longing to go home. I don't! I want to just walk and walk and live the Camino. Anyone recognizes?

I know that feeling well, and the only thing that made it better was being able to turn right around and walk back the way I'd come.

 

[Camino Chrissy]

Greetings to you wonderful people from a heavy rain Santiago.

I am sure finishing your camino in a heavy rain in Santiago adds to the "blues" that Peter mentioned.

I think it's the new day everyday; you set of into the morning and wondering what it will bring!
Where i live i have walked the same routes here for 24 years same scenery, same people .

Yes, this is so true for me, too. So predictable, and I'll say a bit boring.

 

[Kiwi-family]

I even felt like that after fifteen months of travelling with my family. I was the only one not ready to go home. And I felt it after my first five caminos, even the one that lasted nearly three months. But this last one...not so much. I wanted to be home. I had tired of albergue life. That was five months ago and I am now feeling the pull back!

 

[alexwalker]

Seems like everyone is longing to go home. I don't! I want to just walk and walk and live the Camino. Anyone recognizes?
But after some time, it is soothed by planning the next one!

Yes, as a fellow Norwegian, it is always bittersweet to see the Cathedral in Santiago, knowing the walk is over.

That was five months ago and I am now feeling the pull back!

And we shared a pleasant evening/night's dinner, stay in Casa Bastan, Uterga back then. And some walking. And the pull is back here too: Hope to see you again in April/May 2025!

 

[bellamira]

Seems like everyone is longing to go home. I don't! I want to just walk and walk and live the Camino. Anyone recognizes?

Greetings to you wonderful people from a heavy rain Santiago.

And thanks to Victoria at the Pilgrims House for listening and solving my last minute stupid problem with wrapping in a painting.

My last night in the Madrid airport hotel was very bluesy. I didn't expect to feel that way.

 

[suseia]

My last night in the Madrid airport hotel was very bluesy. I didn't expect to feel that way.

I understand and absolutely agree. It is even worst to leave the Camino before arriving in Santiago as it happened to me this summer having only two weeks of vacation...

 

[Pafayac]

That is called "Camino Blues".
After my first part of Camino, 3 years ago, I felt it very painfully.
Now, every time I walk my first step, I am thinking "Remember this walk will have an end, and that you will come back to normal life".
It helps really.

 

[Roland49]

Fully agreed!

The feeling is somehow devastating. On my first Camino it was excitement, proud, curiosity and the longing for a lasting experience and at last a sadness that my Camino came to an end.

I'm sure that, if you experience true comradery, passion, relieve it's a part of the addiction that the Caminos (or any other pilgrimage) are giving.

No wonder that the blues is kicking in, if it comes to an end!

See you in July '25 from SJPdP to Burgos.

 

[Maurice Frank]

It really can be hard to let go when you reach the end. Savor your memories and begin planning your next Camino.

Someone on this forum once wrote something like when I’m not walking a Camino I’m remembering my past Camino and planning my future Camino so the Camino is always on my mind.

 

[tbcan]

Seems like everyone is longing to go home. I don't! I want to just walk and walk and live the Camino. Anyone recognizes?

Greetings to you wonderful people from a heavy rain Santiago.

And thanks to Victoria at the Pilgrims House for listening and solving my last minute stupid problem with wrapping in a painting.

I remember my last night in Santiago at the end of my first Camino. Having said goodbye to my "Camino family", I felt a great sense of loss and sadness. I was looking forward to going home but realized that I had just experienced something momentous! Needless to say, I have returned to the Camino a number of times and will continue to do so as long as I am able!

 

[Gerard Griffin]

It can be done ... There are brave souls who live in the Camino(s). Who needs reality?

 

[CTLawGal]

My first (and, so far, only - next is spring 2025), I walked 42 days, felt overwhelmed with emotion when I arrived in Santiago, then left the next day to walk to Finisterre/Muxia. I felt great, felt like I had a lot of energy left. After spending the night in Cee, I left early the next morning for Muxia with everything shrouded in a heavy mist - my last day of walking and I my legs felt so tired, I felt I could barely move forward. I felt like this was the universe's way of telling me to slow down, savor this last day of walking and reflect on all I had accomplished. I felt the first pangs of regret as I left Santiago the next morning, but as I was planning on spending some days in Barcelona and Valencia, I didn't really start to experience the "Camino Blues" until after I returned home.

I had been gone over two months, and was glad to be home - but I experienced pangs of sadness and longings to return. I started planning my next Camino and spending more time on this forum to feel connected, definitely a little blue, but also savoring all the good memories and scrolling through my pictures, longing to return. My plans for 2024 were derailed by a move and settling in to my new house and town, but I am eager to return in April for what will be 50 something days of walking.

I am wondering if I will feel the same way after my next walk, will there always be that blue feeling at the end? Will I feel it less on a longer Camino, more on a shorter one? Does it help to plan some traveling at the end or even to have thoughts in mind of the next Camino to follow, or is it always just a little sad at the end? I am eager to find out!

 

[MichelleElynHogan]

Six years of the Camino Blues...without a scratch for that it...

 

[steve392]

Seems like everyone is longing to go home. I don't! I want to just walk and walk and live the Camino. Anyone recognizes?

Greetings to you wonderful people from a heavy rain Santiago.

And thanks to Victoria at the Pilgrims House for listening and solving my last minute stupid problem with wrapping in a painting.

Yep. And it's never gone away.

 

[Holly West]

Seems like everyone is longing to go home. I don't! I want to just walk and walk and live the Camino. Anyone recognizes?

Greetings to you wonderful people from a heavy rain Santiago.

And thanks to Victoria at the Pilgrims House for listening and solving my last minute stupid problem with wrapping in a painting.

I felt exactly the same

 

[markf_syd]

Camino Blues sure is an interesting experience. Several people have explored it more rigorously via PhD or research paper. EG. Roni Jackson-Kerr's 2017 dissertation has a great section on it titled "Navigating the Return Home: The Unfamiliar Familiar" (p. 114). Below are four paragraphs from it:

• "Returning to the ‘material world’ of home after being on Camino for a long period of time can bring about a broad range of emotions, making the process of re-entry challenging. Transitioning from the simple, uniform experience of walking the Camino each day, with only the pack on their back, connecting with nature and spending time with their thoughts, meeting new people who are sharing the same experience and facing many of the same challenges, to their previous lives, can leave many pilgrims feeling a myriad of emotions. Since quite often those in their social milieu back home cannot relate to the experience the pilgrim has just endured, coming home can feel socially isolating. Many pilgrims report feeling overwhelmed with the sheer volume of “things” in their home upon returning home, having spent so much time with only the most basic of necessities. Ridding oneself of material belongings can be quite liberating for pilgrims on the path, and returning home to so many possessions can be overwhelming. Some pilgrims, upon coming home, end up purging many of their belongings. Additionally, after significant amounts of time spent each day in beautiful, quiet nature, alone with their thoughts, coming home to the noisy chaos of everyday life can be overwhelming as well, and can create feelings of frustration, since it is often the cacophony of daily life that inspired the journey in the first place. Returning to one’s job is frustrating for some, since many eagerly welcomed time away from work responsibilities."
• "One challenge for pilgrims is the ability to take the lessons of the Camino and implement them into everyday life once home. For many, this can be quite difficult, as the chaos of the fast-paced, stress-infused daily life is in stark contrast to the simplicity of the pilgrim life."
• "First, it can be difficult to explain the magnitude of such an event to those who have not shared such an experience. Second, because a pilgrim returning home may feel a sense of being a stranger in their own lives, it can take time to feel comfortable sharing such a personal experience with others who might feel more like strangers upon returning home. Finally, it can be difficult to discuss the Camino because the experience itself can be difficult to put into words."
• "the communal aspect of sharing space and sharing meals with other pilgrims in albergues also enriches the sense of communitas. There is, undoubtedly, a bond that occurs between pilgrims who share common experiences, particularly of suffering, that is difficult to replicate otherwise."
• etc

 

[JesperK]

Most of us experience that. Some years ago I met a guy in leon and we walked together to Sarria. As we were having dinner he told me that that was the end of the camino, "I can't stand walking into Santiago - so I'm taking a bus to Porto". I was flabbergasted - and it turned out he was on his 13th camino and had walked 7 different caminos and since the first two he had hated going into santiago. I get his point - but I have never considered that, but I do tend to leave SdC within 24 hours.

 

[Pafayac]

Here is a remedy against Camino Blues:
This is a picture of the south door of the Santiago cathedral (Praza das Praterias).
Look at the Chrism: Alpha follows Omega, which is quite strange. That means that the arrival at Santiago is not an end but a new beginning...

 

[AK2112]

Seems like everyone is longing to go home. I don't! I want to just walk and walk and live the Camino. Anyone recognizes?

Yes, very much so.

 

[HappyValerie]

That is called "Camino Blues".
After my first part of Camino, 3 years ago, I felt it very painfully.
Now, every time I walk my first step, I am thinking "Remember this walk will have an end, and that you will come back to normal life".
It helps really.

A thought I try not to think each day on (and even before) the Camino. I usually convert it to thankfulness that I have the amazing opportunity & ability to have this experience.