To finish where left off or to start over?

[Misha Keselman]

I did the Camino del Norte mid June to August 2017. My first one. I never made it to Santiago de Compostela, getting on a bus finally in Oviedo to catch a friend ahead of me. Then a few more days of walking with them to Ribadeo and then home. The camino had its own plans!

Now I find myself with a little time and money. Not enough to do the whole thing over, but enough to go back and finish what I started. Here is the question:

Is it better to continue or to try again later?

Part of me feels like I didn't earn making it to Compostela without persevering through the entire route in one journey. At least not on my first Camino.

Another part of me feels a duty to see through what I started 6 months ago, and an itch to get back to Spain and on the trail. The start would be where I first betrayed my feet with the wheels of the bus, in Oviedo {the entire Primitivo to the end) Maybe Fisterra or Muxia if a few extra days make themselves known.

Does it even matter?

Thoughts appreciated. Gracias.

 

[Tincatinker]

Your camino started when you first started walking. It will end in Santiago or gazing on the sundering seas from the light house at the end of the world.

How you actually make that journey is more about your heart pilgrim than destinations or departures. Life is a continuous journey. Start again in Oviedo, or wherever your heart leads your feet. Remember, for many their camino is a few days to Santiago from a popular starting point in Galicia; for some it is a journey they will never finish and for some it is a journey they will never get to undertake.

There are no rules (apart from walking the last 100k if you want a Compostella). There is no 'proper' camino. There is only the road...

And if you feel you haven't quite 'suffered' enough the Primitivo will provide its own golden moments

 

[Deleted member 56069]

Misha, due to the inability of being able get 5 weeks away from work, My wife and I did the Frances route in three journeys. We did not even do it in sequence.

The old saying is that you 'don't know what you don't know.'

We knew that when we went for the first time, we wanted to get to Santiago and get a Compostela. We had no idea we would ever be back, thought this would be a one time thing....haha, little did we know! So year 1 we walked from Ponferrada to Santiago.

Anyway as with many others, we fell in love with Spain and the Camino, so in year 2 we walked from Burgos to Ponferrada. In year three we walked from St. Jean to Burgos, we then jumped on a bus from Burgos to Sarria and walked again from Sarria to Santiago again with alternate overnight stops from out Year 1.

Has this diminished the experience? Not in my opinion. If we had waited until we could do it all in one shot, we would still be waiting.

We do plan at some point to do the Frances all in walk. I am retired, but my wife is not yet.

Primitivo is our next planned walk this September.

 

[Phil Smith]

I'm with Zrexer on this. Given family and work commitments I cannot give the time to do it all in one go. I have had a desire to complete the Camino Frances ever since I first read The Pilgrimage by Paulo Coelho some 20 years ago. I kept waiting for the "opportunity" to do it in one go. It never transpired. So ... I deemed it better to do it in stages. I'll be starting round 3 in April (Castrojeriz to Leon) after spells in August 2016 and Easter 2017. I too thought it would be a diminished experience not doing it all in one go. However, I am thoroughly enjoying it. Who knows, like many on this forum, I might be back in the future for a single journey to the end of the world? But if I'd waited till I had the time it might have been my body was no longer up for it! I am certainty content to finish my staged Frances and then consider my next path on The Way.
That said, it is really up to what your heart desires. Whatever you set your heart upon the universe will conspire to give it to you ... if you have the courage to follow your dreams.
Buen Camino

 

[nycwalking]

Continue.

Buen camino.

 

[OzAnnie]

Hi Misha
It was your first camino. You did well !
If you’re looking for us to advise what we’d do in similar circumstances: I would take my Credencial with me and get back to Oviedo and continue on the Primitivo.
Buen camino
Annie

 

[Misha Keselman]

Thank you all so much for your guidance. The Camino(desantiago.me forum) provides. : )


[edited for spelling]

 

[Oravasaari]

The Primitivo from Oviedo is fantastic.

 

[Rick of Rick and Peg]

Does it even matter?

Not to me.

Seriously, missing a few short sections where we took transportation because of Peg's foot injury didn't matter to me after the walk was done even though I thought it would be frustrating. For example, when taking one of my usual walks at home I may tell myself that I will turn around at the foot bridge. I've turned this into a ritual where I turn around, not at the bridge, on the bridge, at the end of the bridge or the other side of the bridge, but after walking around the tree at the end of the bridge (I'm not obsessive-compulsive, just nerdy.) Anyway, you'll think that if a trip not completed by a few feet would get to me I would be very unhappy about my missed sections. It doesn't bother me at all.

Enjoy your camino, wherever it takes you.

 

[Tia Valeria]

I too would say got to Oviedo and continue from there. We re-started from Tineo (on the Primitivo) having had to turn back from there previously because of time etc. Timing meant that by starting again in Tineo we could reach Santiago slowly and with spare days - for museums in Grandas, Lugo etc. We used the same credencial each so my pilgrimage is all recorded in one place but my Compostela is from Tineo because that felt right to me.

 

[Catherine Nelson]

I'm also wondering about missed sections and still getting the Compostela at the end. My friend and I have limited time, and will start at Roncesvalles, then somewhere along the line get transportation to Sarria. Because we want to do as many days in Pais Vasco and Navarra as we can, we really only scheduled 4 days for Sarria-Santiago, again thinking we would skip ahead a little and miss part of one stage. I wasn't concerned about getting the compostela (I've done the camino before and also don't need that piece of paper...although it would be nice). However, it would mean more to my friend. So the question is, if we do more than 100km, do the last 100km have to be completed for the Compostela? Or will the km we accumulate count? The information on the pilgrim office page was still a little unclear to me. If we need to walk the full 100km into Santiago, I will need to re-plan our route, so just wanted to check before I do that.

 

[Rick of Rick and Peg]

So the question is, if we do more than 100km, do the last 100km have to be completed for the Compostela?

It doesn't matter what you did before. Only the last 100 km. gets you the Compostela.

 

[MichelleElynHogan]

Hello Misha,

What does your heart tell you is right? Go with that and you will never go wrong.

I lasted 3 days in the Summer of 2016 before I had a bad leg injury, never made it to Pamplona on the CF. I went to SDC, did not visit the Cathedral, but took care of Family business while there by placing my Mother's ashes in the sea before returning home, all by bus.

This year, as I am now retired and have no encumbrances, I will start again at SJPP May 6 or 7. This is what my heart tells me I need to do. Your circumstance is different form yours and as some have said, as long as you do what feels right, within stated requirements (min 100 km), it is all good. Yes?