When did it happen to you?

[trecile]

To me, there's something that happens internally between 10 days and 2 weeks on the Camino, when I am fully "in the Camino groove". Despite the fact that I've completed 4 Caminos now, I still notice that it takes a period of at least a week before I am fully back in Camino mode. This feeling intensifies as I walk, so much so that rest days are not appealing at all. I always want to keep walking and moving forward, even if it's just a few km. I'm not a runner, but maybe it's like a "runner's high", but much deeper. All that I know is that when I'm home I miss it deeply.

 

[Tassie Kaz]

To me, there's something that happens internally between 10 days and 2 weeks on the Camino, when I am fully "in the Camino groove". Despite the fact that I've completed 4 Caminos now, I still notice that it takes a period of at least a week before I am fully back in Camino mode. This feeling intensifies as I walk, so much so that rest days are not appealing at all. I always want to keep walking and moving forward, even if it's just a few km. I'm not a runner, but maybe it's like a "runner's high", but much deeper. All that I know is that when I'm home I miss it deeply.

I feel that 'click' too. The first few days of any long walk are always a bit rough (possibly because I don't do any training.. ) but my body seems to know the drill. As soon as my backpack is on more than one day, walking mode kicks in. You're in your 'routine' although of course, walking is far from routine when anything can happen with each & every step. For me that click is towards the end of the first week. Having said that, some days for no explicable reason, the well oiled machine is not so well oiled!
I find now with many long distance trails under my feet, I'm less aware of it but when I return home, I certainly feel the loss.

 

[Robo]

Very common I think. Often talked about as the three phases.

1. Physical, as your body gets used to walking every day. Your focus is on avoiding injury, and easing into it.
2. Emotional, as it might start to get hard and you question why you are doing this again!
3. Spiritual. I call this my 'Zen' state, as I really get into the Groove.

Takes me about a week to reach stage three now.........

 

[Jeff Crawley]

For me it's 3 days - one of the reasons I found the Camino Ingles to be not quite satisfying: just as you get "into the groove" you can see the spires ahead of you.

 

[HeidiL]

For me, it goes faster every time. My walk changes, my eyes look further ahead, and I find myself grabbing every chance to use an indoor toilet, even if there is one every 3 km...

 

[Pilgrim_95]

For me it usually happens after the Camino. It usually kicks in on my way back from the Prague Airport... After weeks of having as main daily goals to find a place to sleep and have something to eat, I truly see the contrast between the "little" problems we have in day to day life that have no impact on our well being. Having some bed and full stomach after a day full of walking and a company of other piglrims give me just great vibes.

 

[Former member 60103]

For me it starts the minute I see my first yellow arrow - feel's like home. The first day is always an easy one but come's back to bite on the second which is when I concentrate on getting back into the stride of thing's. Some day's I do not feel like stopping and just carry on until choosing somewhere to sleep becomes an imperative (I sleep out on day's like this). Some day's I find it an effort to get going for the first couple of hour's, but I know this feeling and it will pass. I take rest day's here and there but despite these being needed always feel held back and eager to get going again.
Camino's are meditative. Awareness of environment, detail and "being" increase in proportion to the time spent on it. Maybe because walking a camino creates or allows the right mindset to develop and can open us up away from our more mundane responsibilities in life. This is nothing new although it certainly was for me in 2016. A month or more on the Way can become a lifestyle (it took 7 weeks to walk the VdlP/Sanabre). Completion is both rewarding and , for me, empty in almost equal measure. Rewarding for obvious reason's but empty because it mark's a return to a "normal" life.
Could this experience be replicated on other long distance walk's. My answer is no. I have walked quite a few long distance trail's in UK and whilst they have all offered something none have come close to the experience and spirituality that walking a camino opens up. But that, after all, is what Camino is and should be all about.
Don

 

[Camino Chrissy]

I get into the groove after about day three on five caminos and relate to much written in the above posts by others. I agree that no other long distance hike feels the same as walking a Camino.

 

[Robo]

I get into the groove after about day three on five caminos and relate to much written in the above post by others. I agree that no other long distance hike feels the same as walking a Camino.

I was talking with a group at dinner last night after a Conference. They were keen to hear about the Camino. Of course the usual questions came up.

So you like bush walking? Not really.
But you must hike a lot locally? No, not really.
I guess you'll be off to walk the PCT or AT at some stage. No, I don't really see the point in it..........

But you don't want to hike anywhere else?
No. Walking the Camino actually has very little to do with hiking............

That then usually requires a bit of explanation.........

 

[Camino Chrissy]

Robo, a very humorous reply...yet seriously true all the same! ☺

 

[André Walker]

I was talking with a group at dinner last night after a Conference. They were keen to hear about the Camino. Of course the usual questions came up.

So you like bush walking? Not really.
But you must hike a lot locally? No, not really.
I guess you'll be off to walk the PCT or AT at some stage. No, I don't really see the point in it..........

But you don't want to hike anywhere else?
No. Walking the Camino actually has very little to do with hiking............

That then usually requires a bit of explanation.........

And, in Santiago, I get to hug someone without anybody feeling abused.

 

[Robo]

And, in Santiago, I get to hug someone without anybody feeling abused.

My Caminos are one big 800 km hug fest!
People, cats, dogs, horses, trees, ................

 

[Camino Chrissy]

My Caminos are one big 800 km hug fest!
People, cats, dogs, horses, trees, ................

...and rice cookers.

 

[lt56ny]

I totally get this. It takes me about 10 days to get into the body rhythm and probably another week to clear the crap from between my ears. I will start Camino 5 in a few months but I have a feeling this timetable will not change but who knows every camino and every step can bring a new surprise.

 

[trecile]

So you like bush walking? Not really.
But you must hike a lot locally? No, not really.
I guess you'll be off to walk the PCT or AT at some stage. No, I don't really see the point in it..........

But you don't want to hike anywhere else?
No. Walking the Camino actually has very little to do with hiking............

I get all of that too. I don't consider myself a hiker, and I don't consider the Camino a hike. I'm a walker, and the Camino is a journey in which walking is my mode of transportation.

 

[t2andreo]

It’s hard to explain the Camino experience to anyone who has not done it. I equate this with being analogous to, but multiple levels of intensity separated from, being in a combat situation. Unless the other person has “been there, done that,” and had experienced similar psychic effects, they cannot truly relate to our Camino experiences.

Remember, I did say this was separated by multiple layers of intensity. It is similarly separated by the actual physical threats to one’s health and continued existence. Clearly, the correlation is not a direct one. I use it for comparative and relative purposes.

But, among folks who have experienced the crucible of combat, or other intense interrelationships with your environment, like being a law enforcement officer or first responder, the ability to feel true empathy with our Camino experiences is, at least IMHO, attenuated.

Hope this helps.

 

[Albertagirl]

rest days are not appealing at all. I always want to keep walking and moving forward,

I noticed this on my first camino. I scheduled in lots of rest days: one a week, and short walking days at first, as I wanted to be able to finish without too much bodily stress. The short initial days: from St Jean pied de Port to Puente la Reina, were definitely a good idea for me, to get in shape. But I didn't want days off. Aside from a couple of days at Santo Domingo de Silos and at Leon, I didn't want, or take, days off. So I arrived in Santiago about 10 days ahead of time. That was my learning camino. You can't go on camino from Western Canada without booking a return trip, unless you are a lot wealthier than I shall ever be. But now, I regularly walk shorter days and just keep on walking until I am done. I have scheduled in one extra night in Leon on this year's 38 days camino combo, and three days in Santiago at the end, which I can take for rest or injury days, if necessary. But as long as I am well, I shall just keep on walking to Santiago, open to all the experiences of the Way.

 

[nycwalking]

The moment I book the ticket it sets in.

It: anticipation and wonder enter my soul.

What will trip over pond be like?

Should I have picked Paris over Madrid to arrive?

But, once that plane lands in Madrid the other it arrives; wonder. I’m here, my país segundo is still here, wow.

As I walk through airport to train to travel to Puerta del Sol for a few pre-camino sightseeing days or head straight to T4 for bus to Pamplona, my eyes and heart and body and soul feel wonderful.

Sometimes, I wish I’d never walked that first camino August to September 2001 because I cannot seem to let it go: anticipation and wonder.

It’s been five years, three months, and uncounted days since I returned from my latest camino. I miss it, I miss it, I miss it.

Anticipation and wonder, here I come as soon as possible.

 

[Suzanne S.]

I'm not certain when it clicks for me. It's just...suddenly my pack is weightless and I must leave the albergue at first light.

 

[simply B]

From the second Camino on, I'm "there" by the end of day 4. Which still shocks me as my first Camino was spent in a haze of cluelessness. For example...

It was around Hontanas that I stopped being grouchy about being on "this stupid walk". (I had originally crossed the pond to explore other places but circumstances conspired to make the CF my "home" in between arrival and departure flights.)

Around Foncebadon, I realized that all expectations which I had forced onto the experience were dead.

A day from Muxia and a glimmer of enlightenment dawned for me. The remaining walk around the loop and back to SdC were joyous.

From Camino 2 on?

"Soul, meet soles. Soles, meet the Way..." and the "ego me" is utterly dissolved into whatever-is-Now so completely that even my footsteps and staff do not present me an echo of their progress. Within a week, I am not readily responsive to the sound of my own name.

The one striking reminder of corporeality on the CF is one's long shadow in the early morning. I take it as a reminder that the only thing ever standing in my way is...me.

B

 

[LesBrass]

I’m a bit slower than a lot of you. I can totally relate to “seeing the first arrow” feeling... I too get that coming home sensation but I think it takes me two to three weeks to feel like I’m flying. This can be a bit tricky because it means I need longer walks.

Just being back is exhilarating... but it takes me a week or two to settle my shoes and blisters (or not!)... and knees and my thoughts... by week three usually I feel strong and my head is there... and I usually feel great... alive... free...peace... all of the above.

I guess I need to work on getting ‘there’ sooner... I guess it just means more Camino for me to practice and hone those skills

 

[simply B]

"Dr. B" recommends that you have more Camino, absolutely! It's the only way..."Practice makes perfect."

Let me know when you get to "perfect"...and how you got there!

B

 

[trecile]

I guess I need to work on getting ‘there’ sooner... I guess it just means more Camino for me to practice and hone those skills

Nah, you just need to make sure that you do minimum of three week Caminos.

That's why the idea of doing the Portuguese Camino from Porto doesn't appeal to me - I'd just be getting into the Camino groove, then it would be over!

 

[peregrina2000]

Nice question. You know, I am not sure it really “hit” me at all on my first camino. It was in 2000, I was walking with a woman I had been good friends with in the 70s and we had not seen each other in about 20 years. I was turning 50 that year and wanted to do something to prove to myself that if I was going to go over the hill, it would be kicking and screaming. I don’t think I have ever laughed as much as I did on my first camino. We were like two giggly schoolgirls. Nor had I felt as unburdened, and carefree and in the moment in a long time. But it was mostly an intense be in the moment kind of experience, I was just enjoying the here and now.

It was only after I got home that I started to think — hmmm, that was a pretty amazing life-affirming experience, more than a fun-filled walk. Fast forward 19 years, I am still at it, once a year. Often I walk for weeks alone, other times I have a companion, sometimes I walk in glorious mountains, other times on flat plains, but that’s all just the backdrop. For me the camino has become an intensely individual “me and my creator/universe” kind of experience. It has affected my thoughts, my relationships, my attitudes so very much I can hardly believe it.

I am sure there are other less self-indulgent ways to find that sacred space, but I enjoy this one so much that I have felt no compunction to find an alternative.

 

[VNwalking]

I still notice that it takes a period of at least a week before I am fully back in Camino mode. This feeling intensifies as I walk, so much so that rest days are not appealing at all. I always want to keep walking and moving forward, even if it's just a few km.

I'm not sure exactly what you're asking @trecile, or maybe my experience is a bit different.
I'm in camino mode the moment I abandon everything but my pack and walk out of some door or another with it on my back. It's a sweet feeling - just here in the simplicity of walking, home on my feet, wherever they happen to be. Without anything more pressing to do than being, and putting one foot in front of the other.

But this may not be the same experience that you're describing, because for me there is not the urge to keep going; to take a short day or a rest day so that I can linger in an interesting place is quite pleasant. I don't want to stay for long, but sometimes a place calls to me and to feel into it seems the right thing to do.

It does take a while for the body to get in the groove, but that's a completely different and much coarser thing. For me the camino feeling has nothing to do with physicality - it's purely a thing of the heart.

 

[emmanuel]

Nah, you just need to make sure that you do minimum of three week Caminos.

That's why the idea of doing the Portuguese Camino from Porto doesn't appeal to me - I'd just be getting into the Camino groove, then it would be over!

Start walking from Lisbon.

 

[trecile]

Start walking from Lisbon.

If/when I do the Portuguese route I will start from Lisbon.

 

[LesBrass]

Nah, you just need to make sure that you do minimum of three week Caminos.

That's why the idea of doing the Portuguese Camino from Porto doesn't appeal to me - I'd just be getting into the Camino groove, then it would be over!

That's exactly what I felt... but I did love the walk and would do it again... but maybe then go to Ferrol and walk the Ingles or carry on to Muxia

 

[Robo]

Just being back is exhilarating... but it takes me a week or two to settle my shoes and blisters (or not!)... and knees and my thoughts... by week three usually I feel strong and my head is there... and I usually feel great... alive... free...peace... all of the above.

Totally get that.
I often feel sorry for 'Newbie' Pilgrims who talk about walking for a week or 10 days.......
That's just the warm up

The magic happens after that..........and they may never get to experience it

We often see talk of how long does it take, can I 'get there' in x number of days.
That's not the point, at all.........

The more days 'on the road' the more rewarding the experience in my view.

Walk slow..........walk far.......

 

[Camino Chrissy]

I have always walked my Caminos for six week stretches and one four week. I do love having that much time to immerse myself, especially since I travel a distance of 5000 miles to arrive.

I too feel rather disappointed for the newbies, young folks and those still working jobs that can only walk for one or two weeks maximum. On the other hand, they are often much younger...maybe not such a bad trade off!

 

[simeon]

I have only ever done it for week long stretches.....and envy those who can get that feeling, It always just seems to be within grasp when its time to return home!

 

[trecile]

The more days 'on the road' the more rewarding the experience in my view.

I feel the same

 

[JabbaPapa]

First on about the end of week 3 of my 1994 from Paris to Compostela, but then between that point and about week 6 when God basically just decided that I needed to be a Christian willy-nilly.

But from a more (hem-hem) "spirituality" point of view, definitely the point on that same Camino where I hit the hiking "zone", to the point where I was quite basically unaware of everything other than the progress, as if in some sort of abstract cloud of manifest ease.

 

[C clearly]

I am glad that I've have 2 opportunities to walk for 6 weeks. However, I have found that I don't enjoy the last week or two as much - I get tired and start thinking about home.

It takes me a week or so to get "into" the camino. I do it faster now than on my first few trips. Then I have 2 or 3 of weeks of strong and contented walking. However, I find that I don't keep getting stronger and stronger indefinitely. I get tired! And I begin to think about whether I am neglecting husband and grandchildren at home.

I have decided that the most satisfying timing is a month away from home. I have a long journey to Spain and need some days for travel and jet lag, as well as some flex days for the route. So, I now look at 3-week routes.

 

[emmanuel]

I am glad that I've have 2 opportunities to walk for 6 weeks. However, I have found that I don't enjoy the last week or two as much - I get tired and start thinking about home.

It takes me a week or so to get "into" the camino. I do it faster now than on my first few trips. Then I have 2 or 3 of weeks of strong and contented walking. However, I find that I don't keep getting stronger and stronger indefinitely. I get tired! And I begin to think about whether I am neglecting husband and grandchildren at home.

I have decided that the most satisfying timing is a month away from home. I have a long journey to Spain and need some days for travel and jet lag, as well as some flex days for the route. So, I now look at 3-week routes.

Something like that happened to me in May, I was supposed to walk for 6 weeks but after week 4 I was too tired and a with a big blister on my left sole, so I cut it short and flew back home. Hope it's not my advancing age, for next year I have extended Camino plans.

 

[Camino Chrissy]

I walked the Portuguese camino from Porto this spring as I'd heard quite often that the stretch starting from Lisbon is not as nice as beginning in Porto.
Since I prefer to walk 4-6 weeks at a time I combined it with walking the Fisherman's Trail along the beautiful ocean cliffs of Southwest Portugal. Although not officially a Camino, adding it provided me with a perfect month long walk when the two were combined together...it was lovely!

 

[emmanuel]

I walked the Portuguese camino from Porto this spring as I'd heard quite often that the stretch starting from Lisbon is not as nice as beginning in Porto.
Since I prefer to walk 4-6 weeks at a time I combined it with walking the Fisherman's Trail along the beautiful ocean cliffs of Southwest Portugal. Although not officially a Camino, adding it provided me with a perfect month long walk when the two were combined together...it was lovely!

Did you walk South to North on the Rota Vicentina?

 

[Camino Chrissy]

Did you walk South to North on the Rota Vicentina?

I flew into Lisbon, then took a bus to Porto Covo, walked south to Sauges, then a long bus ride north to Porto. It worked really well.

 

[Robo]

I get all of that too. I don't consider myself a hiker, and I don't consider the Camino a hike. I'm a walker, and the Camino is a journey in which walking is my mode of transportation.

Agree 100%
And without wishing to cause debate and argument..........
I can't see how it works with a 'mode' faster than walking.
You're just passing through the environment too fast for the magic of the journey to happen...........

 

[Albertagirl]

The camino is a journey, but for me walking is both more and other than my mode of transportation depending, of course, on what you mean by transportation.

 

[Robo]

The camino is a journey, but for me walking is both more and other than my mode of transportation depending, of course, on what you mean by transportation.

I agree.

Perhaps the right way to express this....

Is that the journey is the Camino.
And walking is merely the 'vehicle' that is used to experience it.

i.e. It's not about the walk........

 

[trecile]

I agree.

Perhaps the right way to express this....

Is that the journey is the Camino.
And walking is merely the 'vehicle' that is used to experience it.

i.e. It's not about the walk........

But I think that the physical act of walking is key to the formation of whatever the magic is that occurs within.

 

[Desert Bruce]

For me it's 3 days - one of the reasons I found the Camino Ingles to be not quite satisfying: just as you get "into the groove" you can see the spires ahead of you.

I also felt that the Ingles, though less traveled and interesting, was just not quite enough to click into 'Camino mode'.

 

[Robo]

But I think that the physical act of walking is key to the formation of whatever the magic is that occurs within.

Agreed It's mobile meditation, with a 'crunch crunch' rhythm.....

 

[Kevin Malinak]

To me it was like Total freedom, Total relaxation, out there, not a worry to think about. "Consolation" I think is the word I'm trying to find... And it took me about a week or two to get there. Totally opposite of life back home....

 

[Anamiri]

I had an epiphany last time in Ponferada. My cousin joined us for a week. When he came to the end of that week he had to find a way to get back for his flight out of Madrid. Took him ages and he slipped right back into stress mode and we were tiptoeing around him until he got it sorted.
I remembered thinking how simple walking somewhere is - simple and magic.

 

[Coachtolife]

To me, there's something that happens internally between 10 days and 2 weeks on the Camino, when I am fully "in the Camino groove". Despite the fact that I've completed 4 Caminos now, I still notice that it takes a period of at least a week before I am fully back in Camino mode. This feeling intensifies as I walk, so much so that rest days are not appealing at all. I always want to keep walking and moving forward, even if it's just a few km. I'm not a runner, but maybe it's like a "runner's high", but much deeper. All that I know is that when I'm home I miss it deeply.

I know what you mean!! I’m still missing it and completed it October last year!! Was talking about it today even!!

 

[efdoucette]

This may sound like boasting or just strange but it happens to me daily, every time I leave the house for a walk. I walked the CF in 2011 and every year since I go walk a trail, sometimes, fortunately, twice a year. The Camino has become such a big part of my life, I can get the feeling back very easy (maybe it never leaves). It's the act of just walking, the feeling of freedom, the outside world where you never know what you will see or who you will meet, the sounds, the smells, the exercise, the meditations, the moments. That all is there everyday I exit my driveway and turn down the road.
But ... there is nothing like a walk in Spain