Slow road to Santiago

Each year thousands of people decide to walk the ancient pilgrimage route to Santiago de Compostela in Northern Spain. In May I was one of them. Leaving Barcelona, I took a train to Pamplona, a city famous for the running of the bulls along its narrow streets. From there I planned to walk 220 kilometers to Burgos. This is the middle section of a route that starts in St Jean Pied de Port in France and ends, some 800 kilometers later in Santiago. My rationale was that I had already tackled the Pyrenees part some 15 years previously, and just 2 years ago completed the last 160 kilometers on a group tour, where our luggage was carried for us in a little bus. Now I had to prove that I could do it alone, carrying my pack like a real pilgrim.

On the Camino with Fresco Tours in 2011.

I had researched my trip meticulously, I thought. I’d read at least five accounts of life on the Camino (German, American and Australian), as well as seen the Martin Sheen film The Way. I knew that my backpack must only weigh one tenth of my body weight. For me this meant no more than 7.5 kilos, but with all the warm clothing, wet weather gear, first aid kit, toiletries and face creams, emergency rations and one litre of water, I could not get it below 9 kilos. Nevertheless, at the airline check-in in Perth, the man congratulated me on having such a light pack. He had also been on the Camino!

I had always loved Spain, having gone there every year camping in my twenties. I loved the sound of the language, the historic buildings, the small villages seemingly unchanged over time and of course the food. (It was a challenge though, to wait for the traditional Spanish dinner time of 9.00 p.m. when one had been walking all day and were starving!) What came as a big surprise was the fact that most of the pilgrims were attacking the trail, like any other long distance footpath, intent on getting from A to B as quickly as possible. In doing so, they ignored pain in their ankles, knees, shoulders and acquired blisters as a badge of honour. None of this for me! I was going on a slow road to Santiago, determined to see every sight, visit every church and take plenty of rest stops for a café con leche or a cerveza. My guide book by John Brierley divides the Camino into daily stages. He takes 9 days from Pamplona to Burgos. I planned to take 18. I would never need to hurry, I thought. I would never do more than 15 kilometers a day, and I would never arrive at days end too tired to look for a nice place to stay!

Relaxed outside my hotel after a day on the track.