Tell me who you walk with, and I will tell you who you are – Dime con quién andas, y te diré quién eres.

Date: 10th June, 2024

Section: Serdio to Pendueles

Region: Austurias

Distance: 20.3 km

Average temp: 25 degrees

Time on the trail: 6.15 hours

Ascent: 360m

Decent: 421m

Staying: Pendueles

Bar Castiellu – Private Albergue right on the camino way €45 for a private double room with breakfast (dorms available). Clean, comfortable. Option to join a community home cooked dinner. Small supermarket next door.

Recommend, yes ✅.

Instagram: Link to extra photos and daily caption.

Today:

Today I walked into a new region of Spain. The Asturias. The home of the Picos de Europa, one of my favourite mountain ranges and of vast dramatic coastlines – another one of my favourite things! It is not hard to enjoy a long day’s walk amongst this kind of landscape. Even when it involves a river of cow shit. Ha ha that was a doozy, grab a cuppa and settle in I’ll get to that a bit later.

The albergue I stayed at serves breakfast, it is nice to start today with a cup of coffee and some toast. It all feels very relaxed really, no pressure to move fast and to check out. This is the luxury of the private albergues, no hurry. Also the weather is not heatwave like so no need to get off early. This suits me today as there is not a long distance to cover. I prefer to take my time a little in the morning. On the trail I am walking my usual hiker pace so I never worry about getting in too late. If I leave organised my brain is ready for the day to unfold and I’m open to whatever the flow is. At breakfast I see Ted and Bobby and we chat a little.

There is no supermarket in Pendueles so I plan to pick up some supplies when I pass by one. At some point in the morning I walk into Jan from Belgium. We walk together for a while and start chatting. Initially, I plan to keep walking as it is a bit slower than my usual pace but the conversation holds me back. He is on an interesting camino, he started from his home in Belgium. He has been walking for 3 months and is camping along the way. We chat a lot about hiking and hiking with kids. He and his partner have lived some very interesting chapters in their lives having taken the kids out of school for various long adventures in the world.

After a few hours we hit the first town and I bid a ‘buen camino’ to Jan as I need to stop for some supplies. This camino I am focussing a lot on how I fuel and the quality of said fuel. I have in the past stopped in cafes along the way but this past year I have become quite conscious about my own health and nutrition. Once entering the midlife phase – things change. It fitness and nutrition become have non negotiable in feeling good and being able to do all the things I love. Recovery and energy need not only sleep but also good fuel. I like to be able to feel strong and to bounce back in the morning.

Once again I find myself attune to myself and choosing what I need and this feels good. Sometimes it is a challenge along a camino to walk on without feeling some sort of guilt. Not everyone understands that walking alone or off solo is not a reflection on them. They are not mutually exclusive.

At various times I have been questioned about my need to walk on, faster or alone. Silly what we get questioned about isn’t it? I would never question someone about their need to walk with someone as though it is weird – we are all just different. There is a harmony in accepting the differences in others rather than presuming there is a correct way don’t you think? How simpler it would be if we released others from our own expectations of how to ‘be’. (obviously I am not talking about crazy war mongers here or those who hurt people, we should have expectations of people being decent and moral humans.)

I ponder some of these thoughts while I treat myself to a picnic lunch on a bench seat after climbing up and out of pretty picturesque town. I wonder about something else. Every time I walk people ask me ‘who looks after the kids or how do you get away for weeks to walk’? Do you think I asked Jan this? Spoiler: I didn’t. He has young kids. He is not the first man I have met that is walking for months on end. Women though, we are held to a different account. Even if the intention is not a judgement, it is still (always) asked and why is it only asked of women? No wonder we have to work so hard to learn to ‘drop’ guilt as a response to our choices. Always, we are expected to defend or answer to our choices if they are a bit different to what has been normalised for women. Bugger that.

There is an alternate walk today that is along the coast. I decide to take this walk as the coastline here is just so wild and beautiful. Really ‘WOW, breath this in kind of scenery’. As I am walking I see a pilgrim in the distance. I snap some shots to share with him later when I catch up. I recognised him as an Irish pilgrim lets call him Liam. (sometimes I rename people for privacy.) I had briefly chatted with him at a rest stop earlier. He was also one of the internationals at La Gloria the night before. I always love chatting with Irish hikers. We lived in Ireland for 6 months at one time and it was one of my favourite life experiences. So many warm hearts.

As I catch up we begin to try to navigate the path together as it is somewhat hidden by brambles. As it is not an actual trail there are no way markers. At one point we climb back up the hill and attempt to walk along the railway line but both of us feel a bit nervous of this as it is an actual working rail line. We again navigate a wired fence with our packs and climb back down to try to find the coastal path amongst the cows. As we are walking we talk a lot. Liam tells me about his reasons for walking and I am humbled by this experience. We never know someone until we talk to them. I have walked enough caminos now to know that I can never prejudge someone or presume to know them by making up a story in my head about who they are.

The thing about caminos is that you never know who you will get to know, walk with or meet over dinner! Age is never a limiting factor on a camino and I meet people from all over the world with such different life experiences and stories. It feels rich. Today, I realise that being interesting and staying interested is a real type of wealth. In a world focussed on acquiring and collecting things – this thing (interesting) is a currency that I want to focus on and collect.

At one point the path is not visible at all. Liam has shorts on so I volunteer to try what looks like a possible path that is muddy and bramble covered. My legs won’t get scratched in trying it. One foot in and I sink, second foot in and I am up to my ankles in mud. WAIT! Or am I? Is it .. oh GOD it is! It is a river of cow shit. A literal river of shit and I am fecking ankle deep. At this point we are both laughing so hard I think I will cry. Needless to say Liam didn’t follow me and I backtracked out. Well, this a moment I will not forget.

After navigating the coastal path we meet up with some others that Liam knows from previous days. Pilgrims from Germany and Canada. We all walk into Pendueles where I have pre booked a private room at another private albergue. The pilgrims all decide to check in here as there is dorm style accommodation.

I did have ambitions of blogging this camino live but that idea has been thrown out the window. I will walk this walk fully present and also use my evenings to unfold as they do. If I was to commit to blogging each night I wouldn’t be able to relax or eat, sleep and do what is needed. So a few journal notes and an instagram post each night will keep my thoughts secure until I return home to write up my camino experience up in full.

Another day under my belt and my toes are happy. I am walking with a kind of plastic toe wedge between my big and first toe. I don’t want to share a photo for your sake 🙂 Also I am using a toe cover in the places I got a blister last time. There is no friction between my toes. Foot care is real and vital to a good experience. We all have different rituals. And while on this camino this is how I managed the hot spot where I have become prone to a blister I have since upgraded to toe socks. No additional extra precautions required. I wish I had know about toe socks earlier. Live and learn. Always something to learn.

Highlight:

Definitely just the feeling that since the last camino I have really embedded some of the lessons from the women I met into how I do things now. This has been a gift of walking this camino in stages. Walk, reflect, live, walk again a little wiser.

Ho hum:

Life with throw you shit! The choice is how you react.

Moving forward is the only way to go – Pa’lante es pa’llà.

Date: 9th June, 2024

Section: Comillas to Serdio

Region: Cantabria

Distance: 18.65 km

Average temp: 25 degrees

Time on the trail: 5.45 hours

Ascent: 420m

Decent: 334m

Staying: Serdio

Hosteria El Corralucu – Rural guest house right on the camino way. €55 for a double room with breakfast. Clean, comfortable, big rooms, a bit of noise from the room upstairs, but not crazy. A small blink and you’ll miss it town with a good cafe for dinner just a few minutes walk away called ‘La Gloria’.

Recommend, yes ✅.

Instagram: Link to extra photos and daily caption.

Today:

Yes! I am back on the camino, almost a year later and back in Comillas where I left off last time. Gosh, my toes were so injured last time that I really wasn’t sure if I would make it back. No gel polish this time (insert hand over face emoji here). It was a first for me to have to STOP, to really just stop. I wasn’t even sure if I would want to come back, but after writing up the last stage of my camino I felt the familiar call. I am not finished here, it’s still unfinished business for me. There is still some 400 odd kms to go, so here I am ready to walk another 120 of them.

I arrived last night after walking to the station from my home, training to the airport, flying into Bilbao, Alsa bus to Santander and then onto Comillas via a local bus. At the bus stop in Santander I noticed a lady that I had also seen on the plane. We started chatting – as you do when you look like you’re here for the same thing. The hiking pants, backpack and poles are a giveaway. Her name was Jenny and she was Dutch and was also making her way to Comillas where she too had left off last time. So random. She also has four kids and takes off from time to time to walk long walks. Funny don’t you think, a classic camino style coincidence and right from the get go! This is going to be interesting I thought to myself – for sure I am MEANT to be here.

We talked about where we were staying and she was planning the ‘wing’ it type camino. That is, she will just land somewhere and find a place to stay. I was doing it a bit different this time. I had pre booked the first three nights and have planned continue doing this and to have my own room rather than share with people I don’t know. In this phase of my life I just need my sleep! I also need a little more privacy to deal with being a woman in midlife who now needs HRT, glasses and space when I have walked all day. I was also very tentative about my toes – could they still do this day in day out walking. I had whole rituals prepared for this and 7 days of walking to find out.

Of course it is a little more expensive this way but I planned to be organised with food supplies and I am here for a week not a month so it is manageable. This camino I am very curious about what I like (really like) now and of what I think (really think) now. I want to practice making decisions and having a point of view that is less bendy to that of others. I want to remain flexible and spontaneous of course and open to new ideas and perspectives. But I want to be able to choose the energy I give and the energy I take with more care. Like Laurence from France who I wrote about in my last post, she was so good at that. All the strong women I met on the last stage of this camino were, it was the theme.

Naturally, the camino being the camino it didn’t give me much time before I had my first experience to test myself. Jenny was having trouble locking down a dorm room in Comillas. I could offer to share my pre booked double, but deep down I just wanted to start on my own way. There were other rooms available and she was not going to be stuck. There was also the option of staying in Santander and bussing into Comillas early the next day. Always decisions when you walk a long walk, like life. Still though, even as I write this it doesn’t sound very ‘of the camino spirit’ however, it felt like I need to to choose myself in this moment. Look, she may well not have wanted to share with a stranger but still this showed me how hard it is to choose myself sometimes and to not overthink it! I might still be overthinking it. Uuurgh.

After a delicious dinner, a good night sleep in Comillas and with a backpack loaded with fresh food and supplies for the day I was off. Off in the rain! Ha ha the rain in Spain. Of course sun in summer is not a given in the North of Spain, there is a reason it is known as ‘Green Spain’. You need rain for green. It wasn’t unpleasant, I was giddily happy to be walking again and the rain was only in the morning.

There were the firsts, the firsts of the normal things you expect on a Camino del Norte day. The first café con leche, the first ocean views and the first of the pilgrims or as I like to call them, the camino characters. And they happened all at once at my first stop at a beach cafe.

The coffee was so very welcome after 10kms of walking and just a bread roll and some fruit to start the day. The ocean views as always had me grinning from ear to ear and the pilgrims – well, they were very interesting indeed. An older couple who were Oxford University professors. You just never know who you will share a coffee with along a camino! Honestly, I don’t know where else I would randomly just have a coffee with a couple of professors, let alone from Oxford. It was a grand start.

As the walk went on, once again I was just enamoured by the overgrown every things, the animals in the paddocks, the constant of the ocean to my right and the rolling hills and farms to my left. Life is good. Dang I am glad to be back. I happily walked solo today and cherished every single moment. The milder weather made for a comfortable day of walking and as always it feels like the ultimate luxury to have this time and space to just walk. It just feels like me being me. (Note to self: maybe this is a clue for me in narrowing down my ikigai*.)

I arrived in at Sergio in the early afternoon and was so grateful my guest house was right on the camino way, this makes everything so easy! I was able to check in, shower and rest before heading out to dinner. There was only one cafe in the town, La Gloria. It was just a few minutes away, my feet are in excellent shape, toes are fine and I happily strolled down in my best evening wear – the socks and sandals. This will be no surprise to those who know me, this is my absolute favourite hiker-chic attire.

The menu of the day (menu del dia) with the local favourite bean stew was perfect for the end of this long hiking day meal. In the restaurant I got talking to Ted and Bobbie from the US and I heard a number of other accents around the cafe. Bobbie had walked this camino before and she was walking this time with husband. While I only met the two professors along the way today, this cafe stop in this tiny town showed me there are others around. I do wonder who will the camino put in my path along this walk and what lessons are in store for me this time around. No expectations, I will just walk.

Highlight:

All the firsts in that one spot on the beach. Coffee, connection and the Cantabrian sea.

Ho hum:

Imagine a place where things happen not because of an algorithm created to sell you something but because you’re out living your life!

*Ikigai: a Japanese concept that translates to “a reason for being” or “a reason to wake up in the morning.” It represents the intersection of purpose, meaning, and joy, bringing value and fulfillment to your life.