Yes, we’re overly familiar with this quote. And yes, it’s an overused cliché in travel writing but some lost is a good lost don’t you think? Read along as I share my tales of walking along the north coast of Spain along the Camino Del Norte. Me, my thoughts, the trail and all I need in my backpack. Starting each day in one place and ending it in another. Lost in the days as they unfold. Lost in my love of wandering. Lost in a long walk. A camino. Aaah. Good lost.
Yet again the camino calls. ‘Come’ she whispers. ‘It’s warm and sunny, your toes can sink into the sand as you walk alongside the ocean that awaits where you last left off. There will time for you to ponder, people for you to meet, delicacies for you to enjoy and all manner of surprises for you to uncover.’
Yes. Yes, I will go. I will answer the call. The pull this time is strong. The camino is magic like that. I am curious for what I will find along this next section of the camino. Once again I feel ready to hop on where I last left off to simply walk. To walk a long walk. Although if I am honest this pull, coupled an excitement that is growing is somewhat surprising to me given that last time I wan’t sure I’d ever be back on the camino again.
It was July last year when I last set off on along the camino del norte. A camino that lasted three days instead of the ten I had planned. I was done with the camino when I left. So done. I didn’t want to be sharing rooms, I was frustrated at being injured (through stupidity) and I didn’t love the realisation that was revealing itself to me, that in this time of my life I’d given away my power. I’d completely lost myself. I had no idea how to use my voice anymore.
But in those three days of walking and the three days of stopping I met some incredible women. Women who each gave me something to ponder throughout this past year. Women who I’m sure without realising gave me what I needed. I needed a place to begin and some questions to ask myself. When I left I knew I needed to go home. It was the first time I’d ever stopped for a day along a camino and surprisingly I was completely ok with it. This time the camino was not about distance, days walked or reaching a destination it was about stopping and the women who walked into my life. Women I would never see again but who would always be a part of me.
Of course you haven’t yet met these characters, these women and what they inspired me to go and learn about myself because I came home and let these stories and this blog sit on the sidelines. It didn’t quite fit. The stories I thought I was going to write didn’t come home with me. I came home different. I needed to take what each of these women had provoked in me and to go and be with that in my life. To take those questions and go on a long walk, to live with them. Life is a camino! I’ve been walking almost a year with some of these thoughts.
Everything has a time and place. When I started writing this blog it was with good intention, to create something for and with women. But there was also perhaps an egotistical intention and the desire to create what others expected I should do – to build a camino something. As the call came this week to walk again, so did the call to write here. As I started writing, the title changed from ‘your camino’ to ‘camino tales’. I can’t tell you how to walk your camino, that’s not really me. I can however share my camino tales with you and connect with you through my camino stories. That is me. Ph-ew, this feels peaceful, now this blog is synchronous with how and what I want to write. Flow.
These women, these characters you’re yet to meet them in my writing and what they inspired in me during my last camino. Oh and the preventable injury, that’s a doozy! It’s going to be embarrassing to write up that one. I’m excited to answer the call to walk the camino again and with that excitement I feel hopeful for this space. I think I get how to use my voice now. Just be me. It sounds simple enough but I feel this will be my challenge. One I am looking forward to actually. One I will be thinking about as I reread ‘Big Magic’ while I walk in a few weeks. There are still things I want to change and learn from about how I’ve blogged in the past. I hope these changes will see this blog grow into something beautiful.
Ho hum … the first challenge in the next 10 days or so is to enter a writing cocoon to catch up on all my camino del norte posts. If I can do this I can blog live from the camino. I find live blogs from the camino such a joy to read. I would love to extend myself to do that, to get in amongst that joy. I don’t love typing on an iPhone when travelling so much but the connection with fellow adventure lovers – that’s fun! And fun is good, fun is definitely worth investing time in. So, if you’ll have me I look forward to sharing this space with you over the next few weeks to share some camino tales.
Fran x
“Say yes to every single tiny clue of curiosity that you notice around you. That’s big magic too. It’s big magic on a quieter scale and on a slower scale, you just have to learn how to trust it. It’s all about the yes.”
From breakfast and about to begin our walk, we pose for a photo. A family portrait. Peter, Lydia, Jo, Ricky, Me, Fi, Ulises and Jenny. Oh and the little dog Jenny wants to take with her. This motley crew, this camino family of ours. A camino family is a part of the camino experience. In my experience you don’t seek your family it builds around you. I am grateful for this group of humans who found me on this path. My heart is fuller and I am richer for having known them. If I look at this photo I can think of something I’ve learnt from each of them. In 6 days, this happened. How magical.
Today Fi and I decide to walk our last day together. It feels important for us to walk into Bilbao, our last stop along this camino stage together. Starting and finishing together. Plus, I guess it will be nice to give Jo a win. Ha ha. 😉 We walk through the forests and take our time to walk, stopping for coffee and tapas in a small village along the way. At some point we leave the lush of the forest and begin the walk along the road. It feels looooong!
We have to earn our stay in the beautiful town of Bilbao. There is a cracking hill on the way in and the temp is averaging 29 degrees C. It is a pretty walk in, but also, it’s pretty steep! It is a hard slog. I prefer not to stop and start on the big climbs so I will meet Fi at the top. Up I go. From the top you can see the entire city of Bilbao. It is magnificent. I find Ricky asleep in some parklands at the top of the hill, he tends to catch up on sleep along the way. Jo is also here, doing his foot care routine. They make their way in to Bilbao as I take a break here to wait for Fi so we can begin our final decent of this walk into Bilbao.
What goes up, must come down! MAN, it feels like it takes forever to get down into Bilbao as we wind our way in through the laneways, city parklands and across the river towards our hotel. We are spent by this time. So spent that we decide to have an Aquarius (Spanish electrolyte drink) and a celebratory beer with some crisps a few doors before our hotel. We have booked a hotel in Bilbao as a treat. There’s a promise of a comfy bed, lux bathroom, no more washing clothes in sinks and we don’t need to wake early to walk. We stop even with the lure of this. We are just too tired, sweaty and gross to walk in yet. We struggle to drink the celebratory beer we’ve ordered, eventually we compose ourselves and make our way to check in.
After a nice warm shower, some time with our feet up and fresh hair, we wander into the old city of Bilbao to meet up with the crew for one last dinner together. I don’t have city clothes. Normally, this doesn’t worry me as I just get around in my hiking kit. This feels different though. We are finished, off the camino and we’re on a city break. When I walked the Camino Frances we didn’t really take city breaks. Fi has packed a scarf, it is perfect to dress up a hiking top. I’m adding this to my list of things I need to pack next time. Fi has taught me a lot about little essentials and camino tricks.
While in town I spot a cute summer skirt. Hmmm should I? I decide that YES I should! So I buy it, keep it on and put my leggings in my bag. I am now only half a pilgrim. Cute skirt with hiking top and hiking sandals. Maybe next time I will pack a light summer dress for such situations. I like these city finishes and Spanish town evenings along the Norte.
We arrive in the old town and meet everyone at the square for dinner. As we are eating I spot a colleague and his wife from work. Another small world within a BIG world moment. After some tapas and a glass of wine we bid farewell and good luck to everyone. Most are continuing on and some of us are heading home. Such is the way of the camino. Comings and goings. Will you meet again, you never know. Some you do and some you don’t. Like life! Fi and I promise to visit Jo and his family in Belgium. At time of writing, we have kept in touch but no visits. Fi is now back in Oz. Many have been to visit Ulises in the Canary Islands though!
A camino in sections! One down. One to ponder before beginning the next. One with experiences and lessons that need time to sink in before I begin to plan the next one. One to savour as a new way of walking a camino unfolds, a camino in stages. Tomorrow, I will visit the Guggenheim museum and wander as a tourist. A tourist who has just had one amazing adventure, whose soul is sparking even though her feet are tired.
Highlight:
To have finally written this series of posts from the first section of my Camino del Notre. It has taken me back to a special time with the added gift of hindsight. I don’t take this time for granted. I am grateful to have shared this section with Fi and Jo, who both in their sweet way have imprinted themselves in my heart and taught me I needed to be a little more open, less reserved and trusting of connection. xx
Ho hum:
After having walking the Camino Frances previously for 4 weeks I thought I knew how to do a camino. Ha! I’m still learning all the time. There is no one way and what suits you one day might be different the next. Ho hum though, it humbles me, to not know, to learn from those I meet and the experiences I gather.
For me there is no need for an alarm on a camino. The nights are early so the mornings too fall into a natural early rhythm. The preparation to begin the day is done the night before, my water bladder is full, my pack is packed, the day’s clothes are laid out and ready. I’m up just before the sun rises this morning. Without even thinking I’m dressed in my hiking gear, my laces are tied and my pack is on. I’m excited and as the first light hits I’m ready to walk.
This morning Jo is also ready and we set off together. We’re not the only ones up. As we leave the village we see the daily bread has already been delivered to the doors of the locals. Before long we make it up to the monastery where most of the pilgrims on the trail would have stayed last night.
One of the things I love about this walk is that we walk amongst everyday life. We meet the locals in their towns, see them in their gardens, on the school run, doing their daily walks and foraging for mushrooms. We walk the same medieval rock paths that have existed for centuries and will do for many more. This is home to them and for now it is home to us.
At some point I lose Jo. We start to play a game of tag. As I pass another of our friends I send a photo! Germany, Japan, America, Spain. Before long I have hiked past them all. Ha ha I’m not competitive at all. No, not me.
As I make it into the town of Gernika-Lumo I meet Fi. She has cabbed in to town today due to injury and is enjoying a day in this pretty town. It is so perfect and a classic camino coincidence that she is the first person I see as I arrive in town. We have some lunch together. Before long Jo finds us and as we leave the town we stop at the famous Gernika oak tree. Or what is left of it. There is a lot of history in this town. I almost feel guilty about walking on and not taking it all in. Alas, we are not staying here so I will put it on my list of cool towns to visit in North Spain another time. I don’t feel this is my last time in these parts.
Up and out of Gernika we hike. I do love the steepness of this trail. It reminds my heart to beat. It reminds me that I’m alive and how much I love this mountain goat feeling. Before long we arrive at our albergue and from the moment of arrival we all love it. It’s a family project. A farmhouse that has been in the family for over 300 years, generations of the same family have lived here. The downstairs of this traditional Basque Country farm house started as a barn, then it housed a wine press that produced wine for the locals to drink (on Saturdays) and now it’s an albergue that accommodates pilgrims and hikers along the camino. It is special. I do recommend staying here if you’re walking you Camino del Norte.
Slowly, all the pilgrims we’ve met along the way from Irun began to arrive here at Pozueta. We are treated to an absolutely delicious home cooked community meal. We learn a lot in conversation with our host about Basque life and traditions. Such things as secret men’s gastronomic societies, pelota games, comedy and theatre sports – it’s an incredibly rich culture the Basque culture. We chat into the night beyond a magical sunset and under the watchful gaze of a full moon.
Highlight:
Ending the day with beautiful people, in this wonderful home under these skies is more than a highlight. It is a memory I will treasure forever. And fitting as our last night along this camino for now. Tomorrow is Fi and my last day of walking. I am excited for Jo and the others who are continuing on their way.
Ho hum:
When I look at the beginning of this day until its end I am amazed by it. Days are long. There is so much room in a day for so many small things. Small things add up. Just keep moving. Ho hum this feels like a good lesson for me.
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Camino Tales 