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.
It takes at least a million steps to walk a camino. I know this because I joined a Garmin challenge in November to walk one. It took me 78 days and 1.1 million steps. I didn’t walk it in socks and sandals as the featured image suggests, I just like the feels of that photo. Hiking socks and sandals…what hiker doesn’t love that combination?! However, the camino, I did walk it from my front door, while on vacation, doing laps around airports and at home doing day to day things – all the steps counted! Let’s just sit with that gem for a moment. All.The.Steps.Count.
From time to time I checked in to see what percentage of the camino I had covered and how far was left for me to walk. Then, one day, just like that, I had completed 99% and I was almost there. On that normal day in January I was about to finish a camino! How did it feel? It felt good. Really good. Exciting even. In this current phase of my life where it often feels like I am not finishing or achieving anything – on this day, I would. I was about to finish walking the Camino de Santiago.
The true beauty of this was that I was doing it in the background of my everyday! Far away from Spain just plodding along in my daily life. Isn’t this a little bit of the camino working its magic. Magic in the mountains, the ups and downs of life, the depth of the valleys, those easy and the hard days and in the rivers, trying to find flow amongst the strong currents, who, with their own strong pull impact our days. Getting fitter, getting stronger on these normal days, doing all the normal things I needed to do and at the same time quietly walking the Camino de Santiago. Ok, I completed the distance of the Camino de Santiago, but you get my drift.
Have I signed up to walk another badge or walking challenge? Not yet. In fact I’ve taken my Garmin off for a while. I need a break from checking my numbers! Steps, sleep, HRV stats it can get a bit obsessive. I want to walk unencumbered for a while. But, if you need a nudge to move again or you feel you need to walk yourself a camino I can highly recommend it. I am proud of my virtual badge, of the 1.1 million steps in my legs and of the push towards and reconnection with daily walking. I’m also glad for the gentle reminder it gave me, that for anything to be achieved…All.The.Steps.Count.
How to walk a Garmin Camino de Santiago challenge?
You’ll need a Garmin watch that is connected the Garmin Connect app
In the app head to the challenges section and choose yourself a challenge!
Don’t have a Garmin! No problem. Use the watch you have or make your own challenge by counting your daily steps in the health app on your phone. Easy. Just walk.
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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