Reflections on 10 days walking the Camino de Santiago

Today was our 10th day in a row of walking the Camino, starting in Porto and heading north to Santiago.

I’ve walked…

85.5 miles ‼️

277,391 steps ‼️

What in the world? Now, I do try to walk some every day. Normally one spin around Lake Junaluska which is a little under 2.5 miles. But this is on a different level, and carrying a 20lb backpack most days.

The past 10 days the shortest walk was 5.2 miles and the longest was 12.7 miles.

On today’s 7.2 mile walk I got my first blister 😩 and honestly was dragging. It felt like an effort to put one foot in front of the other. So tomorrow will be a rest day. We’ll taxi to Baiona and chill out for the day. My body needs it.

How to summarize the emotions, thoughts, feelings of these ten days?

I think my primary feeling is one of deep gratitude.

Firstly gratitude to my body. It is doing the thing I really hoped it would be able to do. Get up and walk every day, further than it really wanted to. Every night I’ve gone to bed with aching feet, and sore muscles and somehow every morning when I put my feet on the floor, they still work!! Honestly this does feel a bit like a miracle.

So tomorrow my body gets a needed rest and Sunday will be walking again.

I’m also so grateful to be doing the Camino with my love Kate, and dear friends Karen and Robin - what a gift! Much of the challenge is a personal one, the physical challenge of walking every day. But undertaking this challenge alongside my spouse and friends has added so much to the journey. Sharing our joys, our woes, what we are learning about ourselves, and the questions that remain. Doing all that in community is so rich.

And finally I’m grateful for this whole experience. It’s hard to fathom the extraordinary sights we’ve seen, the beauty of the surroundings, countryside and coastline, small villages, larger towns, farms, rivers, tiny chapels and towering cathedrals. Just amazing!

Tomorrow I’m going to take some time to do some journaling to prepare for the rest of the journey. Still seeking connection between my human body experience and my spiritual being; body, soul, spirit. To be a pilgrim, in every sense of the word.