If this map looks familiar, it’s because it is. If me talking about walking 500 miles sounds familiar, it’s also because it is. If you go back to my oldest post on this blog, you’ll read about me getting ready to check off a bucket list item back in 2016. You’ll also read that I’m fortunate to have a sabbatical every seven years at my job at Geocaching HQ and that combined with some paid time off gives me enough time to walk the French Way. I’m still at my same job and while I may be taking my sabbatical a few years later than when I qualified for it, I’m now ready to embark on my 5th Camino walk. This will be my second time walking the Camino Frances (French Way).
I thought about trying to come up with a different idea for my sabbatical. Options like spending the entire time traveling New Zealand and hiking new trails every day, finally getting to Kilimanjaro and standing on the top of Africa, or finally making the trek to Everest Base Camp. But between total budget available and considering what I need for my mental and physical health, I ultimately landed on re-walking a walk that changed my life.
I’m not necessarily looking for this walk to change my life again, but instead, to remind me why walking and meeting people from all over the world are important parts of who I am. Reminding myself to step outside my comfort zone and to remember to not judge a book by its cover. It can be so easy to get caught up in the same-same of every day life, the monotony of routine, the settled-in judgement. While I’ve traveled to different parts of the world and have always tried to keep an open mind, few experiences have opened me up as much as walking a Camino has.
The path will be the same, but the time of year will be different. This picture above is from my first walk, which started in late May. Green farm fields, green grass and bright red poppies lined the idyllic path throughout Spain. This time around, these same paths will be surrounded by browns and yellows and harvests coming to fruition. It will be hot and some days may end up downright brutal.
The other and likely more important difference will be the people. It won’t be the same people I’ve walked with before. Many will be on their first ever Camino walk, while some will be like me – returning to the place of their addiction. But all of these people will be new to me and I don’t know yet what kind of impact they may have on me.
I’m looking forward to walking the same road, but this time to a different tune. I know I’m going there alone and my past experiences tell me I’ll leave Santiago with new friends and new lifetime memories to be cherished.
I think about past friends I’ve met on previous walks and part of me thinks going on a new walk means I’m “cheating” on them and our experiences together. But I also know that my life has been enriched so much by each of the new friends I’ve met along every walk. Getting to spend some time with friends I met on the Primitivo recently in their home country of Australia and regularly getting updates from friends from the US, Ireland and Germany via Whatsapp remind me of the benefit of continuing to go on these walks and being open to new experiences and new people.
For this trip, I cashed in an airline credit from a canceled 2020 trip (thanks Covid), and I’ll be headed over to Paris in mid-August for a quick overnight and then on to Biarritz. From there, I’ll take the same shuttle service I used on my first Camino for the hour long drive to St. Jean Pied de Port France. I’ll waste no time and plan to get started the next morning on the 16 mile and 4400 feet elevation gain walk over the Pyrenees Mountains to Roncesvalles. From there, I’ll plan to take the same amount of time as I did on my first walk – 33 days total with two of those being rest days.
Just the same as all my previous walks, I’ll use this blog to add daily posts that include pictures and a quick overview of the day. Leading up to the trip, I’ll include some training posts and as usual, my packing list. The support I’ve received in the past via my daily blog and social media posts has always been so appreciated. I know that I don’t ever walk these walks alone and I’m happy to have you along for the ride!