Thoughts after my first Camino

[StepheninDC]

I returned about a month ago from my first-ever Camino. Wow, what an incredible experience! I am so grateful to the many people on this forum who helped with advice, tips, encouragement, and practical information before my journey. What follows is a list of memories, in no particular order:

1. The coffee that a nice older gentleman bought me in a café in Leon. He asked that I pray to Santiago for him and I did.
2. The fantastic companionship I had along the Way. Despite being in Spain, I spent the entire Camino with Italians and spoke Italian 100% of the time with them.
3. The weather!! OMG, the weather. Sunny and dry every single day for 30 days. Simply unbelievable! No wonder our clothes dried in about 7 minutes every night. Oh yeah, and the sun was out most days until close to 10 pm.
4. Treating myself to wine every day, sometimes in the late morning. Always good, always cheap, and always accompanied by a tapa, often tortilla espanola.
5. Cheap albergues, and we never got turned away from one, although we did decide to go elsewhere in Palas de Rei because the Xunta one only had 1 bed left and I was with 2 Italians and didn't want to break up our group.
6. Phenomenal food! I already liked Spanish food, but it was so good. Alubias in Navarra and Castilla y Leon, Cocido margato in Astorga, fancy and delicious tapas in Pamplona, all-you-can-drink cider in the same town, unbelievably delicious paella, the list goes on and on.
7. NO BLISTERS! I wore Injinji toe socks and another layer of Darn Tough wool socks every day and got NO BLISTERS. However, my heels were starting to hurt by the end and I put ointment on almost every day.
8. I lost 4 kilos and 2" off my waist. What can I say, even eating a hearty menu peregrino every night couldn't stop my body from burning 1,000s of calories every day.
9. Wonderful Camino moments of bars or food trucks seemingly appearing out of nowhere just when I needed one.
10. Zumo de naranja. Nuff said.
11. Yummy chocolate croissants and café con leche (with whole milk!) every morning.
12. The Cathedrals of Burgos and Leon, simply stunning. I think I got a sore neck from craning it to look at the ceiling.
13. Bed bugs. Yes, but only once, in Sahagun.
14. Pilgrims' mass with benediction of peregrinos in just about every town. One highlight was having a priest get us to sing a song from our respective countries (Croatia, South Korea, France, Germany, US, South Africa, and of course, Espana).
15. Telling my life story to pilgrims I'd just met and would probably never see again.
16. Meeting up again with pilgrim friends again and again and acting as if I'd just met an old friend I hadn't seen in decades.

Well, that's sort of it for now, but I know I'll think of more stuff. What an incredible, life-changing trip it was. Next time I want to bring my wife and walk the Caminho Portugues.

 

[C clearly]

Great to hear from you! Did ANY of your worries come to pass? What changes would you make, or what recommendations would you make to newbies?

 

[linkster]

@StepheninDC NICE! What ever happened with the foot problem? Did it resolve itself before you left or on the way?

 

[dougfitz]

@StepheninDC, thanks for sharing.

 

[laineylainey]

I love your memories. And it brings back similar ones for me, thanks for that.

 

[StepheninDC]

Great to hear from you! Did ANY of your worries come to pass? What changes would you make, or what recommendations would you make to newbies?

Thank you for this. Well, the best news is that my tendonitis was completely gone and I didn't have any issues with it the entire time. I was, however, very careful when going down parts of the Camino where there were lots of rocks and stones coupled with a steep descent. I relied on my trekking poles a lot for that, but I was aware of the fact that it would have taken just one wrong step on some of those passages and could easily have twisted my ankle. I also never got sick, thank God. I was a little worried about bed bugs, and those worries did come to fruition, but only the one time. I also worried about not finding a room, especially given the July busy time, but again, it didn't happen. We never had trouble finding a room, although there were one or two times where we appeared to be among the last ones to check in (think albergue with 20 beds and we were #s 14-17). I did, however, have a TERRIBLE, and I mean really AWFUL time sleeping. I just couldn't fall asleep, largely because of the snoring, but a close second was the warm weather and lack of air conditioning. That was a surprise, because I assumed that after walking 8-10 hours every day, I'd be too tired not to just fall asleep right away. It didn't really bother me all that much, to be honest. I had such a fantastic experience on the Camino that I never thought about it after I was up and about during the day. But yeah, the sleeping was bad. Really bad. What recommendations? Definitely bring something warm to wear, because we had a few mornings around Burgos where the temperature was 6-7 degrees Celsius. It took a few hours for it to warm up. Pack light, which I did, anyway. I had only 7kg on my back and that was plenty. Looking back on it, I wish I'd taken advantage of more of the communal meals. However, I was having such a good time going out to eat with my Italian friends that I was okay with that. I think if I had to do it over again, I would have walked more slowly and taken more time to see the sights. Because I only had 28 days of actual walking, I was a bit too fixated on getting to the next stop on the route. Still, I had an unforgettable time and met SO many wonderful people. There's not a whole lot I would change. I should've bought 3 bottles of Galician wine in Santiago for 12 Euros, because the same bottle costs $15 in DC.

@StepheninDC NICE! What ever happened with the foot problem? Did it resolve itself before you left or on the way?

Thank you for asking. It was fine, actually. I think resting it, using the insoles and doing physical therapy helped a great deal. No problems with it whatsoever.

@StepheninDC, thanks for sharing.

Thanks, Doug!

I love your memories. And it brings back similar ones for me, thanks for that.

Aw, thanks, I'm glad to hear that.

 

[Aidan21]

Camino lovers can just emphasise with every word

 

[Richmond Gardner]

Camino lovers can just emphasise with every word

Sounds like a great trip! You go to Spain and walk with Italians! You just never know, and it's all great. Next time, you could go earlier for better sleeping temps and choose smaller private albergues to avoid some snoring.